PRESS RELEASE
Algenex Announces Entry into the Food Technology Market
Madrid, 21 March 2022 - Algenex, a leader in the production of alternative proteins, backed by Cleon Capital and Columbus Ventures, announces its expansion into the food tech market. The Company’s patented CrisBio® production platform can deliver the essential biologics that form part of the “growth media”, necessary to produce cultured meat at lower costs and with greater scalability versus any other technology.
Growth media is the nutrient rich liquid containing the essential ingredients that cells need in order to grow. To deliver on its vision, Algenex intends to significantly increase its production capacity over the next 24 months via the construction of an additional production facility.
Growth media is currently estimated to account for up to 95% of the cost of cultured meat. Algenex’s aim is to enable cultured meat prices to approach parity with conventional meat by significantly reducing input costs. It is expected that by 2035 cultured meat will capture 20-40 million tonnes from the worldwide animal protein consumption, which implies a total market value of 350 billion Euros.
The breakthrough will enable Algenex to continue fulfilling its sustainability vision. Protein production needs to change quickly, in order to deliver on United Nations’ Sustainability Goals, which recognize the need to address climate change and global hunger.
José Escribano, CSO, commented “We are solving a simple problem. Growth media is currently too expensive for cultured meat. Our technology platform harnesses the power of nature to deliver the essential ingredients that the industry requires, at affordable prices. We will be the industry disruptor that makes alternatives to conventionally produced protein a reality for consumers.”
Algenex’ technology platform was originally developed for the production of protein to the healthcare industry, a heavily regulated market. The European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) and the UK Veterinary Directorate issued marketing approval to a vaccine that incorporates CrisBio® technology in 2021, and the company currently operates a pharma-grade facility in Madrid (Spain).
For further information, please contact:
Algenex contact
Virginia Gonzalez
CFO
vgonzalez@algenex.com
About Algenex
Algenex is a biotechnology company backed by Cleon Capital and Columbus Venture Partners developing disruptive baculovirus-based technologies for the production of recombinant biologics. Algenex´ first two platforms, TopBac® and CrisBio®, are based on baculovirus-based expression systems and have demonstrated their capacity to transform recombinant protein production through a process that provides almost unlimited and immediate linear scalability of manufacturing, production flexibility, simplicity and versatility while being extremely cost efficient. The Company’s technology is highly applicable across a wide range of commercial product classes in both human and animal health.
Algenex has successfully produced >200 molecules in collaboration with public and private partners, including multiple international pharmaceutical companies, including VLPs, monomeric vaccines, single domain antibodies, hormones, enzymes, growth factors and diagnostic reagents.
For more information, please visit http://www.algenex.com
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