Calgary, Jan. 29 - SemBioSys Genetics Inc., a biotechnology company developing a portfolio of therapeutic proteins for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, today announced that it has signed an option agreement with The Instituto de Agrobiotecnologia Rosario S.A. (INDEAR) based in Rosario, Argentina.
INDEAR is a joint venture company formed by Bio Sidus AG S.A. and Bioceres S.A. to develop manufacturing and development capabilities for agricultural biotechnology products for South American markets. Under the terms of the agreement, INDEAR will evaluate the utility of using plant-produced chymosin for the production of cheese in South America. As per the agreement, SemBioSys will receive an option fee and will be eligible to collect an upfront license fee, possible milestone payments and royalties or other form of profit-sharing in the event INDEAR chooses to exercise their option.
"This agreement demonstrates the breadth of opportunity offered by our plant-based technology platform. The cost advantages of producing insulin and Apo AI in plants are also applicable to non-pharmaceutical products, in this case chymosin as a protein-based food processing agent," said Andrew Baum, President and CEO of SemBioSys. "Our work with chymosin is quite advanced and we believe that it offers compelling economic advantages relative to traditional sources of chymosin enzyme. We are excited at the prospect of working with INDEAR to bring this product to market in South America, subject to INDEAR's successful completion of their evaluation.
Chymosin, also called rennet, is a natural enzyme used in the production of cheese obtained originally from calve stomachs. The majority of chymosin used today is produced via fermentation. Using its proprietary plant expression system, SemBioSys has developed safflower-produced chymosin and an extraction process that it believes will allow for the production of chymosin in plants at significantly lower costs.