Proclara Biosciences Australia awarded grant to help develop new biotherapy with blockbuster potenti

Work on a second-generation fusion protein due to start in 2017 at Patheon's manufacturing facility in Brisbane.

Proclara Biosciences has been awarded a grant of $250,000 to support the development of NPT189 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and other age-related neurological diseases. NPT189 is a second-generation fusion protein manufactured using advanced cell culture methods. The work is projected to start in 2017 at Patheon’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Brisbane. The material produced from the scale-up batch will be used in preclinical studies required for regulatory approvals and to de-risk the transition to large scale cGMP manufacture.

Proclara Biosciences has also been awarded an establishment grant of $25,000 from Biopharmaceuticals Australia (BPA). The establishment of Proclara Biosciences Australia paves the way for the company to develop its unique biodrugs using Australia’s globally competitive service providers.

Proclara’s drug candidates simultaneously target the multiple misfolded proteins implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other age-related degenerative diseases of the central nervous system. Proclara’s drug candidates may also be used to treat other protein-misfolding diseases, including systemic amyloidosis.

BPA’s Biopharmaceutical Development Fund of more than $2 million has pioneered support in Australia for new medicines in pre-clinical and early clinical development. BPA has already committed $1.8M to support biotech companies in developing biodrugs in association with Patheon. BPA estimates that its Patheon partnership returned a total economic benefit to Australia of over $100 million in under 3 years, with over $1 billion return forecast over 10 years.