Lonza and Benitec collaborate on ddRNAi therapeutics

Lonza Houston, a unit of the Swiss Lonza Group (LONN: VTX) and Australian biotech firm Benitec Biopharma (ASX: BLT) have entered into a manufacturing services agreement to develop a scalable manufacturing process for Benitec's ddRNAi-based, Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-delivered products intended for therapeutic use in humans.

This collaboration will leverage Lonza's expertise to facilitate the development of a cost-effective, scalable and robust suspension culture-based manufacturing platform, which is anticipated to enable the production of sufficient material to meet the potential demand for treating diseases that affect millions of people such as hepatitis C. Benitec’s hepatitis C candidate TT-034 entered Phase I/IIa clinical trials in early 2014, with dosing of the first patient in May.

Benitec's vice president of manufacturing, Claudia Kloth, said: "As our lead ddRNAi-based hepatitis C therapy TT-034 continues to advance in clinical studies, Lonza is an ideal partner for us to optimize our large-scale production process based on its solid expertise and track record in process development and production of AAV-based gene therapeutics."