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Octapharma Chooses Genedata Selector for NGS-Based Cell Line Development

Leading manufacturer of therapeutic proteins to invest in enterprise software to digitalize innovation in NGS-based cell line development

September 17, 2020
Basel, Switzerland

Genedata, the leading provider of enterprise software solutions for biopharmaceutical R&D, today announced that Octapharma, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of therapeutic human proteins, has chosen Genedata Selector® as its central computational platform to streamline genomics-based cell line development and cell culture optimization workflows. Genedata Selector enables the efficient analysis of next-generation sequencing (NGS) data in the context of host cell line engineering and clone selection. In addition to a software license agreement, Genedata has entered into a long-term collaboration to provide bioinformatics consulting services to strengthen Octapharma’s innovation projects.

“As part of our innovation strategy, we have started to implement NGS-based workflows in combination with other state-of-the-art technologies, such as targeted locus amplification (TLA) and gene editing in bioprocess development and production,” said Tobias Stuwe, Ph.D., Head of Recombinant R&D at Octapharma. “The need to streamline and automate these highly complex and data-intensive experimental processes was the main reason behind our selection of Genedata Selector. The platform helps us shorten development cycles and increase efficiency.”

“Genedata Selector enables us to integrate a wide variety of complex data generated by novel experimental workflows so we can gain a holistic molecular understanding of production cells with the goal of developing high performing bioproduction processes,” commented Ruth Wagner, Ph.D., Group Manager of Cell Line Engineeringat Octapharma. “For example, using Genedata Selector we are now able to quickly detect unfavorable properties of a production cell line and engineer preferred properties by editing its genetic background.”

Genedata Selector provides the foundation for rational design of production cell lines, by delivering comprehensive gene annotation, predicting optimal CRISPR gene editing sites, and calculating all variations in genes of interest within proprietary host cell lines based on RNAseq data. The software platform also supports the automation of clone selection workflows, for example by including efficient data analysis workflows to check integration sites and detect mutations for the analysis of TLA-based experiments. On a more general level, Genedata Selector has been specifically designed to process and interpret huge amounts of complex NGS data in the context of rational cell line development with additional applications such as adventitious agent detection.

“We are excited to collaborate with Octapharma in supporting their innovative cell line development projects,” said Othmar Pfannes, Ph.D., CEO of Genedata. “Over the last few years Genedata has successfully established Genedata Selector as the leading digitalization platform for NGS-based workflows in biopharma R&D with a focus on maximizing our clients’ return on investment in NGS and other omics technologies.”

About Octapharma
Headquartered in Lachen, Switzerland, Octapharma is one of the largest human protein manufacturers in the world, developing and producing human proteins from human plasma and human cell lines. Octapharma employs more than 10,000 people worldwide to support the treatment of patients in 118 countries with products across three therapeutic areas: Hematology, Immunotherapy, and Critical Care.

Octapharma has seven R&D sites and six state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Austria, France, Germany, Mexico and Sweden, with a combined capacity of approximately 8 million litres of plasma per annum. In addition, Octapharma operates more than 140 plasma donation centres across Europe and the US. For further information, please visit www.octapharma.com.

About Genedata

Genedata transforms data into intelligence with innovative software solutions that incorporate extensive biopharma R&D domain knowledge. Multinational biopharmaceutical organizations and cutting-edge biotechs around the globe rely on Genedata to digitalize and automate data-rich and complex R&D processes. From early discovery all the way to the clinic, Genedata solutions help maximize the ROI in R&D expenditure. Founded in 1997, Genedata is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland with additional offices in Boston, London, Munich, San Francisco, Singapore, and Tokyo.
www.genedata.com
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Contact

Allison Kurz
Genedata
Public Relations
pr@genedata.com

Disclaimer

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties related to contract cancellations, developing risks, competitive factors, uncertainties pertaining to customer orders, demand for products and services, development of markets for the Company's products and services. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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Using Genedata Selector we are now able to quickly detect unfavorable properties of a production cell line and engineer preferred properties by editing its genetic background

Ruth Wagner, Ph.D.
Group Manager of Cell Line Engineering