-Sunflower Therapeutics (Sunflower), a public benefit corporation transforming global access to protein manufacturing capacity for diverse applications, announced today its first distribution agreement with PharmNXT Biotech, an Indian bioprocessing company. Through this agreement, Sunflower will commercially launch its Daisy Petal™ Perfusion Bioreactor System in Asia, a significant step in the company’s ongoing product commercialization.

"The commercial launch of the Daisy Petal™ is a remarkable milestone for Sunflower Therapeutics," said Dr. Kerry R. Love, Founder and CEO of Sunflower Therapeutics. "We’re excited to partner with PharmNXT Biotech to introduce our products and services to a global market and establish ourselves as a global supplier of cutting-edge protein manufacturing solutions.”

Sunflower’s innovative Daisy Petal™ perfusion fermentation system uses a single-use assembly designed specifically for intuitive installation and a simple user experience. The system’s hardware and controls are engineered and optimized for in-vessel perfusion utilizing a custom disposable stirred tank reactor outfitted with a unique in-vessel perfusion device that enables greater volumetric productivity from the bench through scale-up manufacturing. With this approach, the system boasts space-time yield benefits five-to-ten times greater compared to traditional fed-batch methods for the production of diverse proteins.

“We are happy and proud to announce a strategic alliance with Sunflower Therapeutics,” said Ankush Kapoor, Co-founder and CEO of PharmNXT Biotech, and Sachin Joshi, Co-founder and Managing Director of PharmNXT Biotech. “Sunflower, with its innovative technologies, and PharmNXT, with our technical expertise and experience in Asia, are taking an important step forward in our collaboration by leveraging our strengths in efficiency and quality to make biopharmaceuticals affordable and accessible. We extend our sincere thanks to our partners Sunflower Therapeutics for sharing our mission and vision and for collaborating with us.”

In addition to the hardware, Sunflower’s bioprocessing software suite, which is compliant with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), includes HelianthOS™, Nursery™, and Harvest™. These tools enable walkaway automation of fermentation processes, easy to develop recipes that require no coding and secure storage of process data. Together, these three elements provide a cohesive ecosystem that enables efficient and intuitive operations throughout an entire campaign.