SAN DIEGO, Feb. 17 — Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc,, a development stage biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing recombinant human enzymes, today announced it has signed a commercial manufacturing supply agreement with Avid Bioservices, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Avid will manufacture under current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) Halozyme’s first recombinant human enzyme, which will be used in Cumulase(TM) and Enhanze SC(TM), Halozyme’s first two product candidates. Cumulase and Enhanze SC will offer synthetic alternatives to impure slaughterhouse-derived enzymes currently used in the infertility and ophthalmology markets. Halozyme anticipates that it will begin the next phase of manufacturing in early March of 2005.
“The signing of this commercial manufacturing agreement is the result of the strong working partnership between Avid Bioservices and Halozyme and represents a key milestone toward building the long term success of Avid,” said Jay Treat, PhD, Avid’s COO. “Since Avid’s formation in January of 2002, our goal has been to become a premier service partner by integrating our efforts with our clients as if we were their own process sciences and manufacturing departments.”
“We are pleased to contract with Avid for the commercial manufacturing of our recombinant human enzyme, which will be used in Cumulase and Enhanze SC,” said Jonathan Lim, MD, Halozyme’s Chairman and CEO. “With Avid’s solid capabilities in cGMP manufacturing, we are well positioned to launch Cumulase in Europe and rapidly advance our products to the U.S. market pending FDA clearance.”Halozyme’s recombinant human enzyme technology replaces current animal slaughterhouse-derived enzymes that carry risks of animal pathogen contamination and immunogenicity. The versatility of the first enzyme, rHuPH20, will enable Halozyme to simultaneously market the product as a medical device, drug enhancement agent, and therapeutic biologic.
