WACKER, Gearbox Partner to Advance Antibiotic Free pDNA

High-quality pDNA is a primary source of genetic information for the development of life-saving therapies, but the current manufacturing processes have limitations regarding scalability, efficiency, and cost. This project combines WACKER's expertise in GMP manufacturing of biologics, including pDNA, with the innovative solution from Gearbox Bioscience to address these challenges and strive to redefine the industry.

“We are thrilled to partner with Gearbox Biosciences to accelerate the development of next-generation plasmid DNA manufacturing technologies,” said Ralph Krafczyk, nucleic acids expert at WACKER R&D. “This collaboration underscores our commitment to continuously enhance our proprietary PLASMITEC toolbox in order to provide even greater benefits to our clients, who develop cutting edge therapies that are aimed at improving the life of patients worldwide.”

WACKER had previously developed an antibiotic-free system for recombinant pharmaceutical protein through its ESETEC (E. coli secretion technology) platform. The collaborative effort with GEA intends to focus on new workflows for antibiotic free plasmid DNA manufacturing and difficult to produce pDNA products. By utilizing the complementary strengths of both partners, the collaboration will focus on providing solutions that are more sustainable than other technologies, while offering higher quality and a shorter timeframe.

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“We are excited to collaborate with WACKER to bring newly developed technology from the lab to industrial scale,” said Arvi Joers, co-founder and CEO of Gearbox Biosciences. “Our proprietary Pop-Out-Plasmid technology is already in use in antibiotic-free protein production and now we are applying it to plasmid production as well. Eliminating the risk of spreading antibiotic resistance through pDNA is a great relief for regulatory agencies and society.”