Origen Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on avian transgenesis and genetic engineering in avian species utilizing embryonic stem cell-based technologies. Anchored in technologies licensed in, the firm developed a powerful, broad-based technology platform centered on the isolation and culture of avian primordial germ cells (PGCs). Using technology proprietary to Origen Therapeutics, primordial germ cells can be cultured and genetically modified and will develop into sperm and eggs making them the vehicle of choice for modification of the chicken genome. Briefly, a gene of interest is introduced into a primordial germ cell culture and then cells from this culture are injected into chick embryos producing founder chickens. The founder chickens are then bred to produce a flock that can lay eggs containing the recombinant antibody or protein of interest. While the use of eggs as a source of pharmaceuticals may seem novel in fact, each year millions of does of flu vaccine are produced in chicken eggs making egg based production systems well known to the biologics industry. The firm's goal had been to develop next generation antibody therapeutics using its proprietary transgenic animal technology to deliver products via chickenâs eggs - developing technology for producing fully human sequence polyclonal antibodies derived from the immune system of chickens. The vision had been to become the leading developer of polyclonal antibody therapeutics, a class of immunotherapeutic which shows promise of greatly enhanced efficacy in treating a wide range of diseases including infectious disease, cancer and autoimmune disease. Applying proprietary avian transgenesis technology to the development of a platform for the discovery, development and commercialization of fully human sequence polyclonal antibodies, it was anticipated that antibody therapeutics would show the enhanced target destruction found in natural immune responses which are polyclonal in nature.
