Selexis Lubris Partnership Advances Difficult-to-Express Protein Towards Clinic

GENEVA, June 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Selexis SA, a global life sciences company for drug discovery, cell line development and scale-up to manufacturing of therapeutic proteins, announced today that its US-based customer, Lubris LLC, has achieved over 1 g/L per liter yield in manufacturing production runs of LUB-13-04 as measured by Lubris' CMO partner. LUB-13-04 is a proprietary construct of the recombinant human protein lubricin (Proteoglycan 4 protein, rLubricin) which is expressed from the SURE CHO-M cell line generated with the Selexis SUREtechnology Platform™. LUB-13-04 is in pre-clinical development for dry eye syndrome and osteoarthritis.

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Lubricin is a large endogenous complex glycoprotein composed of 40% carbohydrates, originally identified as a lubricating component of synovial fluid. While lubricin has been most actively evaluated for the treatment for osteoarthritis, it is also being studied in dry eye, dry mouth, surgical adhesions and other unmet medical needs.

"The results from the Selexis/Lubris partnership are quite impressive," said Igor Fisch, PhD, CEO of Selexis SA. "We continue to demonstrate that the SUREtechnology Platform™ has a major impact on the economics of manufacturing biologics by significantly increasing the manufacturing cell line's stability and productivity."

"Recombinant lubricin has been proven to be difficult to express efficiently at levels that ensured commercial viability. This is the first reported case of expression levels exceeding 1 g/L for lubricin (or lubricin-like proteins). We chose Selexis based on its track record for overcoming expression bottlenecks with difficult-to-express proteins, and generating fully documented cell lines used for clinical manufacturing," said Ed Truitt, CEO of Lubris. "These results represent a major development milestone as they demonstrate that our technology can be manufactured cost effectively in an increasingly challenging economic environment. We are on schedule to begin clinical trials in 2013 with our Swiss based European partner with our treatment for dry eye disease which represents a significant unmet medical need in a multi-billion dollar ophthalmic market."

About Selexis SA

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Selexis SA is a global life science company with innovative technologies and world-class expert services for drug discovery, cell line development and scale-up to manufacturing of therapeutic proteins. The Company's SUREtechnology Platform™ is based on Selexis Genetic Elements™ -- novel DNA-based elements that control the dynamic organization of chromatin within all mammalian cells and allow for higher and more stable expression of recombinant proteins. Selexis has generated over 1,300 cell lines being used in a variety of programs from drug discovery to late-stage clinical trials. The Company anticipates three products manufactured from cell lines using the Selexis SUREtechnology Platform™ to be launched in 2012.

For more information:
- Visit http://www.selexis.com
- Follow us on Twitter @selexisSA
- Become a fan at www.facebook.com/SelexisSA

About Lubris, LLC.

Lubris, LLC, is a specialty life science company focused on development of promising new treatments utilizing the lubricating and anti-adhesive protein, lubricin. Efforts are focused on applications within ophthalmology, arthritis and joint pain, oral health, surgical applications and women's health. Lubris, LLC was formed in 2011 from the merger of Singularis, Inc. (a San Diego-based start-up spun out of Harvard & UCSD) and Tribos, LLC (a Boston-based start-up spun out of Brown University).

For more information:
- Visit http://www.lubris.net

Contact: Robert Meister, 602-953-1716, [email protected]

SOURCE Selexis SA