Progen Pharmaceuticals, Hunter Immunology Form Manufacturing Contract

Progen Pharmaceuticals said that the new contract further validates PharmaSynth as an important Australian based contract manufacturer with expertise in recombinant proteins, bacterial and viral vaccines, whole cell therapeutics and small molecule synthesis.

PharmaSynth has also been engaged to assist in the manufacture of Progen’s new clinical candidate PG545 for a Phase 1 trial expected to start later this year. As part of this, PharmaSynth is expanding its small molecule synthesis capabilities with the purchase of a pilot scale glass reactor train and the installation of a small fill and finish suite to manufacture sterile lyophilised vials.

Kevin Healey, managing director of Hunter Immunology, said: “This new contract continues our good relationship with PharmaSynth which successfully produced material for our Phase IIa trial and will provide the active ingredient for our forthcoming Phase IIb trial.”

Sue MacLeman, CEO of Progen Pharmaceuticals and managing director of PharmaSynth, said: “We are pleased that our team at PharmaSynth has been able to secure this important contract. We look forward to further collaborations with other Australian biopharmaceutical companies and with the recent changes to the R&D Tax credit there are now even more incentives in place for PharmaSynth to work with other companies ”

Les Tillack, CEO of PharmaSynth, said: “This increase in our small molecule synthesis capabilities allows us to actively pursue the early phase synthetic molecule market which we see as an actively growing sector of the Biotech industry. This combined with over 15 years of experience in biopharmaceuticals allows us to potentially service most of the biotech projects in Australia and increasingly overseas.”