Cevec raises €4M to develop human protein expression system

Funding

Cevec Pharmaceuticals GmbH, which is developing proprietary human cell protein expression systems, has closed a €4 million round led by Creathor Venture Fonds and NRW Bank, with current investors and a group of private and institutional investors including the venture capital branch of Sparkasse KoelnBonn, and ERP Startfonds of KfW bank.

The funding will enable Cevec, of Cologne, to continue the commercialisation of its CAP expression system, which is used for the manufacture of complex biologics and therapeutic antibodies with human-like glycosylation and sialylation patterns. The system can be applied from laboratory-scale up to GMP-compliant manufacturing of clinical samples and market supplies.

Wolfgang Kintzel, CCO of Cevec, said the launch of the technology in Europe, Asia/Pacific and the US was very successful. “This impressive success in such a short time marks a milestone in our goal to become the leading cell line supplier for protein production with human cell expression systems.”

Karlheinz Schmelig, Managing Director of Creathor Venture Management GmbH, said, “The global protein production market is ready for a high performance human expression system.”