Biolex will use its Lex System for protein expression to create a commercial line for Kringle’s NK4 protein, currently in preclinical development for the treatment of multiple cancers. The creation of a commercial line will facilitate scaled-up production of the protein for clinical development and commercialization. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
NK4 is an elastase-generated fragment of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) containing four kringle domains, initially discovered as a competitive antagonist of HGF. Research suggests that it also possesses the anti- angiogenic property relevant to cancer and neovascularization disorders.
Preclinical testing of NK4 has shown inhibition of both metastasis and angiogenesis in multiple animal tumor models. Efficient production of NK4 using the Lex System will accelerate the rapid clinical development and commercialization of NK4.
“NK4 is a prime candidate for development with the Lex System as the protein has shown great promise in animal models for several different cancers, but production of the protein has been thought to be fairly inefficient with traditional expression systems,” said Jan Turek, CEO of Biolex.
Biolex has now formed commercial line creation collaborations with six pharmaceutical and biotech companies encompassing a total of 16 proteins targeting multiple indications. This agreement with Kringle represents Biolex’s first collaboration with a Japanese company.