ProBioGen and Transgene broaden licence agreement for avian cell line platform
ProBioGen and Transgene have extended their existing collaboration through an additional licence agreement covering ProBioGen’s AGE1.CR.pIX® suspension cell line, a platform used in the manufacture of viral vaccines and immunotherapies.
The Berlin-based biopharmaceutical manufacturer and the Strasbourg-headquartered biotechnology company, which develops virus-based immuno-therapies for cancer, announced the expanded arrangement on 8 September 2026. The agreement widens the scope of the companies’ prior partnership and is intended to support Transgene’s manufacturing capacity as its clinical pipeline progresses.
Platform designed to replace egg-based production
AGE1.CR.pIX is a continuous, stable proliferating avian cell line derived from primary duck embryo cells. It was developed as an alternative to chicken egg-based systems traditionally used in large-scale vaccine production. The cell line is available in both suspension and adherent formats and has been optimised for viral vaccine production and stability. It is cultured in a commercially available, chemically defined medium free of animal-derived components, and has been used as a host for a range of virus strains.
For clinical laboratory and manufacturing scientists, the appeal of such platforms lies partly in consistency of starting material.A continuous cell line qualified as a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) master cell bank allows each production batch to originate from a single, fully characterised source, which can simplify process validation and technology transfer between sites. Dr Alessandro Riva, chairman and chief executive officer of Transgene, said the companies were “pleased to expand the scope of our activities with ProBioGen,” adding that “this additional license reflects our confidence in the technology to prepare for future clinical needs at scale.”
Dr Volker Sandig, chief scientific officer at ProBioGen, noted that the company valued “Transgene’s continued confidence in our AGE1.CR.pIX platform.” He commented that “a continuous cell line qualified as a GMP master cell bank, grown in chemically defined and animal-component-free medium, means every batch begins from the same fully characterized starting material. That is the foundation of a process that is reproducible, scalable and straightforward to transfer – and it lets our partners focus on the virus-product rather than the cell substrate.”
Context for the collaboration
Transgene’s clinical-stage portfolio includes TG4050, an individualised therapeutic vaccine built on the myvac® platform under evaluation in head and neck cancer, and TG4070, a related candidate being studied in combination with nivolumab in adjuvant non-small cell lung cancer. The company is also developing BT-001, an oncolytic virus based on its Invir.IO® viral vector platform.
ProBioGen, which has operated for more than three decades and employs around 300 staff across three manufacturing lines in Berlin, has developed several proprietary vaccine and viral vector platforms, including Lenti.RiGHT® and its AGE1 host cell line range, alongside the IP-protected MVA-CR19 strain.
The financial terms of the licensing arrangement were not disclosed.
