Ranbaxy and Pfenex team up to develop a biosimilar therapeutic protein

GURGAON, India—Ranbaxy Laboratories and SanDiego-based Pfenex Inc. have announced that Ranbaxy will develop an undisclosedbiosimilar therapeutic produced in Pfenex's expression technology platform, a Pseudomonas-based recombinant proteinexpression technology.

Under the terms of the agreement Pfenex iseligible to receive maintenance fees, milestone payments and royalty paymentson any product sales derived from the agreement.

Ranbaxy and Pfenex scientists will collaborate ondeveloping the production strains and the process that will be used to produceproduct in support of clinical development and commercial production of thebiosimilar product.

"Within our overall bio-therapeutic plan, thePfenex technology will enable Ranbaxy to develop a high quality, cost effectiveproduct," according to Atul Sobti, CEO and managing director of Ranbaxy.

"We are pleased to be partnering with Ranbaxy,"says Bertrand C. Liang, CEO of Pfenex. "This collaboration is a great combinationof the strength of Pfenex Expression Technology being leveraged for the costeffective production of biosimilars, and Ranbaxy's proven ability to developand launch products globally."

Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited, India's largestpharmaceutical company, is an integrated, research-based, internationalpharmaceutical company producing a wide range of generic medicines, though italso is involved in drug discovery research and novel drug delivery systems. Thecompany serves customers in over 125 countries and has an expandinginternational portfolio of affiliates, joint ventures and alliances, groundoperations in 46 countries and manufacturing operations in seven countries.Ranbaxy is a member of the Daiichi Sankyo Group, headquartered in Tokyo.

Pfenex Inc. is focused on the production ofresearch proteins, reagent proteins, biosimilars and innovatorbiopharmaceuticals.