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news.US-based biotechnology company, Pfenex, and Agila Biotech have entered into a joint venture (JV) to develop and commercialize an initial pipeline of six biosimilar products.
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As per the joint venture agreement, both the companies will equally share in decision making regarding product development and commercialization where in Agila Biotech will be a 51% equity stakeholder.
Pfenex will be responsible for development of an optimized production strain, process and analytical package for each product while Agila Biotech will be responsible for pre-clinical and Phase 1 development, according to the agreement.
Interferon beta-1b, which is the lead product of the JV, is indicated for relapsing-remitting and secondary-progressive forms of multiple sclerosis.
Production of the collaboration products will be carried out at Agila Biotech’s manufacturing facility, being built with Bio-XCell at Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia – a 160 acre site comprised of customized biotech facilities.
Pfenex CEO Bertrand Liang said, "This venture between Pfenex and Agila Biotech will allow us to leverage our infrastructure for the development of safe, reliable and cost-effective therapies for patients to address unmet medical needs all over the world."
Agila Biotech CEO Anand Iyer said that the successful foray into the biologics space for Agila Biotech would hinge on building infrastructure and strong technical foundation as well as creative partnerships such as the one that Agila Biotech has entered into with Pfenex.
"This will allow us to not only leverage time and cost advantage of developing products in India and Malaysia, but also serve as a gateway to a vast region in South Asia, South-East Asia and the OIC region currently underserved as a result of the lack of high quality, cost effective biologics," Iyer added.