In July 2005, Hematech was acquired by the Kirin Brewery company with Hematech becoming a subsidiary of Kirin. The firms consolidated their transgenic bovine research programs in facilities in Sioux Falls, SD with research facilities also located in IA. Previously based in New England, in 2002 Hematech chose Sioux Falls for a major new laboratory. The Company's patented bovine transgenic technologies enable Hematech to rapidly produce unlimited quantities of uniform, high affinity, fully human antibodies for a wide variety of disease targets. Hematech built the capacity to produce a diversified portfolio of antibody products that the company will commercialize through collaborative arrangements with multiple pharmaceutical partners. Through the acquisition, Kirin acquired Hematech's core technology and research infrastructure for production of bovine-derived human polyclonal antibodies. As a result, Kirin held Hematech's rights primarily related to polyclonal antibody production, along with the development and marketing rights already held by Kirin. Human antibody-producing cows, containing full-length human antibody genes, proved useful for the development of a range of human antibody-based drugs. In 1999 Kirin and Hematech entered into a research collaboration agreement on the development of human antibody-producing cows. In 2002 Kirin had made use of a proprietary human artificial chromosome vector to introduce human antibody genes into bovine cells and, using Hematech's technology, created cows capable of producing human antibody proteins and bovine antibody proteins. Effectively, this permits use of an animal platform technology to produce human antibodies. The company produces human antibodies in cattle for the treatment of human diseases, such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, inflammation, infectious diseases, and others. Acquired by Sanford Health in 2012, Hematech changed is name to Sanford Applied Biosciences, LLC and now operates as a subsidiary of Sanford Health.
