CHARLEROI, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Belgian Biotech
Company Delphi
Genetics SA is proud to announce the launch of a
newly-funded project. Together with academic and Biotech
key-players, the company will participate in the development
of DNA vaccines using the Staby® technology (antibiotic-free)
during the next 3 years. The objective of the project funded
by the Walloon region (BioWin project, 2.3 M €) is to develop
and produce antibiotic-free DNA vaccines targeting some
veterinary
diseases.

The project also involves Eurogentec SA, another Belgian
Biotech company (part of Kaneka) in charge of large scale DNA
production and purification, and two universities: the
Catholic University of Louvain in charge of the
pharmaceutical and toxicity aspects of the project and the
University of Liège in charge of the vaccinology and
veterinary issues. “All partners complement one another
perfectly” said Cédric Szpirer, CEO and Head of R&D of
Delphi Genetics SA and explained:

“Today vaccination is an uncontested way of fighting disease.
DNA vaccination seems to be a particularly promising method
at this time, especially in the case of veterinary diseases.
However, antibiotic-resistance genes are conventionally used
during the construction of DNA vaccines but the resistance is
increasingly less tolerated by regulatory agencies (FDA, USDA
and EMA). In the context of this project, we propose to
replace the antibiotic-resistance gene by the Staby®
technology developed by Delphi Genetics and already used for
production of recombinant proteins (higher yields and no
antibiotics). In order to show the efficiency of our
technology, we will develop new veterinary vaccines, we will
validate that the method is usable for high scale DNA
production and we will show its innocuousness.”

About Delphi Genetics

Founded at the end of 2001, Delphi Genetics SA develops
technologies for genetic engineering and protein expression
by using unique expertise in the domain of plasmid
stabilisation systems.

Since 2004, Delphi Genetics has been marketing innovative
kits for researchers. Some of these kits contain technologies
that have since been licensed for industrial applications; in
2009 Delphi Genetics announced a non-exclusive licence
agreement with Sanofi-Pasteur, the human vaccine division of
Sanofi and a non-exclusive agreement with GSK in 2010. These
agreements allow Sanofi-Pasteur and GSK to apply the
StabyExpress® technology in the production of recombinant
proteins, thus enabling them to produce a high yield without
using antibiotics.

For more information, visit our website:
http://www.delphigenetics.com

Link:
Delphi Genetics: The New DNAVAC Research Project Targets the Removal of Antibiotics in Veterinary DNA-Vaccine ...