Wheeler Bio Licenses ATUM's miFuc™ Technology to Expand Their Portable CMC® Platform Capabilities

OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Wheeler Bio, Inc., an agile contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced today an expansion in capabilities through the licensing of ATUM's innovative miFuc™ platform designed for expression of recombinant proteins containing afucosylated glycans.

ATUM's miFuc™ technology is the industry-leading platform for the development of antibodies with significant reduction in fucosylation without affecting product titer, cellular growth rates, or incurring global glycan liabilities. Enabled by ATUM's proprietary Leap-In Transposase^® technology, antibodies produced using miFuc™ embedded expression vectors exhibit significantly increased antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), resulting in improved efficacy for select therapeutics. 

This license agreement allows Wheeler Bio's clients the option to produce therapeutic antibodies with greater effector engagement and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity for increased therapeutic windows with reduced toxicity.

Wheeler Bio previously integrated ATUM's VectorGPS^® design platform, Leap-In Transposase^® technology, and miCHO™ host cell line with Wheeler's Portable CMC^® process platform to deliver a predictable, reliable, and scalable process for accelerating antibodies from discovery into clinical manufacturing. This additional licensing agreement with ATUM further expands Wheeler Bio's antibody platform capabilities by facilitating the production of afucosylated antibodies and other recombinant proteins.

Wheeler Bio is uniquely focused on offering integrated CMC development and CGMP clinical supply to biotechnology companies developing antibody therapeutics. By offering an open-source antibody platform (Portable CMC^®), utilizing state-of-the-art technology, and partnering with discovery CROs, Wheeler is ensuring that emerging biotechs have access to the highest quality development and manufacturing for the translation from discovery to early-phase clinical trials.

ATUM's Leap-In Transposases platform enables a robust and high-titer cell line development workflow encompassing cell line generation and cell line engineering. ATUM's Leap-In technology delivers high productivity pools and clonal cell lines, resulting in consistent product titer and quality from pools to clones. Combining ATUM's protein expression tools with Wheeler Bio's Portable CMC^® open-source upstream and downstream platform processes generates a predictable, reliable, and scalable process for accelerating the advancement of discovery compounds through lead candidate selection and into clinical manufacturing.

"We are thrilled to partner again with ATUM on another blend of ATUM and Wheeler Bio technologies", said Jesse McCool, CEO & Co-Founder. "With ATUM's miFuc™ technology now integrated with our Portable CMC^® platform and screening workflows, our clients now have more optionality for their pharmaceutical development without adding risk to timeline, manufacturability, and scale-up."

Oren Beske, Amalgamator of Business and Biology at ATUM, commented, "Partnering with Wheeler Bio has enabled us to bring our innovative platforms to the biotechnology community in a unique way.  Their Portable CMC^® approach aligns with our mission to democratize platform technologies to enable the efficient and cost-effective development of therapeutics for patients in need."

ATUM and Wheeler Bio embrace a forward-thinking approach to biologics development, one that transcends conventional boundaries and embraces innovation to accelerate the realization of the full potential of investigational new drugs to address unmet medical needs and ultimately to improve patient outcomes.

About Wheeler Bio

Wheeler Bio is a biomanufacturing pioneer, founded by a team of industry experts and strategic investors who believe a different CDMO model is needed to help innovators reach their clinical milestones faster. Wheeler's novel hub-and-spoke operational model, centered in the biomanufacturing metro of Oklahoma City, and integrated with biotech's and discovery CROs, will revolutionize the speed of drug development. Wheeler Bio's technology platform, Portable CMC^® simplifies the path between drug discovery and clinical manufacturing by providing a new bridge for translating discoveries to first-in-human trials. Innovators benefit from increased momentum during technology transfer, shorter timelines, reduced risk, and lower costs. Additional information can be obtained by visiting www.wheelerbio.com or by following Wheeler Bio on LinkedIn.

About ATUM

ATUM is a fully integrated Californian based biotechnology industry leader. ATUM, over the last two decades, has served life science researchers by delivering high quality services including but not limited to Gene Design and Gene Synthesis, Protein Engineering, Protein Production, Leap-In Transposase^®, Cell Line Development, and Master Cell Banking (MCB). With a state-of-the-art machine learning platform, proprietary algorithms, and a fully integrated Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), ATUM provides platforms and services that span from virtual sequence to manufacturing ready MCB. ATUM has a culture of continuous commitment to innovation where solutions are built on bioengineered solutions to bring speed to market, supporting the biotech ecosystem from pre-clinical research through IND and beyond. Contact us today for more information at www.atum.bio.

For Further Information:

Wheeler Bio, Inc.
Contact: Jaden Polston
jpolston@wheelerbio.com

ATUM
Contact: Cheryl Sturgis
csturgis@atum.bio

SOURCE Wheeler Bio