Avirmax opens gene therapy CDMO facility

Avirmax CMC Inc. (ACI), a spin off entity of Avirmax Inc., held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new clinical good manufacturing practice (GMP), adeno-associated virus vector (AAV) CDMO facility, attracting more than 100 industry leaders, academics and government officials.

Avirmax CMC Inc. is involved in AAV vector design, engineering, process development, GMP manufacturing, analytical testing and characterization that enable clients to obtain full services in AAV product supply from transgene DNA sequences into final AAV final products.

The company announced in a news release the new 20,000-square-foot facility containing cGMP suites, developmental and testing laboratories, equipped with single use bioreactors at 50 L, 200 L, and 1000 L production scales can deliver rAAV drug product at 1016-18 vector genome per batch within approximately 200 days starting from a transgene DNA plasmid.

According to the news release, along with ACI, Avirmax Biopharma Inc. (ABI) has pipelines for genetic medicinal product development in major eye diseases including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma.

“We were very fortunate to have Shawn presenting at Glaucoma 360 earlier this year and believe that Avirmax can provide a gene therapy drug for glaucoma as Luxturna is used for Leber congenital amaurosis, a rare inherited eye disease,” Thomas M. Brunner, president and CEO of the Glaucoma Research Foundation, said at the event.

Shengjiang (Shawn) Liu, president and CEO of Avirmax, also addressed those in attendance, according to the news release.

“Our team has good experience and knowledge in rAAV technology development and rAAV manufacturing,” Liu said, according to the release. “With our new facility, Avirmax CMC Inc. can deliver high yield and quality vectors efficiently, timely and cost effectively."