BresaGen to make Psiron melanoma therapy

Sydney biotech Psiron (ASX:PSX) will be the first client for rejuvenated Adelaide biotechnology manufacturer BresaGen's new pilot production plant for therapeutics produced in mammalian cell cultures.

Psiron has engaged BresaGen to produce its promising melanoma therapy, Cavatak, based on Psiron's patented Cocksackie A21 Virus strain that, when injected into solid tumours, lyses cancerous cells, or induces their death by apoptosis.

Psiron originally produced the virus in a melanoma cell line, which released the virus on lysing, but delayed a trial in late-stage melanoma patients earlier this year, and switched to production in a non-cancer mammalian cell line out of concern that knowledge of the virus' provenance could be unsettling to patients.

BresaGen will produce Cavatak from Psiron's new cell line.

BresaGen said it would make a staged move into the lucrative area of mammalian cell-derived therapeutics, beginning with construction of a pilot production plant at its premises in the inner Adelaide suburb of Thebarton.

It will then use the pilot plant to produce and purify the Cavatak virus for an unspecified term. The facility will have the capacity to grow mammalian cells to produce proteins and other bio-therapeutics for its clients' pre-clinical studies and clinical trials.

The company said it had already had "positive discussions" with the national pharmaceutical watchdog, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, on the concept, design and licensing of the new Thebarton facility.

BresaGen's COO, Dr Meera Verma, said the staged expansion into mammalian call-derived therapeutics made good business sense.