Sartorius and SPARTA Biodiscovery Partner on Novel Nanoparticle Analysis Platform

On Sept. 28, 2023, Sartorius and UK-based startup SPARTA Biodiscovery (SPARTA) announced that they have entered into a partnership for SPARTA’s analysis platform. The platform helps speed the development, manufacture, and quality control of nanoparticles (small polymer or lipid capsules that act as carriers to deliver active agents to target cells) for biopharmaceutical drugs, including gene therapies, vaccines, and cancer drugs.

Under the agreement, Sartorius will invest up to £3.5 million (US$4.3 million) in a minority shareholding in SPARTA through Sartorius Ventures, its corporate investment unit. SPARTA, which was spun off from Imperial College London, developed its core technology, the single particle automated Raman trapping analysis, and developed a prototype for the platform at the college. The technology was established in the group of co-founder Professor Molly Stevens Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Single particle automated Raman trapping analysis uses spectroscopy to quickly and automatically analyze populations of individual nanoparticles at high throughput. Its mode of action helps accelerate nanoparticle development and optimize quality control during production, according to a company press release.

“The SPARTA platform will help customers optimize the design of nanoparticles at an early stage, even before the drug candidates move on to the clinic. We have teamed up to bring additional product commercialization and application expertise to the table to facilitate a swift transitioning from prototype to launch,” said Oscar-Werner Reif, head of corporate research and chief technology officer at Sartorius, in the press release.

“Often the challenge in bringing new therapies to life is not the development of new active agents, but safe and robust delivery of such agents into the body, e.g., through nanoparticles. We see an unmet need in R&D, manufacturing, and quality control in analyzing the composition of these nanoformulations. Together with Sartorius, we will be able to bring this technology to customers faster,” said Jelle Penders, CEO and co-founder of SPARTA Biodiscovery, in the release.

Source: Sartorius