Novozymes and Upperton Collaborate on Novel Nanoparticle Drug Technology

Novozymes today announced a new collaboration agreement with Upperton Limited, a UK based Biotech Company specialising in novel nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems. The agreement extends previous collaborations between the two companies and will focus on the commercial exploitation of the jointly-owned rP-nano™ technology: a highly targeted drug delivery system which utilises the natural binding properties of recombinant protein nanoparticles to enhance drug and gene bioavailability.

Under the terms of the agreement Upperton will use rP-nano™ technology to generate nanoparticles from recombinant proteins expressed in Novozymes’ proprietary, yeast-based expression system. Uniquely, rP-nano™ technology can generate precisely-sized nanoparticles within the range of 10nm to 120nm and can be optimised for Enhanced Permeability and Retention effect. The nanoparticles produced through this process retain the natural binding properties of the recombinant proteins from which they are made, and bind to specific cell types to enable more targeted drug delivery and improved bioavailability.

Dr Richard Johnson, MD Upperton Limited, said: “I am extremely pleased to be continuing our collaboration with Novozymes. Use of their animal-free, GMP recombinant proteins will be extremely important as we look to commercialise our unique technology. In addition, Novozymes’ regulatory knowledge and expertise in yeast-based protein expression, will allow us to faster develop rP-nano™ technology and create a very attractive proposition for future marketing or licensing partners”.

Dr Dave Mead, Novozymes’ UK based Business Development Director commented: “Our original research demonstrated the huge potential of rP-nano™ technology and we are very pleased to continue collaborating with Upperton to develop this further. This is further exemplification of Novozymes’ high yielding expression systems being used for the production of pharmaceutical grade recombinant proteins”.