Canadian Chemistry - Sponsored Whitepaper

Case Study #3: A query about a basic supply relationship evolves into a complex manufacturing pact

SOMETIMES IT PAYS to be a little nosy. By probing the pipeline of a customer buying research supplies, Canadian custom manufacturer BioVectra opened the door to a project that ties together a range of its technologies. The resulting manufacturing agreement with Helix BioPharma, a small Canadian biotech firm developing novel cancer therapeutics, could be the first chapter in a long-lasting relationship.

BioVectra, which has its headquarters in Prince Edward Island, had been supplying Ontario- based Helix with urease, an enzyme isolated from jack beans, and with IPTG (isopropyl-β-D- thiogalactopyranoside), which is often added to a fermenter to trigger the expression of certain genes. "One of our salespeople got inquisitive and called to ask what they were using the compounds for," says Dale Zajicek, BioVectra's chief operating officer.

Helix explained that it was doing preclinical work on L-DOS47, a compound in which the anticancer enzyme urease is tethered to an antibody targeting lung cancer cells. The resulting immunoconjugate enables the direct delivery of urease, a highly potent agent that would be too toxic if delivered systemically like other chemotherapeutics.

Sensium Technologies, the research arm of Helix, had discovered and developed DOS47, the urease-containing component of L-DOS47; Helix, however, licensed the antibody from Canada's National Research Council.