EnWave Announces Successful Test Results For Antibodies Using FreezeREV Dehydration Technology

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry;  Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 25 Sep 2009 - 7:00 PST

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EnWave Corporation (TSX VENTURE:ENW) ("EnWave" or "the Company") today announced that it has successfully dried three different antibodies in the Company's prototype freezeREV vial dehydration technology. Results from this study showed no detectable visual difference between freezeREV-dried and freeze dried samples when examined with the SDS-PAGE electrophoresis method. Additionally, the indication of the molecular weight was similar between the two dried samples and liquid antibodies. Freeze drying, or lyophilization, is the current industry standard for dehydrating live or active organisms such as antibodies.

Freeze drying can be particularly harsh on sensitive materials such as antibodies because of the length of time the organisms are exposed to extremely low temperatures. The freezeREV prototype has been designed to significantly reduce the drying time and temperature exposure from days, to minutes or hours, creating the potential for a high-speed, cost effective dehydration technology. The Company believes that a commercial-scale freezeREV machine could reduce the costs of dehydration for live or active pharmaceuticals and reagents by as much as 80%.

"These are exciting results for the Company as we are seeing the potential of this technology in a new area of biopharmaceuticals and biomaterials," said Dr. Durance. "We have tested a variety of proteins in the past, but antibody dehydration could open up a huge new market for EnWave, and this would compliment our existing research into vaccine dehydration."

Antibodies are infection fighting proteins used in a wide variety of applications including medical research and diagnostics, prenatal therapy, and treatment of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. The three polyclonal antibodies used in this study were derived from chicken, rabbit and bovine blood serum, and are used by the pharmaceutical industry for drug research. They are also used in the production of animal vaccines, and as feed additives to improve animal health. Dehydration of antibodies is important to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, primarily because the process increases the shelf-life of these expensive and difficult-to-manufacture organisms.

freezeREV is a method for drying biomaterials in vials where low moisture levels in the final product are imperative for long product shelf-life. This technology is being designed to create room temperature stable pharmaceuticals or reagents containing live organisms such as viruses, bacteria and antibodies where an emphasis must be placed on maintaining the maximum possible survival rates of these organisms until they are delivered to a patient.

EnWave has initiated a search for a major industry partner with whom to expand testing for both polyclonal and monoclonal antibody products with the goal of proving that freezeREV dehydration technology can be developed into a commercially viable method.

Source
EnWave

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