The molecular pharming company ERA-Plantech receives seed funding from BCNempren and starts operations in the Barcelona Science Park
The entry of BCNemprèn marks the start of the R&D program, focused on the use of plants as bio-factories for the production of proteins with therapeutical or industrial applications. ERA Plantech owns the ZERA technology for the low-cost production of recombinant proteins in plants. This technology will allow ERA Plantech to establish its own portfolio of industrial and therapeutical proteins, and to offer fee for service agreements to other companies in order to optimize their production processes. Dolors Ludevid, Senior Investigator from the Spanish Research Council and co-founder of ERA says the financial support from BCNemprèns confirms the commercial approach that we have adopted for the development of our ZERA technology is apropriate. Their support will allow us to build a very competitive platform in the molecular pharming arena. According to Luis Ruiz-Avila, ERAs acting CEO, the business opportunity in the long run is very clear due to the increasing demand of massive and cost effective production systems for protein-based therapeutic and industrial applications. If we succeed in the validation of ZERA technology we will be prepared to compete internationally, not only as providers to third parties but also with a proprietary pipeline of therapeutic and industrial proteins. About ERA: ERA-Plantech (Endoplasmic Reticulum Accumulation Plant Technologies) is a molecular pharming company promoted by scientist from the spanish Research Council (IBMB-CSIC). The company was created in June 2002 and has received support from the CIDEM (Catalan Government), the Bio-incubators program located at the Barcelona Science Park and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology. ERA-Plantech has laboratory and administrative space in the Science Park. The company is associated with Advancell, also a Science Park company. Advancell uses in vitro models for target validation, lead selection and predictive ADMEt studies, and will provide administrative and strategic support during the seed phase. Luis Ruiz-Avila, Advancells CEO, will act as ERAs CEO. For further information contact lruiz@eraplantech.com SOURCE: ERA Plantech, S.L.
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