Therapure Biopharma to Acquire Plasma Protein Purification Technology

Therapure Biopharma Inc. and Upfront Chromatography A/S have announced that they have entered into an agreement for Therapure to acquire the assets and associated business related to human plasma fractionation from Upfront.

Upfront has developed over the last 15 years, a proprietary protein purification technology, based on Expanded Bed Adsorption (EBA) chromatography which offers significant advantages over to other purification technologies.

As a result of the acquisition, Therapure gains exclusive rights for the commercialization of the Upfront technology relevant to the human plasma fractionation field. Therapure will continue to develop and market this technology under the new trademark PlasmaCap EBA.

Nick Green, CEO of Therapure, commented: “The acquisition of the PlasmaCap EBA technology is an important addition to Therapure’s purification portfolio. With PlasmaCap EBA, Therapure now possesses a technology to capture therapeutic plasma proteins that is highly efficient and less damaging to the end product compared to conventional methods of fractionation. Ultimately PlasmaCap EBA allows for a more cost-effective process to manufacture plasma proteins. Therapure has established an excellent reputation as a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with integrated services including plasma protein purification. The acquisition of this technology will further support Therapure’s reputation as a leader in the biologics manufacturing sector in general, and as a global leader in terms of plasma protein purification. We feel strongly that this technology can add significant value to our clients as they seek to optimize their manufacturing processes and associated economics.”

Upfront divested their pharmaceutical business unit in April 2010 to DSM Biologics, and is now focusing on their BioMine business line, where the technology is offered to the food/feed ingredients business for extraction of food grade proteins.

“We see this additional divestment of our technology to Therapure as a major milestone for Upfront”, commented Michael Pålsson, CEO of Upfront. “It is yet another significant blue-stamp of our technology, driven by its value creation in the capture of high value proteins. We are now ready to focus 100% on our BioMine business which aims to valorize under-utilized side and waste streams from the food, feed and biofuel industries. There is a broad range of food and feed industries in the world with large volumes of side and waste streams containing valuable proteins. We are able to help these manufacturers get more value out of these streams, and at the same time we see a growing, global need for alternative protein sources to feed the world’s population.”