Marketed under the brand name Isokine, these growth factors and cytokines are produced utilising a plant-based expression platform offering products of excellent purity and bioactivity
ORF Genetics, headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, has introduced what it calls the next generation of human growth factors and cytokines.
The Isokine product will be a unique alternative to decades old bacterial and animal-based products, providing the research community with a more sophisticated and cost effective option free of biorisk or host system concerns.
ORF Genetics's cytokines and growth factors are produced in the company's Orfeus production system, which utilises the endosperm tissue of the barley grain as the production host for recombinant proteins.
The animal-free endosperm tissue has some highly individual features, such as very low protease activity, very low pyrogenic and pro-inflammatory activity, and avoidance of human or animal infectious agents, as acknowledged by regulatory authorities.
The output is a biorisk-free growth factor and cytokine characterised by extremely low endotoxin levels, 100-1000x lower than in bacterial-derived systems.
"We are proud to be the first company to offer biorisk-free growth factors in a market where the host background of the production system is becoming a regulatory concern," said Bjorn Larus Orvar, CEO of ORF Genetics.
"The company has successfully brought its first products to market, and we expect to have more than 90 different growth factors and cytokines in the market within the next 18 months," continued Orvar.
"We will be exhibiting at the upcoming American Society for Cell Biology and the American Society of Hematology events in December 2007, and look forward to presenting our new products to the research community".
Due to the scalability of the Orfeus production system, ORF Genetics says it will be able to supply large-scale quantities of Isokine growth factors and cytokines in a very price competitive manner.
