Langenfeld, Germany / Jakarta, Indonesia, July 15, 2013 / B3C newswire / - ARTES and Bio Farma announced today to join forces for the development and manufacturing of vaccine candidates. The agreed collaboration involved the strength of both partners. ARTES is specialized in cell line and process development, VLP based vaccines as well as in technology transfer for pharmaceutically relevant production processes whereas Bio Farma is involved in the manufacturing of vaccines, serum and other biological products for the Indonesian domestic and international markets.
Under this commitment a first agreement for VLP based vaccine technology transfer was signed on July 1st in Bandung, Indonesia.
“We are extremely delighted about the mutually agreed collaboration. Bio Farma is a strong and reliable pharmaceutical partner and the only vaccine and antisera producer for humans in Indonesia. We are more than confident, that we along with Bio Farma will develop vaccines highly relevant for the Indonesian and neighboring markets. We expect that especially developments based on our Metavax® technology will contribute to Bio Farma´s vaccine portfolio”, Dr. Michael Piontek, founder and managing director of ARTES Biotechnology.
Metavax® is a patent protected VLP technology, based on modifications to duck hepatitis B virus. The approach elicits a highly potent immune response and therefore a broader protection than the currently available VLP approaches. ARTES´ Metavax® platform is suitable for the development and production of safe and cost-effective vaccines.
Meanwhile, Government of Indonesia, represented by Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Culture and Ministry of Research and Technology, fully supports this partnership and will assist in aspects of policy to accelerate the development of vaccines in Indonesia. The commitment is delivered at the National Vaccine Research Forum, on 2-3 July 2013 in Jakarta.
About ARTES Biotechnology GmbH
ARTES is a Germany-based biotechnology company specialized in recombinant protein production and process development from microbial expression systems. ARTES offers generation of optimized production cell lines in proprietary yeast expression systems based on Hansenula polymorpha. In addition to genetic engineering, the company provides fermentation and downstream process development, analytical assay development and production cell line characterization. ARTES operates worldwide from its 850 sqm S1 facilities in Langenfeld. The company focuses on the development of bio-similars and vaccines.
About PT Bio Farma
Bio Farma is Indonesia's only vaccine and antisera producer for human. Currently, the needs for Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) vaccines in Indonesia supplied solely by Bio Farma by manufacturing and distributing over 1.7 billion doses of vaccine annually to meet the needs of EPI vaccine in the national immunization program. Bio Farma has an outstanding international reputation based on the WHO prequalification for all of its EPI vaccine products. Its products are exported to countries worldwide through direct distribution or various agencies such as UNICEF. Bio Farma has obtained the Best Export Performance from the Trade Ministry of Indonesia in the last three years up to 2012 as an evidence of its consistent exceptional performance.
Contact
Dr. Melanie Piontek
Business Development Director
ARTES Biotechnology GmbH
P: +49 (0)2173 27587-0
M: +49 (0)177 501 4748
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