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A Marlborough startup called Tarpon BioSystems Inc. plans to offer drug manufacturers a way to save time and money in what historically has been their choke point: the purification processes after the drugs have been created.
When purifying a drug, a manufacturer must ensure there is no cross-contamination with other products. Purification is part of almost every biopharmaceutical manufacturing process, and represents up to 70 percent of the total manufacturing cost, explained Lynne Frick, Tarpon’s vice president of business development. To assist in this, Tarpon offers a technology called BioSMB, which includes disposable valve cassettes and purification columns that improve efficiency by doing such things as cutting down on water consumption. “Many companies are looking for a way to construct a fully disposable and readily deployable bioprocess train,” she said.
In the future, the cost of production is going to be an even more important factor for the industry, she said, noting the market for purification products has the potential to be worth $1 billion annually.
Founded two years ago, the company is still in a “virtual’ mode, but is now looking for space in the Boston area. After it receives an upcoming round of funding the company plans to hire about eight employees. For cash, so far the company has raised $960,000 from an angel round — among its investors is its CEO, Bob Dishman, co-founder of Woburn-based biotech Arqule Inc., which had a chemical services business line that it sold off in 2006. Tarpon plans to raise more cash from venture capitalists or through corporate investment, said Frick, but she declined to offer specifics. However, Tarpon has been making money from consulting and application development work using BioSMB, she said.
The Tarpon technology, including valving, columns, and disposable sensor blocks, was created through a collaboration between Netherlands-based company Xendo BV and BioFlash Partners LLC of Marlborough, which makes disposable format chromatography cartridges for biomanufacturing and other processes. Tarpon’s intellectual property was developed in-house or is exclusively licensed, said Frick. The BioSMB is built on an existing technology called simulated moving bed chromatography, already routinely used for chemical purification in other industries, such as food, petrochemicals, and traditional pharmaceuticals, said Tarpon co-founder Thomas Ransohoff, a senior consultant at BioProcess Technology Consultants Inc. in Acton who has done consulting work for Tarpon. The BioSMB technology can reduce both the capital investment and operating costs required for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines, he said.
The closest competitors are large medical manufacturing companies, such as GE Healthcare, part of General Electric Corp., Frick said. However the BioSMB system has a unique valve array that is also disposable, she said.
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