Subsequent to a 90% cost reduction1 and reaching unit economics in functional proteins2 with Avant’s FBS-free3 cell culture media, this partnership targets an additional 75% cost reduction from the current level. It is expected to be accomplished by converting ingredients to food grade from pharma grade and by optimizing formula for large-scale bioreactors.
By utilizing Quacell’s industrial facilities, Avant will be able to reduce capital expenditure and accelerate its scale-up by at least 12 months. Avant will own the intellectual property generated from this partnership4.
Dr. Mario Chin, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Avant said, “Optimizing serum-free media formula to a food grade environment contributes vastly to scaling up, which is an important step to industrializing our patent-pending cell cultivation technologies.”
Carrie Chan, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Avant noted, “The race for cost reduction amongst cultivated meats companies has entered a new phase. With this partnership, we can leapfrog into a larger scale sooner and can make a better CapEx plan ahead.”
Fai Poon, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, QuaCell remarked, "We are excited about this partnership to work with Avant to accelerate commercialization of cell-cultivated animal protein leveraging on our infrastructure.”
1 Approximate figure at benchtop scale
2 For more information regarding Avant’s functional protein products, please see https://www.zellulin.tech/
3 Fetal Bovine Serum (“FBS”) comes from unborn calves’ blood collected at slaughter. It is widely used as a supplement to sustain cell growth outside of an animal.
4 Subject to customary conditions preceden
About QuaCell Biotechnology
QuaCell Biotechnology Company Limited (“QuaCell”) is an international contract research organization (CRO) and contract manufacturing organization (CMO) specializing in biologics development and production. The company’s cell culture platform technology provides key advantages in antibody/recombinant protein engineering, cell line development, cell culture media and process development, and recombinant protein production.
About Avant
Avant Meats Company Limited (“Avant”) is the first cultivated meat company in China and the first cultivated fish company in Asia. Its patent-pending proprietary biotechnology platform produces fish proteins in a cost-effective and fully traceable bioprocess, directly from fish cells for food, skincare, and other functional applications. Avant aims to be a global leader in producing safely and sustainably cultivated proteins in a fully contained environment. Founded in 2018 and currently based in Hong Kong Science Park, Avant has been named on CleanTech Group’s 2020 APAC 25 list of most innovative sustainable companies and featured in Reuters, Forbes, The Telegraph, South China Morning Post, and CCTV. For more information, please visit www.avantmeats.com.
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