Boehringer Ingelheim and Fresenius Kabi evaluate HESylation Technology

Boehringer Ingelheim and Fresenius Kabi have completed a collaborative project to develop a new manufacturing method for HESylated pharmaceuticals on an industrial scale.

The joint project involved the coupling of hydroxyethyl starch (HES) to a therapeutic protein via the use of Fresenius Kabi's HESylation Technology.

This technique allows key pharmacological parameters of drugs – such as absorption, metabolisation, half-life, safety and solubility – to be modified in a targeted manner.

It was found that the technology was able to create 30,000 once-weekly doses of an approved second-generation pharmaceutical product, with a high level of quality and process yield performance demonstrated.

Boehringer Ingelheim and Fresenius Kabi stated that they will now "actively evaluate further opportunities to extend the collaboration and to apply HESylation Technology respectively".

This comes after Boehringer Ingelheim announced earlier this month that it will be working together with VTU Technology to augment its contract manufacturing services via the use of the high-expression Pichia system.