Biotimize Announces the Opening of a Fundraising Round to Build the First Biological CDMO in Brazil
PIRACICABA, Brazil, Sept. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Biotimize, a functional growth-stage biotechnology as a service (BaaS) company with a mission to transform lives through biotechnology, today announced the opening of a $30 million Series A fundraising round. The investment will enable Biotimize to build the first biological CDMO in Brazil and to become the first end-to-end biological CDMO in South America.
Brazilian universities, startups, and medium-large companies face enormous challenges in developing biological Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). These difficulties are evidenced by the low number of biopharmaceutical products launched through 100% Brazilian research, a sub-optimal biological manufacturing capacity (only 2.19% of global manufacturing capacity is in South America), the low number of facilities with an active GMP certification, and the very high cost of importing biological products ($1.3 billion in 2015). Among many causes, this has occurred chiefly due to the absence of any Brazilian biological CDMOs, despite the existence of more than 500 worldwide.
Recent efforts have sought to change the historically discouraging biopharmaceutical scenario in Brazil. The Brazilian government has legislated several industrial incentives and the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency is also enforcing strict adherence to the ICH guidelines. “The impact of building the CDMO goes far beyond the financials. Biotimize will help build the foundation for a growing scientific community that currently has no structure for development or GMP production,” says Fernando Barbosa, CEO of Biotimize.
A 32,000 square-foot parcel of land was donated to Biotimize by the City of Piracicaba, and Biotimize is negotiating partnerships with world renowned equipment suppliers, centers of API characterization and GMP training organizations. “The CDMO will have independent upstream suites for mammalian cell cultures focused on recombinant protein production, like monoclonal antibodies. This is especially important for a country with over 200 million inhabitants and a large potential market for biosimilars,” adds Fernando.
About Biotimize
Biotimize is a Biotechnology as a Service company led by entrepreneurs with solid experience in innovation, acquired in different companies and research centers around the world. With a mission to transform lives through biotechnology, Biotimize enables ideas, treatments, and dreams to become reality. Biotimize is on its way to being the first biological CDMO in Brazil. To learn more about the company and its plan to open a presence in the United States, visit www.biotimize.com.br.
Contact:
Fernando Barbosa
fernando@biotimize.com.br
