Collaboration to focus on new plant lines and other plant-based technologies aimed at efficient production scale-up of KBio’s current and future pipeline

LONDON — September 28, 2022— KBio, a leading developer of new biological treatments derived from a plant-based production system, today announced the formation of a strategic collaboration with Leaf Expression Systems Ltd. (LES), the leading UK-based plant-made pharmaceuticals R&D company. Through this collaboration, KBio will explore how LES’ cutting-edge technologies can be applied to its existing plant-based platform to enhance current and future development and production of novel protein-based therapeutics for rare and infectious diseases.

The collaboration will support the following activities:
• Development of new technologies to improve ongoing research activities
• Enhance expression and production of proteins within plants
• Development of new approaches and plant lines to increase plant-derived product yields

Patrick Doyle, CEO of KBio, commented, “At KBio, we have demonstrated our plant-based platform’s revolutionary potential to produce novel antibody and vaccine candidates with high purity at a fraction of the time and cost of current technologies.

“Together with LES – a leader in the expression and production of proteins in plants – we believe we can further refine and optimise our existing capabilities across our current manufacturing process, while also identifying future ways to enhance operations. This important collaboration will allow us to efficiently scale-up production of our therapeutics for global clinical trials and potential future commercial efforts.”

Simon Saxby, CEO of Leaf Expression Systems Ltd, commented, “We are delighted to be working with KBio and exploring the synergies between our businesses for the future benefit of patients worldwide. By leveraging our protein expression expertise and technologies and KBio’s differentiated plant-based platform, we are confident we can enhance the development and scalable production of novel therapeutics that will deliver significant benefits to patients in the future and are competitive in the marketplace.”

About KBio
KBio aims to create a new generation of biologics using its plant-based platform that has demonstrated the ability to create drug candidates at a fraction of the time and cost of conventional platforms. The Company is focused on discovering monoclonal antibodies targeting validated pathways for rare and infectious diseases and, due to the speed and accuracy of its antibody production system, is positioned well to develop fast follower therapies against validated drug targets. KBio’s plant-based platform also has unique capabilities for addressing public health challenges where rapid development and large-scale production of vaccines are critical. The Company is working with numerous health organizations that are funding its public health-specific pipeline.
Formed in December 2021, KBio is a subsidiary of BAT with operations in the UK and U.S. For more information, please visit www.kbio.com.

About Leaf Expression Systems Ltd.

Leaf Systems International Limited trading as Leaf Expression Systems Limited (LES), is a plant-based contract development, manufacturing and product development company incorporated in the United Kingdom.

The Company’s vector technologies allow for the rapid simultaneous production of multiple gene products in a controlled and coordinated manner within the tissues of plants. Using gene synthesis and modular vectors, new products, including antibodies, vaccines and complex natural products, can be produced at speed and on a large scale, so it is well suited to be able to rapidly respond to emergencies like pandemics.

LES is dedicated to helping improve lives by accelerating the research of clients such as KBio and lowering costs in the development and manufacture of biological therapeutics.

For more information, please visit www.leafexpressionsystems.com.