Notes to Editors
BPI Awards
Judged by a distinguished panel of independent biopharmaceutical experts, and supported by bioprocess specialist publication BioProcess International, the awards ceremony takes place during the BioProcess International Conference on the evening of Wednesday, 5 October 2016.
About Puridify Ltd
Puridify Limited is a UK-based bioprocessing company with a platform purification technology, FibroSelect, which enables new processing strategies aimed at significantly reducing the cost and time associated with manufacture. The company is funded by leading venture capital investors Imperial Innovations and SR One who recognised the significant value that Fibroselect™ can release to a large and growing marketplace that is seeking efficiency but which has seen little in the way of innovation. Puridify’s head office and research & development facilities are based at the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst. The company works closely with industry experts and leading industrial collaborators from around the world, to drive the rapid development of its platform technologies.
Puridify has secured a number of prestigious awards, including the SR-One funded OneStart Competition and Innovate UK Proof of Concept Bid to Smart Award in 2013; Innovate UK’s Feasibility Studies and Collaborative R&D Awards in 2014; and this year received an Innovate UK Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst Project award, co-funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
For more information, visit www.puridify.com
Biotherapeutic Industry Context
Global demand for cheaper biotherapeutics, such as antibodies and vaccines, and the growth of biosimilars, which represent many of the new tools in the fight against diseases such as cancer, inflammation and neurodegenerative conditions, is driving the need for increased efficiency in biomolecule manufacturing. A significant proportion of current costs arise from the purification technologies now used to ensure the safety and efficacy of these treatments. Recent rapid evolution of the global biopharmaceutical market has drawn focus to the limitations of current purification operations, demanding a step-change improvement in processes. The rapid development of “Next Generation” biotherapeutics of increased complexity and size in addition to a focus on process efficiency, flexibility and convenience during manufacturing is driving the need for innovative but robust
technologies that enable new platform processing strategies.
About Fibroselect
Puridify has leveraged proprietary technology with industrial expertise to develop industry-ready products that will bring significant simplification and performance benefits to downstream processing of biotherapeutics. The unique high capacity (Dynamic Binding Capacities comparable to packed beds) combined with high flowrate properties (3 minute chromatography runs, 1 second residence times) of FibroSelect™ enables the replacement of columns that are >50x larger. This is achieved by using a ‘multi-cycle, single batch’ mode of operation that greatly improves productivity allowing the operation to be shrunk to the point that single-use operation is economically viable. These highly cost effective, ready to use, units will reduce validation burden, improve process robustness and increase facility flexibility.
FibroSelect™ simplifies chromatography so that it can behave in a way akin to adsorptive depth filters whilst maintaining compatibility with existing facility infrastructure. Making use of well understood materials such as cellulose also allows a broad scope of current ligands such as Protein A to be used with FibroSelect as a solution in costly product-capture applications. The performance and operating characteristics offer highly desirable rapid process development opportunities valued by the biopharmaceutical industry.
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