iBio, Inc. announced the formation of a venture to develop and manufacture plant-made pharmaceuticals at a site in Texas.
Investing in the venture are affiliates Eastern Capital Ltd., a company based in the Cayman Islands and owned a member of a family that has made a fortune in manufacturing disposable cups.
iBio had been based in Newark for some years but now lists a New York City address.
Robotics help grow plants
The iBio system uses robotics and other tools to grow plants that are used to extract proteins for the production of vaccines and other drugs. The process is faster than the use of eggs or other environments.
Eastern and iBio have formed a newly-formed subsidiary of iBio – iBio CMO LLC – to create a contract manufacturing organization for development and large-scale manufacturing of biologicals.
The Eastern Affiliates contributed $15 million in cash to the venture for 30 percent of the equity. iBio contributed research and manufacturing licenses of iBio’s proprietary intellectual property for plant-made production of biopharmaceuticals. iBio will retain a 70 percent equity interest.
iBio CMO LLC entered into a 35-year operating lease with the Eastern Affiliates, to control a 139,000 square foot Class A life sciences building on approximately 21 acres in Bryan, Texas.
Former partner owned plant
The facility, previously owned by Caliber Biotherapeutics LLC and its affiliates, and now owned by the Eastern Affiliates, is located on a technology corridor near the campus of Texas A & M University. The plant had focused on the making vaccines from tobacco plants.
Caliber, which had been working with iBio, was part of the speculation over the possibility that the company could profit from a fast-track Ebola drug program.
Eastern agreed to purchase 10 million additional shares of iBio common stock at $0.622 per share, a 30 percent premium.
‘We expect these transactions to be transformative for iBio,’ said iBio Chairman, Robert B. Kay. ‘They give us control over a beautifully engineered, fully-equipped, large-scale facility to implement iBio’s proprietary plant-made biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing technologies. They also provide substantial capital to both iBio and iBio CMO to support progress of iBio’s fibrosis products into human clinical trials, and enable us to offer the rapidly expanding and underserved biologics development market contract manufacturing, using the superior attributes of our proprietary, plant-based technologies’
“We have an excellent working relationship with iBio and a shared vision of its potential, both as a contract manufacturing organization and as a developer of biopharmaceutical products,” said Mark VanDevelde, a director of Eastern Capital Limited. “iBio’s commanding IP position in low cost plant-based biologics manufacture and its conservative capital management contributed to Eastern’s decision to substantially increase its financial investment in iBio.”
Advances in technology at Texas plant
Key former employees of Caliber Biotherapeutics have joined iBio CMO to continue ongoing operations and the projects currently underway for iBio in the facility. iBio and Caliber have worked closely together since 2012, collaborating on a range of projects, such as antiviral therapeutic antibodies, including those for Dengue fever and Ebola virus disease, a release noted.
Several proprietary advances over the first generation pilot plant based upon iBio technology are built into the iBio CMO facility in Texas.
The system offers greater speed to market with significantly lower capital expenditures and lower operating costs than most conventional cell based systems.
“Despite significant recent investments by major pharmaceutical and industrial companies in legacy cell culture-based manufacturing facilities, there is still a looming worldwide shortage of biologics development and manufacturing capacity. Meanwhile, growth of the biopharmaceutical sector is accelerating,’ said Robert Erwin, iBio’s president. “We now have both the technology and the capacity to enable biologics companies to focus on the value of their products rather than on the time, cost and other development challenges of cell lines used in traditional biologics manufacturing.”
Dart becomes major investor
Eastern Capital Limited is owned by investor Kenneth B. Dart. Dart was previously president of Dart Container Corporation, a company that dominates the disposable cup business. It may be best known for the popular red Solo cups. Currently Kenneth DART is one of the largest private sector employers on the island of Grand Cayman.
iBio has been working with Fraunhofer CMB in Newark in developing the plant technology, but has also been involved in a legal dispute over intellectual property, the News Journal reported last month. Fraunhofer spokesperson Dale Ervin said the organization would have no comment, since the matter is in litigation.
The company was in the news in 2014 when its stock saw a big run-up on speculation that the plant technology could be used to fight Ebola.
When the stock price plunged from $3.21 a share, iBio was hit by “pump and dump” allegations over its involvement in building up the stock price on speculation of a possible Ebola treatment. As of Tuesday, iBio shares were trading at less than 60 cents a share.
The stock roller coaster led to a $1.875 million settlement with shareholders after lawyers had claimed the company did not do enough to quell speculation on its stock.
