Under the terms of this agreement, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products (WIBP) gains exclusive access to ProMetic’s Plasma Protein Purification System for the Chinese market. Upon successfully implementing this technology, WIBP will be able to significantly improve its capability in the manufacturing of plasma-derived products in China.
ProMetic will assist WIBP to implement a product development program that is being initiated immediately, which includes training, technology transfer, and scale up, as well as readiness of the clinical manufacturing facility. WIBP will take the lead in conducting the clinical trials to obtain required regulatory approval by the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration. Full scale commercial manufacturing, which will take place at WIBP initially could be readily implemented by other affiliated companies within China National Biotec Group (CNBG) later, with the goal to achieve a minimum capacity greater than 1.2 million liters plasma per year.
The products being targeted initially will include thrombin, fibrinogen, albumin, intravenous immunoglobulin, Alph-1 protease inhibitor and multiple hyperimmunoglobulins such as anti-hepatitis B immunoglobulin, anti-rabies immunoglobulin, anti-tetanus immunoglobulin. These products are expected to start reaching commercial stage by 2012 or 2013. Additional products will be added later.
Lifang Wang, president and CEO of CNBG, said: “The integration of ProMetic’s technologies into WIBP’s existing manufacturing infrastructure will significantly increase WIBP’s manufacturing capacity and enable WIBP to better meet the ever growing demand in China.”