Schlieren ZH/Saint-Prex VD – PharmaBiome and the biopharmaceutical company Ferring, which has its global headquarters in the canton of Vaud, will in future jointly develop and produce specific bacterial strains for intestinal health. Ferring receives an exclusive license for therapeutics resulting from this collaboration.
PharmaBiome and Ferring have agreed on a cooperation. According to a press release, it uses the development and marketing expertise of the biopharmaceutical company Ferring, founded in 1950, and the technology developed by the Schlieren-based biotech company PharmaBiome since 2016 to research, develop and produce novel, donor-independent therapies based on the microbiome, i.e. the bacterial population in the gut. Under the terms of this agreement, Ferring will receive the exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize microbiome-based therapeutics resulting from this collaboration. Financial details were not disclosed.
PharmaBiome based in Bio-Technopark Schlieren-Zurich has developed NicheMap, a technology platform for the selection of bacterial strains for the design of living bacterial consortia with defined activities, based on two core technologies. In addition, PharmaBiome's co-cultivation approach should enable rapid and scalable production.
The company Ferring, which focuses on reproductive medicine and microbiome therapies, is the first to launch a therapy based on living microbiomes approved by the US FDA. In addition, Ferring has the size and ability to drive forward clinical studies, the press release states.
"Ferring's confidence in our translational approach is an important validation of our work and a unique opportunity to accelerate the development of our rationally designed consortia with an experienced leader in the field of microbiome therapies," PharmaBiome CEO Tomas de Wouters is quoted as saying. "We are excited about the complementary expertise of our companies and look forward to a fruitful collaboration." ce/mm