SIRION Biotech defies COVID-19 to achieve 26% growth for first half 2020

Martinsried, Germany: – Strong interest in improved vector designs for gene therapies helped specialist viral vector supplier Sirion Biotech GmbH (SIRION) to grow its revenues by 26 per cent during first half of 2020 financial year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Revenues for SIRION’s vector design and manufacturing service for the first half of 2020 were €3.1m (USD 3.5m), compared with €2.46m (USD 2.82m) for the same period of 2019, where figures have been adjusted for a market approval milestone by one of SIRION’s licensees.

SIRION Biotech now projects full year 2020 revenues of approximately €11.0M, which would exceed last year’s revenue record.

Viral vector breakthroughs

“Gene and cell therapy are among the hottest topics in modern drug development today, and SIRION’s viral vector technologies make breakthrough advances in these areas possible,” said SIRION.

“Viral vectors are also the one critical gene editing tool enabling breakthrough treatments for previously incurable diseases. Critical to the success of this development is the need to improve patient safety by reducing dosages and increasing affordability by reducing production costs,” it continued.

Worldwide development projects

SIRION’s core competence in improving vector design and production protocols is based on thousands of development projects on behalf of drug developers worldwide. SIRION is dedicated to the success of its drug development partners through the expansion of additional offices in both Boston, Massachusetts and Paris in the past two years. Earlier this month SIRION further expanded into a fifth site near the Heidelberg University campus in Germany to increase and improve production specifically for most sophisticated AAV technologies.

SIRION’s business model includes both service revenue and licensing fees. SIRION provides high-grade viral vector materials for preclinical use, offering up to GMP-ready AAV vector genomes for preclinical studies and high titer Lentivirus, currently paving the way for toxicology studies. Licensing fees are rising as SIRION’s technology is now being used in more than 15 clinical trials worldwide.

Improving AAV development

“Our strategic priority is to reduce necessary patient dosages in gene therapy development through sophisticated vector design and efficient production protocols,” said Dieter Lingelbach, Chief Operating Officer of SIRION.

“Opening a site in Heidelberg demonstrates our dedication to improving AAV development.” Mr. Lingelbach continued.

“We expect to surpass our 2019 record year of growth despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic this year,” he concluded.

About SIRION Biotech

Founded at Martinsried, near Munich, in 2007, SIRION Biotech has become Europe’s leading commercial supplier of viral vectors used for genetic research, clinical target validation, cell and gene therapy and vaccination studies. It is SIRION’s mission to change the paradigm for viral vector supplies, with their ability to develop and supply all major viral vector types (adenovirus, lentivirus, AAV) within a matter of weeks at the concentration titres and quantities needed for preclinical human and animal testing.

Its unique focus on improving transduction efficiencies and safety makes SIRION Biotech a valuable technology partner for gene and cell therapy trials. LentiBOOST^™ transduction reagent is actively used to improve, among others, hematopoietic cell transductions in clinical trials. NextGen AAV capsid evolution projects aim to improve tissue targeting and immune escape of capsids to usher in a new generation of therapeutics for international gene therapy companies. SIRION offerings include the transformational RNAiONE^™ knockdown validation platform along with a full range of virus related services, ranging from particle production to virus driven cell modelling.

SIRION Biotech International is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SIRION Biotech GmbH providing custom engineering and manufacturing services of viral vectors for the life sciences industry.

Learn more at: www.sirion-biotech.com.

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