iBio announces production of biosimilar rituximab drug, shares rally

iBio (AMEX:IBIO) shares rallied around 10% Wednesday after the company announced that its proprietary iBioLaunch technology has been used to produce a functional, monoclonal antibody copy of rituximab, which is used to treat lymphomas, autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection.
The company's technology is typically used for the production of biotherapeutic proteins and vaccine antigens in whole green plants.
Rituximab is a chimeric mouse-human monoclonal antibody that binds to the CD20 antigen presented on the B-cell surface.
The expression of rituximab in plants self-assembled into the appropriate antibody structure, which was then purified from the plant tissue.
Purified, iBioLaunch-produced rituximab was shown to bind to B lymphocytes from donor blood samples, indicating that it was recognizing its antigen presented on the B-cell surface.
"The production of functional rituximab in plants suggests that many if not all monoclonal antibodies can be produced using the iBioLaunch system," said the company's senior vice president, Terence Ryan.
"This success dramatically extends the commercial opportunities for our technology beyond its previous applications for the production of viral antigens for vaccines, and replacement protein biotherapeutics such as alpha-galactosidase, alpha-1 antitrypsin, and C1 esterase inhibitor."
The iBioLaunch platform is a transformative technology for development and production of biologics using transient gene expression in unmodified green plants. Advantages over other systems include the rapid development and production time measured in weeks instead of months or more.
Product entry is also unconstrained by traditional process patents, and significantly lower capital and operating costs are required for comparable production, the company said.
Shares of iBio were up 10% to trade at $1.32 as of 1:14pm EDT on Wednesday.