Dowpharma, Insmed Sign R&D Pact

Dowpharma contract manufacturing services, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, signed its fourth collaboration agreement in the first quarter of 2006 for its Pfenex Expression Technology. The company will work with Insmed Inc. to express two proprietary proteins that are administered as a single complex, known as IPLEX, using Pfenex, a Pseudomonas-based technology.

Dowpharma contends that Pfenex Expression Technology accelerates speed to market for vaccines and biotherapeutics by improving quality, boosting yields of protein expression, and reducing the cost of existing microbial systems.

“With our recent collaborations with VGX Pharmaceuticals, Viventia Biotech and now Insmed, we are experiencing tremendous growth and adoption of our Pfenex Expression Technology,” said Nick Hyde, global business director, Dowpharma. “It is currently successfully being used to manufacture cGMP material that will be used in clinical trials and now we will express currently FDA approved proteins. Pfenex Expression Technology consistently outperforms other microbial expression systems and we look forward to working with Insmed in their drug development program.”