CSL Licenses Novozymes’ Albumin Fusion Technology for Extending Protein Half-life

Novozymes (Bagsvaerd, Denmark) has signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement for its albumin fusion technology, albufuse, with CSL Behring (King of Prussia, PA). Albufuse technology has been proven to extend the circulatory half-life of therapeutic proteins through genetic fusion to recombinant human albumin. The license will enable CSL Behring to use albufuse technology for research, development, and commercialization of novel biotherapeutic products.

CSL Behring has chosen albufuse technology because it has been shown to increase the circulatory half-life of a wide range of therapeutically relevant proteins, leading to increased bioavailability and therefore less frequent administration. The combined expression and production process eliminates the need for additional post-production chemical derivatization, such as PEGylation. Pre-clinical studies have demonstrated albufuse efficacy with a number of therapeutically relevant proteins.

Pre-clinical data presented at the American Society of Hematology 49th Annual Meeting and Exposition suggests that fusion of Factor VIIa (FVIIa) to recombinant human albumin, using albufuse, significantly extends the circulatory half-life of the protein. In the study, the fusion protein (rVIIa-FP) was shown to extend the half-life of the recombinant protein six-to-nine-fold compared to the wild type (rFVIIa). Additionally, rVIIa-FP demonstrated a biologic activity comparable to wild type rFVIIa. Recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) is used to control bleeding episodes in hemophilia patients.