Thermo Fisher and Symphogen collaborate on complex therapeutic proteins

Laboratory equipment supplier Thermo Fisher Scientific has entered into a two-year collaborative partnership with Symphogen, a clinical-stage antibody oncology-focused company, to deliver validated, platform workflows for simplified characterisation and quality monitoring of complex therapeutic proteins.

Building on a decade-long relationship, the new collaboration will develop protein analysis workflows to accelerate drug development for biopharmaceutical innovators, biosimilar manufacturers, contract research organisations, and contract development and manufacturing organisations.

Symphogen will use the Thermo Scientific Q Exactive Plus Orbitrap liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) system with BioPharma Option to create, test and validate platform workflows for intact and native mass analysis of therapeutic monoclonal antibody (mAb) mixtures. Additional focus will be placed on the development of automated multi-attribute method (MAM) workflows for monitoring critical quality attributes of proteins using high-resolution accurate-mass mass spectrometry in a quality control environment.

“The growing demand for more targeted and personalised treatment modalities results in the development of increasingly complex drug products, requiring research and development of advanced workflows to monitor their structure, manufacturing variation and quality,” said John Rontree, Senior Director Pharma & Biopharma, Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry, Thermo Fisher Scientific.

“The collaboration with Symphogen, in addition to our commitment to the opening of Global Customer Solution Centers, will enable us to jointly leverage our established mass spectrometry technology, along with the expertise of our customers, to develop and implement novel, easy-to-use analytical strategies for complex mAb mixtures needed by drug manufacturers to drive the development of new therapies for cancer patients.”

“Through this collaboration, we can leverage the knowledge and world-class technology provided by Thermo Fisher to effectively address our needs,” said Dr Dan Bach Kristensen, Principal Scientist, Symphogen. “The exceptional spectral resolution enabled by the Q Exactive BioPharma mass spectrometry platform means we now have a highly powerful tool for simple, reliable characterisation and quality monitoring of complex biopharmaceutical products.”

The news comes just days after Thermo Fisher Scientific completed its acquisition of the Advanced Bioprocessing business from BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a global medical technology company, for US$477 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments. The business, which has 160 employees and annualised revenue of approximately US$100 million, will be integrated into Thermo Fisher’s Life Sciences Solutions Segment.

“We are pleased to complete this acquisition and officially welcome our new colleagues from BD to Thermo Fisher,” said Mark Stevenson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific.

“The addition of Advanced Bioprocessing’s complementary cell-culture media products and strong technical services program into our leading bioproduction portfolio will enable our biopharmaceutical customers to bring new and innovative drugs to market faster.”

The acquisition is expected to provide Thermo Fisher Scientific with additional revenue of approximately US$15 million in 2018, with no impact on adjusted earnings per share (EPS). For 2019, the company expects US$0.04 to US$0.05 of adjusted EPS accretion.

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