A new bioprocessing purification platform is one step closer to market after developer Puridify Ltd. closed a £2.2 million ($3.4 million) Series A funding round.
Puridify’s purification technology, known as FibroSelect, aims to transform purification in bioprocess manufacturing. The platform is designed to increase manufacturing productivity, while its single-use design is expected to further support reduction of validation time and cost.
The technology was developed during a collaborative research project between the Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering at UCL (University College London) and the U.K.’s Science & Technology Facilities Council.
Puridify plans to use the Series A funding to accelerate the commercialization of its nanofibre-based purification technology with the aim of having GMP compatible purification units ready for wider industry use in 2016.
The follow-on investment by existing investors Imperial Innovations, SR One and UCL Business takes the total raised including grant funding to £8 million ($12.3 million).
“We are delighted that our investors and Innovate UK are continuing to support us as we look to further expand our team and focus on generating industry relevant end-user data for FibroSelect, while rapidly establishing a manufacturing basis for GMP-compliant products,” commented Dr. Oliver Hardick, CEO of Puridify.
“Our single-use purification units will enable this technology to effectively service the wider Life Sciences industry. Specifically, collaborations with biotherapeutic drug manufacturers are already proving the benefit of FibroSelect as a single-use high productivity product capture platform, suitable for existing and emergent biologic therapies.”
Dr. Inga Deakin, associate for Healthcare Ventures at Imperial Innovations, added: “The FibroSelect purification platform is ideally suited to support the industry’s increasing interest in single use and demand for smaller, more flexible manufacturing facilities that can produce multiple products.”
