Replikun contracts UK company to make GMP cell line

Unlisted immunotherapy company Replikun Biotech has contracted UK-based Cobra Biomanufacturing to build a cell line to manufacture their vaccine and immunotherapy products under GMP conditions.

A spinout from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research with investment from Start-Up Australia, Replikun was formed in March 2005 to commercialise vaccine and gene therapy products against infectious diseases and cancer using what it calls KUNrep Vectors. These vectors are packaging cells derived from the Kunjin virus -- a flavirus discovered in the wet tropics of North Queensland.

"Developing that part of our vaccine is the same," said Replikun CEO Shane Storey. "It's what is inside that changes."

For example, Replikun's products against HIV and flu are all made in the same cell line. "The advantage is that no one else will be able to make that cell, it's very hard to duplicate," said Storey.

Cobra makes biopharmaceuticals for the life sciences industry and will build manufacturing and master cell banks for Replikun, which can then be used to produce Replikun's KUNrep Vaccine and other gene therapy products under GMP conditions.

"We chose Cobra because they've developed a track record we came to know in developing bioprocesses," said Storey. "They started up in gene therapy and virology and I couldn't find anybody that was better."

In the future, the cell banks produced by Cobra could be used to make any KUNrep Vaccine, either by Replikun or for other biotech and pharma companies to develop their own vaccines.

"It's a pretty valuable asset that they're helping us to develop," said Storey, an investment manager for Start-Up Australia who will spend most of this year on secondment in executive roles at investee companies Replikun and Caldeon. "From a technical point of view, the work has been done -- they're just redoing that work under their quality systems which are FDA approved."