Program aimed to deliver early-stage clinical supply of plasmid DNA for drug substance manufacturing

WILMINGTON, Mass. & GHENT, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) and Ziphius Vaccines, a biopharmaceutical company developing self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) based medicinal products for vaccine and therapeutic applications, today announced an agreement to manufacture starting materials critical to clinical-stage research.

Ziphius Vaccines is developing a proprietary self-amplifying mRNA technology platform combined with innovative lipid formulations for delivery. saRNA or replicon RNA has the advantage of having self-replicating features, as the saRNA molecule encodes a viral RNA replicase in addition to the sequence of the protein(s) of interest. This mechanism leads to enhanced and prolonged protein expression levels at lower doses compared to conventional mRNA.

Plasmid DNA Manufacturing Services
Plasmid DNA is a critical starting material in the development of many advanced therapies. This collaboration will leverage Charles River's industry leading expertise in GMP and High Quality (HQ) plasmid DNA production. Utilizing Charles River's custom HQ plasmid offering will benefit Ziphius Vaccines with accelerated timelines without compromising on quality. Charles River, with the acquisitions of Cognate BioServices, Cobra Biologics, and Vigene Biosciences in 2021, has expanded its comprehensive cell and gene therapy portfolio to include CDMO capabilities spanning viral vector, plasmid DNA and cellular therapy production for clinical through to commercial supply.