ProMetic Life Sciences and NantPharma have together formed an affiliate company, NantPro BioSciences, to develop and commercialize a plasma-derived biopharmaceutical product for the US market.
The new US based company has entered into development, licensing and manufacturing agreements with ProMetic.
Under the agreements, ProMetic has granted NantPro rights to its Plasma Protein Purification system and Prion Reduction technologies.
NantPharma said it has made an initial contribution of $2.5m to NantPro, which in turn paid all of these funds to ProMetic under various agreements for NantPro to access the technology rights from ProMetic.
NantPro has engaged ProMetic for the development and manufacturing services including the production in its Laval facility of cGMP bulk active batches to enable the IND filing and provide product required for bioequivalence clinical trials.
Upon FDA approval, ProMetic will manufacture and supply the commercial requirements of the cGMP bulk active with NantPharma completing the final sterile manufacturing steps, expected to occur at its Terre Haute, Indiana facility.
NantPharma chairman Patrick Soon-Shiong said plasma-derived products are needed for the treatment of auto-immune and other diseases.
"Safety and reliability are paramount in the manufacture of these products," Soon-Shiong added.
"The combination of ProMetic's state-of-the-art and proven technologies with NantPharma's expertise and resources, will enable us to produce the finest quality plasma-derived therapeutics for this vital market."