UNSW spin-out Acyte collaborates with Serono

Acyte Biotechnology, a spin-out from the University of New South Wales, is to team up with Swiss biopharmaceutical giant Serono to develop recombinant proteins using Acyte's mammalian cell expression technology.

The collaboration will give Serono the opportunity to test the production of pharmacologically active proteins using Acyte's Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Acyte scientists will work with Serono's cell science group on the project.

Serono has also secured a technology license option under the collaboration.

Acyte board member Prof Peter Gray said the Acyte technology would give Serono an opportunity to minimise production costs and increase productivity. Although unable to reveal details of the transaction, he said Serono was providing a "significant amount" of funding for the work.

The types of proteins to be developed and tested were also confidential, he said, although all were potential or actual biopharmaceuticals to be used as human therapeutics for inflammatory conditions or as anti-cancer compounds.

"They tend to be complex proteins with post-translational modification such as glycosylation," Gray said.

Actye has a number of other collaborations in place, he said, mostly with large pharmaceutical companies. Serono has seven recombinant proteins on the market in three core therapeutic areas -- reproductive health, neurology, and growth and metabolism.