Bionova Scientific, an Asahi Kasei boutique commercial-scale biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has licensed ATUM’s proprietary Leap-In Transposase transposon-based gene delivery and its miCHO cell line development technologies.

ATUM’s Leap-In Transposase technology can achieve high levels of gene integration, resulting in a large number of cells with the desired gene insertion, precise integration as a single copy into the host cell’s genome, and integration into multiple locations within the genome, reducing the risk of gene silencing or other adverse effects. When used in a cell line development program, Leap-In Transposase technology delivers productive, stable, and robust cell lines, including at the stable pool stage.

By combining Bionova’s cell line development toolbox with ATUM’s Leap-In Transposase, innovators will have access to highly productive stable pools and clones. Coupled with Bionova’s track record of finding solutions for complex technical challenges, customers can anticipate increased facility output and stable production that will facilitate further innovations in the field. These capabilities are particularly important to clients at the later stages of discovery.

“Momentum is often lost between the discovery and development phases of monoclonal antibodies and other therapeutic proteins, creating major challenges for emerging companies while introducing financial, technical, and regulatory risks,” said Douglas Mogensen, Vice President, Business Development at Bionova Scientific. “By leveraging cutting-edge technologies like ATUM’s transposon-based gene delivery platform and cell line technologies, Bionova is able to make standardized manufacturing platforms more accessible to its clients, minimizing risks and sustaining progress through what is commonly known as ‘the valley of death’ for programs transitioning from discovery to development.”

“Leap-In technology provides a gene delivery system with a greater frequency of gene integration, resulting in a step-change improvement in clonal hit rates with high productivity. This eliminates much of the trial-and-error work of earlier methods and greatly streamlines our cell line development and screening workflows,” said Joyce Lee, Director of Cell Line Development at Bionova. “As a result, we can now shorten timelines for individual client projects, while also handling several more projects simultaneously.”