AcuraBio picks Cytiva tech to offer pDNA service

CDMO AcuraBio has selected Cytiva’s two-step purification system, AKTA readyflux, to provide a plasmid DNA (pDNA) service to its customers.

According to Australia-based contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) AcuraBio, the offering of pDNA services to its customers aims to ease supply chain constraints for messenger RNA (mRNA) and cell and gene therapies (CGTs).

“The demand for pDNA manufacture to support the clinical development of advanced therapies has never been greater. Demand has been fueled by the growth in vaccines and therapies based on mRNA therapy platforms, but also growth in the CGT [space],” Guillaume Herry, CEO of AcuraBio, told BioProcess Insider.

DepositPhotos/Julia_Tim

Some of the biggest players in the mRNA space since COVID-19 have headed to Australia to bolster mRNA capabilities. In December 2021, Moderna outlined plans to construct an mRNA vaccine manufacturing plant in Victoria, Australia, which could produce up to 100 million doses each year. Less than one year later, BioNTech entered into a partnership with the State of Victoria, Australia to build a research and manufacturing center for mRNA-based products in Melbourne.

Cytiva’s AKTA readyflux is an automated single-use filtration system, which is used in the two-step pDNA process. The CDMO said through using this technology, it will be able to manufacture more pDNA for its clients globally.

The two-step purification protocol is based on developments in chromatography resin technology, and it combines supercoiled covalently closed circular pDNA. In turn, it ups binding capacity for pDNA, as well as increasing tolerance flow rates during purification, which enables streamlined purification.

AcuraBio’s Brisbane, Australia facility will be responsible for manufacturing pDNA and the CDMO anticipates the offering to launch in the second half of this year.