Cobra Biologics, an UK-based contract biologics manufacturer, and Tecrea, a cell-delivery biotechnology company, have been awarded a 15 month collaborative grant of £112,291 ($166,000) by the UK's innovation agency, Innovate UK for the development of a scalable adeno associated virus (AAV) production bioprocess. The grant is awarded under Innovate UK's ‘Technology Inspired Innovation' competition, which aims to stimulate innovation within biosciences, identified by UK government as one of four key enabling technology areas.

The collaboration between Cobra and Tecrea focuses on the development of a robust, large scale bioprocess for AAV production. AAV is a gene-therapy vector with a growing commercial demand that cannot be met by current, non-scalable production approaches, according to Cobra Biologics. The new system aims to achieve scalable GMP production of AAV at low cost by combining NanoCarg, a nanoparticle-based transfection system from Tecrea with Cobra's small footprint hollow fibre bioreactors and manufacturing expertise.

Source: Cobra Biologics