A North East life sciences firm seeking to revolutionise food markets with its cruelty-free meat is now targeting the pharmaceutical sector, after linking up with a Fortune 500 global leader.
Newcastle based 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT) has recently made headlines with its lab cultivated ‘steak’, grown from its patent-protected supplement called CityMix, a supplement which directs cells to grow in a skin-like manner, accelerates the process, and also removes the need for the use of animal serum.
The team behind the supplement is also working with fashion companies, having revealed how the same process can be used to create leather in the laboratory, which could eventually be used to make shoes and other goods by manufacturers, essentially creating animal ‘skin’ without the need for animals.
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Now the scientific engineers at the company – a Newcastle University spin-out owned by London Stock Exchange listed BSF Enterprise plc – has told how it has made significant progress, following the implementation of the second phase of its ‘go-to-market’ strategy. In a stock market announcement, owners BSF Enterprise told how, in addition to the cultured meat and cellular agricultural markets, 3DBT is now addressing the bio-pharmaceutical industry, by partnering with those working in gene therapy, stem cells and regenerative medicine, life science companies, and academia.
It said: “The company has partnered with Benzol - a world leader in the science distribution sector - to help commercialise and act as a distributor of City-Mix across Germany. Biozol is the leading distributor for some of the leading global pharmaceutical companies, engaging with 14,000 companies across the industry. This partnership forms part of the company’s strategy to use an indirect sales model for the biotech and life sciences markets and partner with appropriate distributors across Europe and the US.
“3DBT has also engaged directly with one of the leading global suppliers to pharmaceutical companies. The Fortune 500 company is a world leader in providing solutions for cellular analysis and synthetic biology. The company has currently purchased several vials of City-MixTM for evaluation to be used in its media formulation and help reduce costs.
“Meanwhile, one of the world’s leading stem cell companies, which specialises in converting stem cells into fat tissue, is also evaluating the use of City-Mix in its production process to help increase efficacy and reduce costs. If successful, the partnership will provide a significant opportunity for scalable volume production of City-Mix.”
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Since March, the company has continued developing commercial partnerships with cellular agriculture companies, with two companies starting to purchasing the product in April, and a third company recently signing up to buy the supplement. It said it will continue to develop its partnerships programme with established food manufacturers throughout the year, including across Europe, China and the US following the approval from the joint US Department of Agriculture and FDA framework to sell cell-cultivated chicken to US consumers.
BSF Enterprise listed on the OTCQB Venture Market in May, and following the listing, the company held a successful investor roadshow in the US with current and prospective investors, alongside potential commercial partners, saying the initial response from US investors has been positive.
Che Connon, chief executive of 3DBT and managing director of BSF, said: “We have made significant progress in the short time since we implemented our go to market strategy for City-Mix, with an increasing number of commercial partnerships and sales opportunities successfully progressing across our direct and in-direct global sales channels. City-Mix is a truly differentiated product, with key advantages over traditional media supplements and this is now being realised and evidenced across the cultivated meat industry and by global leaders in the pharmaceutical sector.”