OREANDA-NEWS. Icosagen Cell Factory, a spin-off company from the University of Tartu, received a prestigious SME grant within the framework of Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, in which the European Commission hand-picks businesses to invest in and support. A total of 30 projects out of 1090 submitted proposals under Phase 2 were selected in the last call, with the cut-off date being 25 November 2015.

Icosagen Cell Factory was awarded EUR 1.2 million, to develop a novel platform for mammalian cell line development, in order to reduce the length and cost of biological drug development. “Our decision to invest in cell line development was triggered by the market research done together with the consultants from Invent Baltics, which revealed it to be an unmet need of our existing customers,” said company CEO Mart Ustav. “This new technology will be a very important addition to our existing portfolio of technologies used in our services, which already include QMCF Technology for recombinant protein production and Hybrifree Technology for recombinant antibody development”, added Ustav.

Icosagen Cell Factory manufactures recombinant antibodies and proteins by using its proprietary technologies, and develops monoclonal antibodies from rabbits, chickens and mice, by direct cloning from b-cells. The company is ISO 9001:2008 certified, and follows GLP guidelines.

Consultants from Invent Baltics have helped prepared more than 70 successful project applications to different European Union Innovation Funds (Horizon 2020, EUREKA EUROSTARS), bringing more than EUR 150 million to clients located in more than 20 countries.

About Icosagen

Icosagen develops antibodies and manufactures recombinant proteins by using its proprietary technologies. Icosagen’s patented QMCF technology has been successfully licensed to a series of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and is being used in the development and production of biological therapeutics.