ArcticZymes secures first supply agreement for utility of Salt Active Nuclease in Gene Therapy

ArcticZymes has secured its first supply agreement for the utility of Salt Active Nuclease High Quality (SAN HQ) in the cGMP manufacturing of viruses for gene therapy. ArcticZymes’ Novel SAN HQ enzyme offers gene therapy and vaccine customers a more cost effective and technically superior solution for removing contaminating DNA during the manufacturing process of therapeutic viruses. This represents a critical and challenging step in the manufacturing process where long-established alternative technologies are costlier and technically suboptimal. Cost and technical inefficiencies represent key challenges for the wider adoption of gene therapy. ArcticZymes SAN HQ allows customers to overcome these hurdles in one part of the complicated workflow in the manufacturing of cGMP grade therapeutic viruses. cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices) is relevant when a drug leaves the laboratory and enters into production, where scale, consistent quality and robustness are key requirements.

The undisclosed customer is a leading pioneer in the rapidly growing gene therapy market. Unlike traditional therapeutics, gene therapy provides realistic opportunity to cure devastating childhood genetic diseases and cancers by using viruses to modify DNA within a patient’s cells.

Commercial value of individual deals is anticipated to be in the 1-3 MNOK range per annum as customers lock down their large-scale cGMP manufacturing processes. The ability to produce viruses in large-scale is a critical factor to ensure that enough virus can be produced to support clinical trials and approved therapeutics.

“Securing our first supply agreement to support cGMP manufacturing of gene therapy viruses via our novel technologies is a milestone for ArcticZymes. We are excited and privileged that ArcticZymes can play a part in supporting our customers who are pioneering gene therapy solutions to cure devastating and life -threatening diseases.” says Jethro Holter, Managing Director ArcticZymes, AS.