Aragen Bioscience, a fully owned subsidiary of GVK BIO and a large molecule CRO, and University of Technology Sydney (UTS), a university in Australia, have formed a collaboration to accelerate biologics R&D in Australia.
 
This partnership between UTS and Aragen unites the capabilities, experience, and expertise of two leading organizations to assist the Australian biopharma and biotech industries advance their ideas into medicines.
 
“Under this collaboration, customers can leverage Aragen’s proprietary, cutting edge, royalty-free CHO DG-44 expression system for therapeutic antibody production,” said Axel Schleyer, chief executive officer, Aragen Bioscience. “Downstream clinical development and manufacturing requirements can be met through UTS’s Biologics Innovation Facility (BIF), providing the Australian Biopharmaceutical Industry with a seamless solution from Concept through Clinic.”
 
“We are delighted to partner with one of the top Australian institutions—UTS, which has the infrastructure and knowhow to support large molecule clinical development,” said Manni Kantipudi, chairman, Aragen, and chief executive officer, GVK BIO. “The Aragen team is recognized globally for its antibody research, having discovered three Novel Biological Entities (NBEs) that are now commercial. Through this collaboration with UTS, we expect to support the local industry by bringing together knowhow, experience, and world class infrastructure that marries speed, innovation, and costs.”
 
UTS Faculty of Science business development manager, Andrew Groth, said “UTS welcomes the strategic partnership with Aragen to provide comprehensive but affordable cell line and expression technology solutions to Australian research communities and start-ups, to tackle the critical bottleneck during pre- and early-clinical stages of biologics development.”