TransGenRx, a Baton Rouge biopharmaceutical manufacturing company, will make several growth-factor proteins for use in human biopharmaceuticals under a seven-year contract with Novocyt LLC.
TransGenRx, which started through licensing agreements with the LSU AgCenter, will make the products exclusively for Novocyt, which will pay product-development costs.
TransGenRx also will serve as the exclusive supplier for clinical trials and commercialization of the products.
TransGenRx will initially supply research-grade material, said Richard Cooper, professor in the LSU AgCenter School of Animal Sciences and chief science officer for TransGenRx.
When the product is proven to work biologically, TransGenRx will produce commercial quantities for human clinical trials.
Novocyt has an option to extend the original agreement by seven years.
“This contract validates the value of our technology,” Cooper said in a news release. “But more important, it’s a huge step closer to AgCenter spin-off technology being commercialized.”
The class of growth factors has been effective in healing wounds, developing new blood vessels and regrowing nerve tissue in animals, Cooper said.
Headquartered in Clearwater, Fla., Novocyt develops, manufactures and markets advanced and innovative protein solutions for wound healing and neuro-regnerative technology.