Dan Stanton, Managing editor

October 9, 2018

2 Min Read
Hoba (cell) banks on Selexis to advance neuropathic pain program
Image:iStock/ninitta-2

Selexis will use its SUREtechnology platform to develop a research cell bank to help advance Hoba Therapeutic’s neuropathic pain candidate HB-086.

The Danish firm Hoba Therapeutics has selected cell line development firm Selexis to help express viable levels of its clinical candidate HB-086 (recombinant human Meteorin) in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The candidate is a 31 kD secreted protein that promotes neurite outgrowth and glial differentiation in the central nervous system.

“We do not have a conclusive scientific explanation why HB-086 is a difficult-to-express protein in CHO cells,” Marco Bocci, VP of Licensing and Business Development at Selexis, told BioProcess Insider.

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Image:iStock/ninitta-2

“In standard CHO-K1 cells there may be some metabolic roadblocks. In preclinical research, Hoba successfully expressed the mouse version of HB-086 in CHO cells. However, Hoba was unable to express clinical and commercially viable levels of the human version of HB-086 using a number of different technologies.”

To service the deal – financials of which have not been disclosed – Selexis will use its SUREtechnology Platform, a technology which aims to improve the way that mammalian cells are used in the discovery, development, and manufacturing of any recombinant protein drug.

“We developed our SURE CHO-Mplus Libraries module to overcome expression issues in difficult-to-express proteins. By applying this module, we were able to successfully express viable amounts of HB-086,” said Bocci.

“In a proof-of-concept program, this technology allowed Selexis to quickly and effectively screen for a large number of pre-engineered CHO cell line hosts and identify the most suitable host cell line able to express viable amounts of HB-086.”

Selexis is currently developing high-expressing research cell banks (RCBs) from its laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland.

The end point of the collaboration is the tech transfer of a clonal research cells bank to Hoba’s contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), Bocci said. “Our accelerated RCB programs run as little as 14 weeks. Since this is a difficult-to-express program and we are still evaluating some additional libraries, this will run more than 14 weeks.”

About the Author(s)

Dan Stanton

Managing editor

Journalist covering the international biopharmaceutical manufacturing and processing industries.


Founder and editor of Bioprocess Insider, a daily news offshoot of publication Bioprocess International, with expertise in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, in particular, the following niches: CROs, CDMOs, M&A, IPOs, biotech, bioprocessing methods and equipment, drug delivery, regulatory affairs and business development.


From London, UK originally but currently based in Montpellier, France through a round-a-bout adventure that has seen me live and work in Leeds (UK), London, New Zealand, and China.

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