Novozymes Biopharma, part of Novozymes A/S, the world leader in bioinnovation, today unveiled its enhanced next-generation albumin technology, which was developed in collaboration with the University of Oslo, Norway, one of the world’s leading institutions in the research of albumin variants and the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn). Built on Novozymes’ original albufuse platform, the proprietary Albufuse Flex technology has been designed to enable users to adapt and control the pharmacokinetics of their target protein or peptide with retained efficacy, ensuring flexibility and optimal use. Dave Mead, Business Development Director at Novozymes Biopharma says, “Novozymes Biopharma is thrilled to introduce Albufuse Flex to the industry. Albumin is a natural and benign carrier molecule, and by having the unique ability to decrease or increase its half-life it will help our customers to develop novel drugs with improved pharmacokinetic properties for a wide range of applications.
It has been shown that by manipulating the interaction of albumin and IgGs with FcRn it is possible to tailor their half-life. The Albufuse Flex technology has been developed to facilitate manipulation based on this FcRn–albumin interaction, enabling a tunable half-life that offers control and flexibility and that, potentially, may improve overall treatment efficacy and patient compliance. In addition to protein- or peptide-based drugs, the enhanced technology also provides a delivery vehicle for small molecules, providing a broad scope of usability.
The enhanced half-life technology has been developed by Novozymes in collaboration with scientists at the University of Oslo. The innovative research developed by the university into the interaction between albumin variants and the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) was fundamental in the development of Albufuse Flex.
