Cell-Easy annonce l’entrée au capital de Mérieux Equity Partners en tant qu’actionnaire de référence, dans le cadre de son projet de croissance dans le domaine de la thérapie cellulaire.
Toulouse et Lyon – 8 décembre 2020 - Mérieux Equity Partners (via OMX Europe Venture Fund FPCI), IRDI Soridec Gestion et M Capital Partners entrent au capital de la société Cell-Easy, laboratoire pharmaceutique français spécialisé dans le développement et la production à façon de cellules souches, dans le cadre d’essais précliniques ou cliniques, en France et à l’international. L’opération capitalistique vise à accélérer la croissance de l’entreprise, en renforçant l’équipe managériale et sa présence commerciale sur les géographies clés. Cell-Easy propose des prestations de développement et de fabrication à façon de lots précliniques ou cliniques (CDMO), grâce à un processus industriel et une expertise de production de cellules souches allogéniques d’origine adipeuse. L’unité de production de Cell-Easy, aux normes BPF (Bonnes Pratiques de Fabrication) et validée par l’ANSM (Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament), permet une mise à l’échelle évolutive et garantit un niveau de sécurité et de qualité optimal. Cell-Easy a pour objectif d’élargir sa plateforme industrielle afin de pouvoir répondre à la demande grandissante en cellules souches et plus généralement cellules thérapeutiques venant de sociétés de biotechnologies et pharmaceutiques ainsi que des centres de recherche clinique en milieu hospitalier. Considéré initialement comme un simple organe de stockage dont l’excès de développement est cause d’obésité et de maladies métaboliques, le tissu adipeux est en fait un véritable tissu endocrine jouant un rôle essentiel dans de nombreux processus biologiques de l’organisme. De nombreux travaux de recherche ont mis en évidence que le tissu adipeux est une source abondante de cellules stromales mésenchymateuses, ayant des propriétés immunomodulatrices, anti-inflammatoires et également angiogéniques. Elles sont aussi capables d’aider à la réparation tissulaire, directement ou indirectement, en sécrétant des molécules ou en libérant des microvésicules. Cell-Easy fournit un matériel cellulaire de qualité pharmaceutique à un coût abordable, afin de réaliser des essais cliniques de la Phase I à la Phase III. La société a déjà sécurisé des contrats avec des clients de premier plan en France et à l’international. Dans un contexte de forte demande, Mérieux Equity Partners compte accompagner l’entreprise et l’aider à étendre son offre de services en support à la mise en place de nouvelles approches en thérapie cellulaire, en Europe et à l’international. « Nous souhaitons devenir le fournisseur de référence de grands laboratoires européens et internationaux mais aussi de jeunes entreprises innovantes, développant de nouvelles modalités de thérapies cellulaires. Au moment où l’industrie pharmaceutique redécouvre l’intérêt des cellules souches, cette augmentation de capital significative va nous permettre de mettre à l’échelle notre procédé de production pour la réalisation d’essais cliniques dès 2021. », indique Pierre Monsan, Directeur Général de Cell-Easy, Professeur émérite à l’INSA Toulouse, fondateur de TWB et de la Fédération Française des Biotechnologies. « Le contexte exacerbé actuel révèle un défaut considérable en termes de capacités de production et d’accès aux patients pour des médicaments innovants. L’ouverture de notre bâtiment pharmaceutique et l’arrivée de Mérieux Equity Partners, M Capital Partners et IRDI Soridec Gestion permettent la réalisation de notre plan stratégique visant à devenir l’un des leaders européens en termes de capacité industrielle dédiée aux thérapies cellulaires », ajoute Guillaume Costecalde, Président et Fondateur de Cell-Easy. « Cet investissement dans Cell-Easy est la sixième prise de participation directe de notre nouveau fonds d’investissement OMX Europe Venture FPCI, lancé il y a un an. Nous avons été convaincus par la qualité de l’équipe et du potentiel commercial de Cell-Easy, qui bénéficie d’une expertise remarquable et d’un actif industriel de premier plan, sur un marché de la thérapie cellulaire en pleine expansion. » note Yoann Bonnamour, Chargé d’Affaires chez Mérieux Equity Partners.
