SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CHO Plus (www.CHO-Plus.com), an early-stage innovation company developing technology to dramatically increase the productivity of cells used to manufacture therapeutic proteins and viruses, announced today that it has been accepted into Blue Knight, and will receive funding to support their JLABS @ South San Francisco residency. Blue Knight is a joint initiative created between Johnson & Johnson Innovation and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). The joint initiative is dedicated to anticipating potential health security threats, activating the global innovation community, and amplifying scientific and technological advancements with the aim to prepare for and respond to our rapidly evolving global health environment. CHO Plus technology could expand the existing manufacturing capacity for production of therapeutic proteins and vaccines thus making the company a good fit for the mission of the Blue Knight program. Through dedicated mentorship, CHO Plus will work with BARDA representatives and associates toward mutually beneficial goals.
Larry Forman, CHO Plus Co-founder and CEO, commented: “It’s great that our technology has been recognized for its potential to mitigate the effects of future pandemics or other health emergencies.”
James Panek, CHO Plus COO, added: “We are grateful for the confidence the Blue Knight initiative has shown in our technology, and for the financial support. We look forward to demonstrating the substantial increase in manufacturing productivity that our technology promises to deliver.”
CHO Plus is a resident of the Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS incubator in South San Francisco, CA.
About CHO Plus, Inc.
CHO Plus was founded in 2014 with the mission of increasing the productivity of cells used for manufacturing life-saving therapeutic proteins and viruses for treating human disease (such as antibodies for the treatment of cancer, or viruses to be used as vaccines). For many years little advancement has been achieved in this area. CHO Plus has developed patented cell engineering technology to increase the amount of protein- or virus-producing “machinery” (e.g. endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus) within each cell. Initial studies demonstrate the potential for increasing cell productivity by up to 450%. This could lower aggregate pharmaceutical industry production costs by billions of dollars per year, and help mitigate manufacturing capacity bottlenecks, if widely adopted.
For more information, please visit www.CHO-Plus.com
