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The biotech Bioingenium takes part in the ComplexINC European project

By 20 de December de 2011No Comments
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 20.12.2011

The biotech Bioingenium takes part in the ComplexINC European project

The Innovation Centre for Biotechnology (IZB) of the Martinsried Campus (Munich, Germany) has just officially launched the European project ComplexINC (New Technologies and Production Tools for Complex Protein Biologics). The objective of this project is to design, validate and set up new and powerful tools and to set up high-throughput methods and technologies for the production of complex biological products. The project—endorsed by a budget of 7.7 M€ and co-funded by the European Union as part of the 7th Framework Program— will be undertaken by an international consortium in which the only Spanish participants are the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the biotech Bioingenium, based at the Barcelona Science Park.


The project will be developed by an international and multi-sector consortium, led by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (France). Besides the biotech Bioingenium and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), also taking part in the project are four institutions from several European countries from the academic and business fields, with complementary resources and capabilities that combine medical research with basic research and biotechnology: the European Research and Project Office GmbH (Germany), Helmholtz Centre for Infection research (Germany), Institute of Experimental Biology and Technology (Portugal) and the company CRELUX GmbH (Germany). In addition, companies from the firm Novartis Pharma AG-Pasteur and CEA Investment, as well as representative from European and American research centres, are also taking part in the project as members of the Scientific Advisory Committee.

Today, protein complexes represent a drug concept that is not well developed for the pharmaceutical industry due to the lack of tools for their production. From this need and the interest of the companies involved in the ComplexINC project, consortium partners will work to obtain new drugs that will be the first of a new generation of therapeutic products.

Protein complexes require specific technologies because they are formed by sets of proteins that work together to perform some functions carried out by the human body. The availability of these complexes represents a significant breakthrough, both for the identification of new drugs and for their use as pharmaceutical products. The participation of Bioingenium will focus on utilizing its expertise in protein production to test newly developed technologies and build a portfolio of drugs for the treatment of rare diseases.

«This is a splendid opportunity to launch a cutting-edge research and development project, which will respond to uncovered therapeutic needs requiring very specific and innovative technologies. In this setting, Bioingenium makes a firm commitment to develop a high value-added product portfolio», states Ramon Ramon, general director of Bioingenium.

The biotech Bioingenium, created in 2006 and based at the Barcelona Sciene Park, focuses its work on the development of bioprocesses for the production of drugs for biomedical applications. This knowledge has led Bioingenium to offer services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the area of therapeutic protein production. On the other hand, Bioingenium has been involved in various projects related to rare diseases that have enabled it to develop a research and development product line to cure this type of diseases. Its involvement in this consortium will enable it to boost R & D and to test the compounds developed.