Lonza Joins Forces with Oxford Nanopore to Accelerate mRNA Analytics

• Lonza, a global development and manufacturing partner, has announced a collaboration with Oxford Nanopore Technologies.

• The partnership aims to cGMP validate and commercialise a first-of-its-kind novel test to accurately determine multiple critical quality attributes of mRNA products by directly sequencing both the DNA template and the messenger RNA (mRNA).

• The collaboration could simplify and streamline mRNA manufacturing, potentially reducing analytical testing time and accelerating the path to market for mRNA products.

Lonza and Oxford Nanopore Technologies have announced a collaboration to cGMP validate and commercialise a novel test to accelerate the analysis of mRNA products. The announcement was made on Tuesday, 30th January 2024.

The partnership aims to enable advanced and innovative analysis for multiple critical quality attributes of mRNA products. This is achieved by directly sequencing both the DNA template and the messenger RNA (mRNA). mRNA is an emerging class of biotherapeutics, offering new opportunities for the prevention and treatment of various infectious diseases, cancers, autoimmune and genetic disorders.

This collaboration underlines the commitment of Lonza and Oxford Nanopore to bring innovation to the market. Our shared objective is to simplify testing processes to bring mRNA therapies to market quicker,” said Torsten Schmidt, head of mRNA Business Unit, Lonza, in the press release.

The collaboration between Lonza and Oxford Nanopore will focus on adapting this technology to apply to mRNA production analysis and quality control (QC). The nanopore-based sequencing method allows several quality attributes in mRNA products to be measured simultaneously, on the same manufacturing site, using one technology platform.

As part of the collaboration, Oxford Nanopore will tech transfer workflows developed in house to Lonza for GMP validation. Following successful validation, Lonza intends to include the sequencing technology in its analytical development workflow offering.