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Lumen - High-Dose Biologic Drug
We design and manufacture therapeutics against disease targets that have been inaccessible to the biopharmaceutical industry because of the astonishingly high cost of traditional methods. Now, for the first time, Lumen can make antibodies and other biologics at a cost that allows for daily, high-dose, oral and topical delivery. Our current programs target markets that are enormous, the treatment modes of action are well researched, and the unmet medical need is obvious.
01 The Organism
Being extraordinarily high in soluble protein, spirulina cells are able to express far higher amounts of therapeutic proteins than any other food crop (>60%).
02 Engineering
A gene encoding the therapeutic molecule (for example, an antibody) is introduced into the spirulina chromosome. When that strain of spirulina is grown, the cell manufactures the therapeutic protein and stores it away inside the cell.
03 Production
The production system requires only water, salt, CO2 and light, so it is cheap and rapidly scalable. Harvesting is done by spray-drying the biomass into a powder comprised of spirulina cells, each one ?lled with a therapeutic protein "payload." The entire process is done at our integrated Seattle lab and cGMP plant, which accelerates pre-clinical and clinical development.
04 Delivery
This powder can be packed into dose-speci?c capsules, which don`t require refrigeration and are shelf-stable at room temperature. While the cells do not survive the drying process, the cell membrane protects the therapeutic proteins during transit through the stomach when orally delivered, and releases them in the small intestine where they can bind to and neutralize their disease targets.