Novozymes Grants Dyax Licences to its Albumin Fusion Technology, albufuse™ and Yeast-based Protein Expression Platform

Novozymes has announced that it has granted non-exclusive licenses for its proprietary albumin fusion technology, albufuse™, and yeast-based expression platform to Dyax Corp., a developer of novel biotherapeutics for unmet medical needs. Under the terms of the agreement, Dyax has been granted a non-exclusive research and development license for use of Novozymes’ technology to develop albumin fusions of Kunitz domain proteins and antibody fragments for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

Novozymes’ albufuse™ is becoming increasingly recognised as a leading technology for effective half-life extension of protein-based drugs. A number of pre-clinical studies have demonstrated that albufuse™ fusions significantly enhance the circulatory half-life of a range of therapeutically active molecules. The technology is currently being clinically evaluated by several leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies for a range of human therapeutic applications.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dyax is also granted non-exclusive access to Novozymes' proprietary S. cerevisiae protein expression platform for the subsequent manufacture of lead albumin fusion molecules. Novozymes’ S. cerevisiae yeast expression platform has been commercially validated for a wide range of biotherapeutic applications and has been proven at commercial-scale through Novozymes’ lead product Recombumin^®; the only commercially available recombinant human albumin authorised for use in the manufacture of human therapeutics.

“I am delighted to execute this licence agreement with Dyax,” commented Dr. David Mead, Business Development Director of Novozymes Biopharma. “This collaboration builds on our earlier successful research collaboration. Dyax is an exciting company to work with at all levels; we look forward to extending our relationship and the development of new biotherapies utilising our novel technologies.”

“We are very excited about extending our albufuse™ technology collaboration with Novozymes, and incorporating their S. cerevisiae expression platform,” commented Henry E. Blair, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dyax.