09 Sep Waisman Biomanufacturing partners with GigaGen to manufacture new COVID-19 drug
Waisman Biomanufacturing at the University of Wisconsin–Madison will begin manufacturing a new drug to treat and prevent COVID-19, developed by California-based biotech company GigaGen.
The drug, called GIGA-2050, uses a new approach similar to treating COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma, or blood products from people recovering (convalescing) from an infection. Waisman Biomanufacturing was created to facilitate just this sort of development and testing of new types of drugs.
“Our mission is to support development of novel therapeutics, and we work collaboratively with companies to find ways to manufacture their groundbreaking drugs,” says Carl Ross, director of Waisman Biomanufacturing. “GIGA-2050 is one of the most exciting manufacturing challenges we have encountered.”
The blood of convalescing COVID-19 patients contains antibodies, proteins created by the immune system to detect and fight off several variants of SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.