A propos de Cell-Easy - www.cell-easy.com Fondée en 2015 en France, Cell-Easy est une CDMO, une société spécialisée dans les développements et productions à façon pour les cellules adhérentes et dont l’objectif est de permettre d’accéder facilement et rapidement à des solutions thérapeutiques allogéniques prêtes à injecter, pour des projets de développement de traitements cliniques. A propos de Mérieux Equity Partners - www.merieux-partners.com Dédiée au capital innovation et capital développement, Mérieux Equity Partners est une société de gestion enregistrée auprès de l'Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), qui gère environ 670 millions d’actifs et mobilise actuellement une vingtaine de collaborateurs et business partenaires en Europe et en Amérique du Nord. Mérieux Equity Partners joue un rôle actif en tant qu'actionnaire de référence de sociétés à fort potentiel, en soutien aux entrepreneurs dans les domaines de la santé et de la nutrition. Les entreprises du portefeuille de participations bénéficient d'un accès privilégié au réseau industriel, scientifique et commercial de l’Institut Mérieux, dans le respect de la réglementation en vigueur.
Contact communication – Mérieux Equity Partners S.A.S. Valérie CALENDA – info@merieux-partners.com – Tél : 06 08 75 46 90
Renaud d'Avout d'Auerstaedt
Taylor Thompson
Best Microalgae Awards Founder
Best Microalgae Awards Event Coordinator
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Paris, France – 10 December 2020 AN INDUSTRY’S FIRST: BEST MICROALGAE AWARDS 2020 CONGRATULATES WINNERS! The Best Microalgae Awards (BμA) association is pleased to announce that the winners and silver medallists for the 2020 edition of the Best Microalgae Awards have been declared. The new industry-supported event aims to bring the very best in terms of innovation in the sector out of the woodwork and usher in better awareness of the value microalgae can provide in tomorrow’s world. BμA is a new independent non-profit initiative with a global scope, including judges from industry organizations throughout the world such the Algae Foundation and NAXA and operating under the aegis of the European Algae Biomass Association (EABA). BμA is an invaluable occasion to acquire a new audience and receive international recognition for microalgae industry innovation. The Best Microalgae Awards seeks to create an industry stamp of excellence, thus setting a benchmark for integrity in microalgae innovation to establish a more sustainable future for all. The deadline for submissions was Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. The Awards attracted over 100 exciting and inspiring entries emerging from 30 different countries across the globe. Participants remarked sharing and discovering new opportunities in the international microalgae industry. Finalists obtained rare feedback on their innovation pitch from a panel of industry experts during a series of judging panels that were held Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020 and Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. BμA 2020 consisted of 5 award categories. Applications were invited from organizations and researchers in the following categories: •
The Best Microalgae Game Changer 2020
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The Best Microalgae Upgrader 2020
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The Best Microalgae Wild Card 2020
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The Best Microalgae CSR Initiative 2020
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The Best Microalgae Inclusive Innovation 2020
On Dec. 4, 2020, during the final day of the EABA - European Algae Biomass Association's annual AlgaEurope conference, the winners and silver medallists of each category presented their unique video pitch to over 150 conference attendees. This year’s conference was in presented in an online format due to COVID restrictions. The hour-long spotlight presentation provided attendees with a global view of the BμA’s mission, innovators, and take-away lessons from this first edition. The Best Microalgae Awards 2020 Game Changer Category Winner is Pierre-Alain Hoffmann and Vinh Ly of Kyanos Biotechnologies – France with the submission titled, “Disrupting protein production with microalgae”, for introducing a shift towards a new mindset beyond axenic mixotrophic cultivation through the pioneering commercial cultivation of AFA. The Best Microalgae Awards 2020 Game Changer Category Silver Medallist is Ofra Chen of TransAlgae – Israel with the submission titled, “Microalgae-based Covid-19 oral vaccine”, for heralding a new microalgae-based technological platform for oral vaccination. The Best Microalgae Awards 2020 Upgrader Category Winner is Harshith Sirigeri of GreenBubble Algalworks Pvt Ltd – India with the submission titled, “A new life to the Indian and global spirulina industry”, for achieving
