PlantForm to meet with U.S. Army medical research personnel

The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) has invited PlantForm to give a presentation on the capabilities of our plant-based biopharmaceutical platform.

“Our process is well suited to produce a wide range of therapeutic drugs, including for treatment of Ebola and other biological threats,” said Don Stewart, PlantForm’s President and CEO. “Our plant system is unique in that we are able to remove any plant-specific glycosylation (protein sugar) patterns and produce drugs with fully mammalian glycosylation. This eliminates the risk that patients will have an unwanted immune system reaction to the drug, which is a very significant advantage.”

The presentation to USAMRIID and officials from other affiliated departments will take place in October.
 

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PlantForm, PharmaPraxis establish joint venture

PlantForm and PharmaPraxis of Brazil have formed a joint venture – named PlantPraxis – to develop, manufacture and commercialize biosimilar and/or biobetter versions of six key biopharmaceuticals for the Brazilian market, using PlantForm’s low-cost manufacturing system.

PlantForm CEO Don Stewart and Chief Operating Officer David Cayea will be in Brazil Sept. 19-26 for discussions regarding the JV with officials from Bio-Manguinhos, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP, the Funding Authority for Studies and Projects) and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).

The JV’s first drug target will be a biosimilar/biobetter version of the oncology drug Avastin® (bevacizumab), in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Center for Molecular Biology. Read the news release.
 

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Biosimilar Herceptin® (trastuzumab) update

Work is under way to scale-up manufacturing of PlantForm’s biosimilar trastuzumab drug candidate, and perform key physico-chemical and biological analyses, in preparation for Phase 1 human clinical trials in the next 12-18 months.

This phase of development, which will produce GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) material for clinical trials, is supported by $2 million in equity financing from Atlantic Assets Trust. Roche’s Herceptin®, used to treat breast cancer, has global sales of $6 billion annually and faces patent expiry beginning this year.

PlantForm management is working to raise the funds necessary to advance into clinical trials through engagements with:

• Legacy Partners Wealth Strategies Inc., which has a mandate to raise up to $20 million by way of private share placement in central and western Canada, and
• Hallmark Capital Partners, which will focus on raising funds from family offices in the United States.

 

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Second U.S. patent

PlantForm has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office that a second patent will be granted for the company’s innovative, plant-produced antidote to cobra toxin.