FUJIFILM Biotechnologies, a global leader in contract development and manufacturing for biologics, vaccines, and advanced therapies, has unveiled ShunzymeX, a precision purification technology designed to simplify downstream processing for complex biologics.

 

Developed in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, ShunzymeX leverages a proprietary protease to streamline purification. By adding an affinity tag to proteins, the technology enables purification with off-the-shelf affinity resins, after which the protease removes the tag cleanly—leaving the native protein intact. FUJIFILM says this innovation could accelerate process development, helping customers move more quickly toward GMP manufacturing and IND-enabling milestones.

 

Traditional microbial downstream purification faces challenges due to variability in protein size and sequence, often resulting in long development timelines, low yields, and inconsistent purity. ShunzymeX promises to cut those timelines while remaining compatible with multiple expression systems and scalable directly to cGMP production.

 

“FUJIFILM Biotechnologies has more than 30 years of experience in microbial innovations, exemplified with our Paveway expression system, coupled with a proven track record in process development and a history of advancing microbial technologies,” said John Stewart, senior vice president of Global Process Development. “Together, we believe this innovation will help create a faster path for our customers to commercialization.”

 

“We’re excited to introduce ShunzymeX at the Festival of Biologics, an event with more than 2,000 attendees exploring the latest technologies and discoveries advancing our industry,” said Kenneth Holbourn, senior director, technical project leader group. “With a strong spirit of innovation at this event, it is the perfect forum to showcase how ShunzymeX can help streamline purification for microbial products.”

 

ShunzymeX can be paired with SymphonX, FUJIFILM Biotechnologies’ fully automated, all-in-one downstream processing platform. 

 

The FUJIFILM-Edinburgh partnership began in 2019 with joint funding from UK Research and Innovation and support from Edinburgh Innovations to fast-track biologics development.

 

“It’s fantastic to see the ShunzymeX technology, co-developed by my colleague Professor Emerita Lynne Regan and our longstanding collaborator, FUJIFILM Biotechnologies, out in the world,” said Professor Susan Rosser, academic lead for the partnership.

 

“This kind of transformative partnership unlocks the power of new technologies we have developed and applies them to key industry challenges, ultimately making treatments and vaccines easier to manufacture and more accessible to millions of people.”