extremely low-cost biomass production at scale through relentless focus on cost efficiencies and circular economy based inputs. The Best Microalgae Awards 2020 Upgrader Category Silver Medallist is Dr. Fengzheng Gao of Wageningen University & Research – Netherlands with the submission titled, “New super microalgae for fucoxanthin high productivity and winter production”, for showcasing the importance of outcome-oriented strain selection for the expansion of the microalgae industry. The Best Microalgae Awards 2020 Wild Card Category Winner is Rita Mota, Paulo Nunes Oliveira, and Matinha Cardoso of Cyano2Heal – Portugal with the submission titled, “Cyano2Heal: a cyanobacterial platform technology for chronic wound healing”, for opening an intriguing and promising new field for microalgae applications in wound treatment. The Best Microalgae Awards 2020 Wild Card Category Silver Medalist is María Boto Ordóñez and Larissa Arashiro of Clean Colour – Belgium with the submission titled, “Clean Colour: Sustainable printing by transforming waste streams into colourful microalgae pigments”, for materializing a circular economy approach turning wastewater streams into low-persistence ink and dyes for short-term applications. The Best Microalgae Awards 2020 CSR Initiative Category Winner is Dr. Simon Tannock of AlgaEnviro – Australia with the submission titled, “Enhancing nature to improve water quality and ecosystem health for water bodies and communities”, for its inexpensive and scalable ecosystem-based solution to pressing environmental issues. The Best Microalgae Awards 2020 CSR Initiative Category Silver Medallist is Veramaris® – Netherlands with the submission titled, “Expanding the world's access to sustainable EPA & DHA Omega-3”, for using microalgae to improve the sustainability of food systems at an unprecedented scale. Oyvind Ihle, Global Marketing Director at Veramaris®, accepted the award on behalf of the company. The Best Microalgae Awards 2020 Inclusive Innovation Category Winner is Daniel Arriagada, John Barraza, and Franco Cerdo of Fundación Chile – Chile with the submission titled, “Social and productive model of scallop farming integrating technical colleges, small-scale aquaculturists and a technology center”, for leveraging microalgae to empower depressed coastal communities. All participants and judges alike remarked the rarity to exchange in such openness with fellow microalgae professionals. They thoroughly enjoyed all feedback and widely expressed their wish to continue such discussions. The existence of the Best Microalgae Awards is made possible by sponsors, donors, and partners in the industry. This year’s sponsor is the European Algae Biomass Association (EABA). The Best Microalgae Awards team would also like to thank the many industry experts who volunteered their time and expertise to review and judge the various applications. The Best Microalgae Awards team and all of the judges congratulate the winners and silver medallists for their excellent work in propelling the microalgae industry into the future. The second edition of the Best Microalgae Awards welcomes all industry professionals. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with a member of the team today to find out how to participate.
For more information, visit bestmicroalgaeawards.org Follow us on LinkedIn: Best Microalgae Awards To apply, visit: https://www.judgify.me/bestmicroalgaeawards2020 (BμA Terms & Conditions) Media Contacts: > Renaud d’Avout d’Auerstædt – BµA Award Lead: +33 6 51 55 15 51 / renaud@bestmicroalgaeawards.org > Taylor Thompson – BμA Event Facilitator: taylor@bestmicroalgaeawards.org About Best Microalgae Awards (BμA): The Best Microalgae Awards is a new non-profit initiative founded in May 2020. Now operating under the aegis of the European Algae Biomass Association (EABA), BμA is a neutral and geography-agnostic organization wishing to advance the microalgae field with a “growth through collaboration” strategy. Our aim to act as a catalyst to highlight and reward industry innovation. About BµA 2020’s Main Patron, the European Algae Biomass Association (EABA): The EABA is an industry association aiming to promote mutual interchange and cooperation in the field of algae biomass production and use. About BµA 2020’s Game Changer Category Winner, KYANOS BIOTECHNOLOGIES – Pierre-Alain Hoffmann and Vinh Ly – France: KYANOS BIOTECHNOLOGIES is a biotech company established in 2016 and based in Toulouse, France. They seek to forgo the approaching global food crisis on the horizon as the world population will reach 10 billion people by 2050. Kyanos devised a microalgae production process to deliver the next generation vegetal protein, worldwide in order to solve today’s unstainable and unscalable food supply chain problem. About BµA 2020’s Game Changer Category Silver Medallist, TransAlgae – Ofra Chen – Israel: TransAlgae is an Israeli biotech company that has developed an algae-based platform for oral delivery of high value products for human pharma, animal health, and crop protection. In human pharma, TransAlgae's oral delivery technology replaces the need for drug application by injections which are time-consuming, expensive and often unpleasant In animal health, TransAlgae's oral delivery technology replaces the need to use antibiotics and the need for vaccination by injections which are time-consuming and