Sunflower Therapeutics Announces SK bioscience’s $2M SAFE Investment
25 Julio 2024 - 7:05AM
Business Wire
Partnership will support the companies’ ongoing
R&D collaboration
Sunflower Therapeutics, a public benefit corporation
transforming global access to protein manufacturing capacity for
diverse applications, today announced that SK bioscience, a global
innovative vaccine and biotech company committed to promoting human
health from prevention to cure, has participated in Sunflower’s
simple agreement for future equity (SAFE), a flexible agreement
providing future equity rights without immediate valuation, with a
$2M subscription to solidify their support for the companies’
ongoing research and development R&D collaborations.
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The subscription builds on Sunflower and SK bioscience’s
existing collaboration to develop an efficient manufacturing
process for an accessible human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine using
the alternative protein expression host Pichia pastoris. Through
their partnership, SK bioscience is leveraging Sunflower’s
expertise in the development of integrated biomanufacturing
processes using alternative hosts in the development and
manufacturing of accessible, clinically relevant vaccines for
combatting public health crises such as HPV and cervical
cancer.
“In this time where various infectious diseases threaten
humanity, vaccine sovereignty is the key to protecting the safety
of our people and enhancing national competition,” said Jaeyong
Ahn, CEO of SK bioscience. “We are excited to deepen our
relationship with Sunflower Therapeutics and make an impact on
global health as we continue to develop efficacious, safe and
cost-effective vaccines.”
Sunflower’s cutting-edge approach uses continuous fermentation,
an entirely new way to make virus-like particles (VLPs) and has
been proven to be five to ten times more effective in space-time
yields for VLPs than fed-batch fermentation. Through the companies’
collaboration, Sunflower is evaluating the potential for
cost-effective manufacturing in P. pastoris using Sunflower’s Daisy
PetalTM perfusion bioreactor system, a laboratory-scale, automated
manufacturing system for the integrated production of purified
protein bulk using microbes.
“Our accessible, cutting-edge protein manufacturing solutions
are moving the needle by reimagining the biologic development
process,” said Dr. Kerry R. Love, Founder, CEO and President of
Sunflower Therapeutics. “We’re thrilled by SK bioscience’s expanded
support and look forward to democratizing and supporting product
development for vaccine producers across the globe with our
next-generation manufacturing technologies, coupled with our
thoughtful, resourceful services.”
To learn more, please visit sunflowertx.com.
About Sunflower Therapeutics
Sunflower Therapeutics, PBC is a unique biotech company with a
mission to enable more medicines to reach patients worldwide. Our
goal is to transform access to biologic medicines for patients
worldwide by creating novel technologies for development and
manufacturing with the whole global community in mind. Using our
core technologies--an efficient host, data-driven methods for
process development, and novel manufacturing facilities--our team
aims to create efficient, fast and less costly cycles of
development and production for many new innovative patient-focused
products.
About SK bioscience
SK bioscience is an innovative vaccine and biotech company,
committed to vaccine development and manufacturing to enable more
equitable access to vaccines around the world. Leveraging strengths
on cutting-edge technologies, SK bioscience has been dedicated to
promoting human health from prevention to cure across the globe.
With the cooperation of domestic and international governments,
regulatory agencies, healthcare providers, doctors, and medical
experts, all of the SK colleagues are passionately committed to
providing high-quality vaccines to those who need them and better
public healthcare solutions.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240725394078/en/
Media: Greenough Communications Tiffany Keenan VP of
Healthcare and Life Sciences sunflowertx@greenoughagency.com