Barofold and Avecia Announce Development and Manufacturing Agreement

BaroFold, Inc. and Avecia Biologics Limited have entered into an agreement for process development and cGMP manufacture of BaroFold’s lead, proprietary compound, BaroFeron™, interferon beta-1b. Interferon betas are generally used as therapeutic agents in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.

The program involves Avecia integrating operation of PreEMT™ technology alongside other stages of protein purification in both pilot and cGMP facilities. Avecia has both installed a PreEMT™ Plus system in its development laboratory and completed manufacture of BaroFeron™.

Dr. Jeff Cleland, Vice President of Therapeutic Development at BaroFold said “We are pleased to be working with Avecia on our lead compound and are confident that their competencies in process science and engineering will deliver an solid process for BaroFeron™, provide cGMP product for our clinical trials and facilitate the further development of PreEMT™ technology for BaroFold and our partners.”

Completing the scale-up of the drug manufacturing process will be a significant milestone, providing a platform to potentially expand the use of PreEMT™ technology to address areas of fundamental importance for protein manufacturing. BaroFold’s technology potentially enables its corporate partners to develop next generation protein biologics to meet the need for safer new therapeutics.

Dr. Stephen Taylor, Avecia’s Business Director, said: “We are delighted to be working with BaroFold on development of a manufacturing process for BaroFeron™. We are also excited that they have recognized Avecia’s track record of technological innovation and have chosen to work with us on scale-up of the novel PreEMT™ technology.”

Under this program, Avecia will carry out development work to optimize and scale-up the drug manufacturing process for BaroFeron™, using BaroFold’s proprietary PreEMT™ protein processing technology.