expensive. The crop protection application replaces the need for toxic chemical spraying to protect crops. About BµA 2020’s Upgrader Category Winner, Harshith Sirigeri – GreenBubble Algalworks Pvt Ltd – India: GreenBubble Algalworks Pvt Ltd is a is a micro-algae based solutions company. They build, consult for and supply equipment for large scale microalgae production units, mainly focused on Spirulina and Chlorella. The solutions are designed and built using technologies developed and refined by their R&D establishment over almost a decade. They have upgraded most of the existing companies and technology to new efficiencies and higher level of viability. About BµA 2020’s Upgrader Category Silver Medallist, Dr. Fengzheng Gao – Wageningen University & Research – Netherlands: Dr. Fengzheng Gao is a PhD researcher (second doctor degree) at Wageningen University developing novel and robust microalgal strains for high value compounds. The main bottleneck for application of Tisochrysis lutea as fucoxanthin feedstock are the low productivity and limited production period (spring/summer). He overcame these bottlenecks by developing robust strains that can grow in winter and developing robust strain that have high productivities. Moreover, the strains were developed by directed evolution + targeted cell sorting without the use of any genetic modification technique, therefore can be grown outdoors and used as food and feed. A lower fucoxanthin production cost can be expected using these two strains, which could impact the fucoxanthin market. About BµA 2020’s Wild Card Category Winner, Cyano2Heal – Rita Mota, Paulo Nunes Oliveira, and Jorge Matinha Cardoso – Portugal: Cyano2Heal is a project developed by researchers at i3S - Institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto, Portugal. Rita Mota (PhD) is an expert in cyanobacterial polymers, she is responsible for the CyanoCare project. Paulo Oliveira (PhD) is an expert in cyanobacterial extracellular vesicles and together with Jorge Cardoso (McS), they are focused on engineering cyanobacterial extracellular vesicles as innovative nano-delivery systems (CyanoVaccine research project).
About BµA 2020’s Wild Card Category Silver Medallist, Clean Colour – María Boto Ordóñez and Larissa Arashiro – Belgium: Clean Colour is a collaboration between LIWET - Ghent University (Prof. Stijn van Hulle, Prof. Diederik Rousseau, Dave Manhaeghe and Dr. Larissa Arashiro), and School of Arts KASK-HoGent (Dr. Maria Boto), which addresses microalgae bioremediation and pigments extraction (LIWET-UGent), followed by the application of microalgae pigments within the field of design (KASK-Hogent). About BµA 2020’s CSR Initiative Category Winner, Dr. Simon Tannock – AlgaEnviro – Australia: AlgaEnviro is an Australian water management company that brings consumers a natural and affordable method to keep water healthy and to control existing algae that cause toxic blooms, floating scum, bad odors, and kills fish. Their product, Diatomix, is a liquid feed that enhances the growth of the ‘good algae’ – these are called diatoms. This diatom food contains Silica as well as Iron, Manganese, Zinc, Copper, Magnesium, Boron, Potassium, Molybdenum, Calcium and Cobalt. These are the micro-nutrients required by diatoms that are not always present in water in adequate quantities. About BµA 2020’s CSR Initiative Category Silver Medallist, VERAMARIS® – Oyvind Ilhe – Netherlands: VERAMARIS® headquartered in Delft, The Netherlands, is a joint venture between DSM and Evonik, both world leaders in science and specialty chemicals. Established in 2018, Veramaris was formed to help realise a vision to conserve natural marine life by using the ocean's own resource, natural marine algae, to sustainably expand the world's access to Omega-3. Veramaris extracts oil from natural marine algae, rich in both the essential Omega-3 fatty acids EPA & DHA, and also ARA, a long chain Omega-6, vital nutrients for improved brain, heart and eye health in both animals and humans. The zero-waste industrial scale production process runs at a state-of-the-art site in Blair, Nebraska, USA. Veramaris enables key stakeholders in aquaculture and pet nutrition to become independent of wild-caught fish and meet the growing demand for sustainable seafood and animal protein. About BµA 2020’s Inclusive Innovation Category Winner, Fundación Chile – Daniel Arriagada, John Barraza, and Franco Cerda – Chile: Fundación Chile is a public-private organization whose purpose is to promote the transformation of Chile towards sustainable development. For more than 40 years they have collaboratively created high impact innovative solutions for the country, addressing local challenges of global scope. They have been pioneers empowering and enabling different productive sectors, such as the aquaculture industry, the agro-industrial sector, the movement towards renewable energies such as solar, the first venture capital funds in Latin America, among others. They work in a network, generating alliances with actors from the public and private world, with more than 160 institutions in 35 countries.
8 dĂŠcembre 2020
7 dĂŠcembre 2020