June 25 2001

RPI OFFERS RAPID, LOW-COST PROTEINS FOR PHARMA, BIOTECH

SAN DIEGO, Calif.--Proteins can be made more rapidly and less costly for proteomic and biomedical research of possible therapeutic applications by research proteins Inc. (rpi), a new company launched with the help of patented technology from the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI).

By using UMBI insect larvae expression techniques, and combining them with cloning and purification capabilities, rpi has begun to express and sell milligram quantities of proteins as reagents for use in pharmaceutical and academic research. The cost is expected to be two to three times more economical than producing recombinant proteins with conventional methods.

The company is designed to overcome a current dilemma for many "big pharma and biotechs," of having invested heavily into genomics, then waiting for significant profits, says rpi CEO William Sutton. "This situation has left an information gap between the exciting prospects of genomics and the reality of discovering the biological functions of genes," says Sutton. "We can purify large, milligram amounts of proteins for structural and functional characterization to help bridge the gap."

The UMBI technology is based on producing proteins in insect larvae and insect cell cultures. "This company could indeed fill a pressing need in the biotech industries," says Jennie Hunter-Cevera, UMBI president, "because the larval expression system has several advantages over bacterial and eukaryotic protein expression systems." She explains that the larval system can make large amounts of correctly folded protein and, in many cases, direct the proper post-translational modifications to produce an authentic end product."

The company has purchase orders in hand (with a value of in excess of $1 million) to supply large numbers of proteins to two major pharmaceutical companies. The company has negotiations underway with a third pharmaceutical company for a similar contract as well as is in negotiations with one of seven academic consortia awarded grants under the Protein Structure Initiative of the NIH.

The company has initiated operations as an integrated company, establishing subcontractor relationships with established suppliers for the production and quality control of baculovirus expression vectors; production of recombinant proteins using transfected insect larvae; and downstream purification and characterization of expressed proteins. The company has received an initial round of financing from a small Connecticut venture capital group.

At UMBI, researchers have used a green fluorescence gene from jellyfish (wild type Green Fluorescent Protein or GFP) for a neon green light that can track the production of the target proteins in the larvae under ultraviolet light. Those larvae with the brightest glow have produced the most protein. They are separated and their cells processed into significant quantities of the protein.

Sutton further explains the new company's approach: "With the recent discovery that the human genome contains only 30,000 genes-one third of what had been widely predicted-some researchers are theorizing that the human genome may provide cells with instructions to make as many as 300,000 different proteins.

"However, transforming raw genomic information into finished protein structures so that structural biologists can interpret the biological meaning of the new information and researchers in the pharmaceutical industry can apply the resulting knowledge to drug design has run into a major bottleneck: producing large numbers of proteins. Using traditional cell culture methods to produce proteins from gene sequences cost and turn-around times that are prohibitive for researchers requiring hundreds of proteins.

"In contrast, by being organized to provide a product (not contract research as the existing participants structure their business) rpi's insect larval production technology can meet the needs of proteomics researchers for large numbers of high quality proteins in rapid turn-around time."

rpi is affiliated with research laboratories of both UMBI and Rutgers University. William Ward, of Rutgers and one of the nation's leading experts on GFP has joined RPI as a visiting scientist. The company has also formed an alliance with DNA Technologies (DNATI) of Gaithersburg, Maryland that provides the cloning. Dr Javed Siddiqi president of DNATI is the Chairman of the rpi Scientific Advisory Board. Specifically, the company has an exclusive license for parented technology from the University of Maryland (patent 6153409.

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The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute was mandated by the state of Maryland legislature in 1985 as "a new paradigm of state economic development in biotech-related sciences." With five major research and education centers across Maryland, UMBI is dedicated to advancing the frontiers of biotechnology. The centers are the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology in Rockville; Center for Agricultural Biotechnology in College Park; and Center of Marine Biotechnology, Medical Biotechnology Center, and the Institute of Human Virology, all in Baltimore.