Large Scale Biology, Icon Genetics AG Announce Collaboration

Large Scale Biology (LSBC) and Icon Genetics (ICON) have entered into a collaborative agreement to co-develop a biopharmaceutical product for a major therapeutic market.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The alliance centers on the synergistic application of LSBC's and ICON's patented gene expression and biomanufacturing resources with the goal of developing and commercializing a defined therapeutic product, the manufacture of which by conventional technologies has proven difficult and expensive.

Both ICON and LSBC biomanufacture their own and client-specified therapeutic proteins using non-food/fodder, non-recombinant plants in safe, contained production environments. The goal of the new collaboration is to accelerate development of a difficult-to-produce pharmaceutical by pooling the technical strengths of each company's plant-based platform.