Arranta Bio has acquired microbiome process development and clinical contract manufacturer, Captozyme, and with it established a Center of Excellence for process and analytical development and early clinical supply for microbiome clients. Captozyme’s team and facilities in Gainesville, FL have been transferred to Arranta.
 
Formed in 2009, Captozyme has been a provider of development services to microbiome pioneers with a team that has developed processes for over 125 different species and 80 different genera over the past decade. In 2018, Captozyme established GMP clinical capacity and has successfully scaled processes to 400L scale fermentation through to lyophilization and encapsulation. The team has built significant know-how of handling, scaling, processing, and encapsulation of strict anaerobes.
 
Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Captozyme, Dr. Aaron Cowley, now Arranta’s CTO, said,
 
“Having spent ten years developing processes for clients with over 125 bacteria, including difficult to make organisms, I am delighted that our team will now increase our capacity to serve the microbiome sector as part of Arranta, and we will be able to shepherd clients’ products through the clinical phases to commercial with our enhanced capabilities,” said Aaron Cowley, founder and chief technical officer, Captozyme, now chief technical officer of Arranta.
 
Mark Bamforth, founder, president and chief executive officer, Arranta, said, “We welcome the team from Captozyme into Arranta and applaud the foresight of its founders, led by Dr. Cowley, to build expertise in the microbiome field. Now, we can accelerate the delivery of live biopharmaceutical products (LBPs) to the clinic for clients and, in time, through licensure to patients worldwide.”
 
Arranta’s goal is to be the best-in-class microbiome contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), providing LBPs for microbiome-related product pioneers by bacterial fermentation, isolation, lyophilization and encapsulation.
 
As part of the transaction, Captozyme has spun out its enzyme therapeutic assets into a newly formed biopharmaceutical company, Oxidien Pharmaceuticals, LLC, to continue clinical development under the leadership of Captozyme’s outgoing chief executive officer, Helena Cowley.