Capra Biosciences Lands $7.5 Million Project Agreement To Demonstrate Platform To Rapidly Scale Pharmaceutical Ingredient Manufacturing
July 19 2024 - 9:00AM
Many ingredients that make up the pharmaceuticals Americans rely on
are manufactured overseas. When supply chain issues or shortages
occur, as witnessed during the COVID pandemic, it can negatively
impact millions of Americans and affect national security. The
White House issued an Executive Order in 2022 to stimulate U.S.
biomanufacturing. Increasing American biomanufacturing, will
provide more control over pharmaceutical production, boost the
economy, and encourage creation of greener manufacturing methods.
Under a new $7.5 million, two-year project agreement awarded to
Capra Biosciences through the BioMaP-Consortium, Capra will
demonstrate the ability of its platform to rapidly scale and
manufacture biologically derived small molecule active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Capra has a demonstrated history
of using its biofilm-forming microbes and proprietary bioreactors
to transform low-cost feedstocks into a variety of chemicals,
including their first commercial product, retinol.
Under this new project agreement, Capra will leverage its
bioreactor platform to demonstrate the manufacture of three active
pharmaceutical ingredients, to be selected in cooperation the
Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Biomanufacturing has the potential to manufacture many of the
chemicals we use today not only more sustainably, but also where
and when we need them. This is an extraordinary opportunity to
apply the Capra platform to the important issue of pharmaceutical
ingredient shortages,” said Elizabeth Onderko, Capra’s cofounder
and CEO. “We look forward to working with the BioMaP-Consortium,
their government sponsors, and our partners to increase
pharmaceutical manufacturing accessibility in the U.S.”
Successfully creating the pharmaceutical ingredients using a
common platform will further illustrate the potential of Capra’s
technology to be easily tailored to create a broad spectrum of
molecules in a highly scalable manner.
Leveraging AI and Modeling for Quicker
Manufacturing
To address the challenge of rapidly onboarding new products and
scaling them, Capra brought together a team of companies, including
Next Rung Technology. The team’s expertise spans AI modeling,
bioprocess scale up, and biomanufacturing. The team will leverage
AI design tools to rapidly design and onboard each of the APIs, as
well as predict their viability and scalability before production
begins.
Using Capra's modular bioreactors, together with these models,
the team will demonstrate production of three target APIs at pilot
scale. A strength of biomanufacturing is that the same hardware can
be used to rapidly switch between different pharmaceutical
ingredients or even other products. With the success of this
project, Capra will have a template for rapidly scaling ingredients
for pharmaceuticals as well as other applications quickly and cost
effectively using their modular platform and locally sourced raw
materials.
This project has been funded in whole or in part with federal
funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services;
Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR);
Office of Industrial Base Manufacturing and Supply Chain (IBMSC),
under OT number #75A50123D00003.
About Capra Biosciences
Capra Biosciences is venture-backed startup company focused on
sustainable production of petrochemical replacements using their
biofilm bioreactor platform. Capra Biosciences is located in
Manassas, VA. To learn more about the company, visit
www.caprabiosciences.com.
About Next Rung Technology
Next Rung Technology provides technology development and
commercialization for new sustainable technologies in industries
such as water and wastewater, energy, sustainable food and
alternative protein, and biochemical sectors.
Media Contact
James GallagherSpire
Communicationsjgallagher@spirecomm.com919-308-0738