Sparx Therapeutics Is Building its First Commercial Manufacturing Facility for Its Antibody Drug Production

MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill., July 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sparx Therapeutics announced a plan to build a 1,200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Yangzhou, China, inching closer to becoming a commercial stage biopharma. Dr. Gui-Dong Zhu, the CEO of Sparx, signed a 20-year lease agreement with the landlord, Yangzhou Economic Zone today.

Sparx is an emerging biotech power best known for its multi-specific antibody and antibody drug conjugate (ADC) discovery platforms. Sparx leverages artificial intelligence to drive its proprietary target mining engine, allowing identification of cellular targets which can best be leveraged for optimal and synergistic biological activity.  This sophisticated target discovery platform is combined with an integrated multi-component SAILING™ antibody optimization system and four cutting-edge ADC technologies to markedly improve the success rate of empowered antibody drug development. "The global pharmaceutical market is growing with strength and empowered antibody discovery is taking the center stage in driving these efforts", said Dr. Zhu. "The current cGMP pilot plant is not able to meet our development needs and the planned facilities, with a total bioreactor capacity of 80,000-liters, will provide sufficient quantities of drug substances and drug products to support preclinical and clinical development and ultimately commercial launch"

Located east of Shanghai, Sparx's Yangzhou manufacturing site plans to build a 400,000-square-foot cGMP cleanroom on a 10-acre parcel of land.  The total bioreactor capacity of 80,000-liters in separate cleanroom suites is able to support the manufacturing needs of 5 commercial products in parallel and the CMC needs for more than 12 programs in clinical trials at various stages of development. The facility is projected to be in operation by the end of 2022.

About Sparx Therapeutics, Inc.
Sparx Therapeutics is an integrated biopharmaceutical company based in Chicago. Since its incorporation in 2018, Sparx has built a sophisticated multi-specific antibody drug discovery platform and identified 6 IND-ready drug candidates. The SMARTOP™ and LEMMA™ technologies allow the expedite discovery of multi-functional biologics with favorable drug-like properties. An AI-based target identification algorithm feeds a constant stream of novel targets and target counterparts. Sparx also constructed in-house GMP facilities in both Chicago and China to produce clinical and commercial drug substances. For further information, please visit www.sparxbio.com.

SOURCE Sparx Therapeutics