SemBioSys Produces Commercial Levels of Recombinant Apo AI Using Plants

SemBioSys Genetics, Inc. (Calgary, Canada, www.sembiosys.com) announced that it has successfully produced commercial levels of apolipoprotein AI and its variant apolipoprotein AI(Milano), collectively referred to as Apo AI, in safflower seed lines. Apo AI is currently under development by several companies, including SemBioSys, as a cardiovascular drug. Apo AI is a major component of HDL (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol, and clinical results from Apo AI have shown significant reductions in plaque.

SemBioSys says its plant-produced Apo AI offers the potential to overcome the manufacturing challenges of traditional fermentation-based technologies. SemBioSys’s technology addresses protein extraction and purification, as well as bulk protein production. Using this new technology, SemBioSys estimates that it can reduce capital costs for protein production by up to 70% and cost of goods by 40% or more.

SemBioSys expects to confirm the in vivo efficacy of plant-produced Apo AI in the third quarter of 2007. The company then intends to scale up production of plant-produced Apo AI and perform the necessary preclinical work in 2008 in order to initiate clinical trials in 2009.