DSM Biologics to Acquire Rhobust Technology from Upfront Chromatography A/S

The acquisition of the Rhobust technology is an important addition to the portfolio of DSM Biologics,” a provider of technologies for the optimization of biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes, in addition to world-class contract manufacturing services.

7 May 2010 --- DSM Biologics, a business unit of DSM Pharmaceutical products, announced it has reached an agreement for the acquisition of the assets and associated business of the Rhobust technology from Upfront Chromatography A/S (Denmark) for pharmaceutical and other applications.

As a result of the acquisition, DSM Biologics will gain all rights for the commercialization of the Rhobust technology in various fields, including the pharma industry. The Rhobust technology will lead to further innovation in the downstream processing for the manufacturing of recombinant proteins and antibodies. DSM Biologics will continue to support all existing clients for this technology. The parties have agreed to not disclose financial details.

Karen King, President of DSM Biologics commented: “The acquisition of the Rhobust technology is an important addition to the portfolio of DSM Biologics,” a provider of technologies for the optimization of biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes, in addition to world-class contract manufacturing services. “The Rhobust technology combined with DSM’s proprietary XD technology will provide an integral package combining high titer, high yield processing with efficient downstream processing leading to lower manufacturing costs.” King added.

The Rhobust technology has proven its ability to perform with high titer and high density cell culture processes. Compared to a conventional harvest approach, the number of unit operations is reduced. The cells are separated in one step while capturing the protein/antibody of interest. In the expanded bed adsorption chromatography (EBA) the cell suspension passes through the column and the product is adsorbed either on Protein A or on mixed mode ligand beads. This leads to less handling and shorter process times.
Rolf Douwenga, Vice President, Global Technology of DSM Biologics said: “DSM Biologics develops new technologies to meet the challenges of future biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Our proprietary XD technology was a first step in yielding high density cell cultures. We have achieved up to 200million cells/ml and titers up to 27 g/L for antibodies. This brings a real challenge to the downstream process; conventional process technology is of limited use here. With the Rhobust technology we can address this issue, and we are constantly broadening our technology portfolio for an even more effective biomanufacturing process.”