The new funds will allow the scale up of ALGENEX’ proprietary CrisBio® baculovirus-expression platform ahead of an anticipated submission to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) of a CrisBio®-based minor species vaccine. CrisBio® is a versatile, reduced-cost and scalable insect- based protein production system that delivers unprecedented productivity – up to 20x more per volume unit than insect cells cultured in bioreactors.
The funds will also support the further commercial roll out of ALGENEX’ TopBac® system, a plug and play patented technology that significantly increases the productivity of existing baculovirus systems.
The financing was led by Cleon Capital and Vita Advisory and was funded primarily by high net worth individuals, many of whom are notable biotech investors and experienced executives. Existing investors also participated in the round.
“We were impressed by the scientific accomplishments of ALGENEX in their initial years of development. The robustness of their technologies and potential to positively disrupt the way vaccines and other recombinant biologics are being produced convinced us to support the company’s growth strategy,” said Nicola Zambón, founder and partner at Cleon Capital.
“ALGENEX’ technologies have the potential to revolutionize the vaccine industry, and more broadly the production of biologics. The applications include vaccines in the animal health space – the current focus – and extend to faster and cheaper production of human health vaccines in emerging geographies, allowing a rapid response to epidemics. We are very excited about supporting the company’s expansion,” said Roberto Barzi, Managing Partner at Vita.
ALGENEX also announces today key senior appointments to its management team. Claudia Jiménez has been appointed as General Manager and Virginia González as Chief Financial Officer. José M. Escribano, founder and until recently Scientific Advisor to the company, has joined ALGENEX on a permanent basis as Chief Scientific Officer. Romy M. Dalton, who was previously operations manager, will take up the position of Chief Operations Officer.
“I am delighted to join ALGENEX at this exciting time for the company,” said Claudia Jiménez, General Manager. “ALGENEX has the potential to be a game-changer in protein manufacturing and I look forward to working with the highly skilled management team to deliver on our goals. Together with the support of our new and existing investors, we are in a good position to make ALGENEX the preferred partner for companies whose business requires efficient, robust and scalable protein expression systems.”
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