Boehringer Ingelheim Renews Global Technology Collaboration Agreement with VTU Technology

Boehringer Ingelheim, a research-based, global pharmaceutical company, and VTU Technology, a leading contract research and development company, announced today the renewal of their global Pichia pastoris technology collaboration agreement. VTU Technology, currently offering a very broad and versatile technology platform available for Pichia pastoris protein production, will be responsible for carrying out the joint development program in VTU´s facilities in close collaboration between researchers from both companies. Boehringer Ingelheim has decided to prolong their ongoing technology agreement with VTU to further strengthen Pichia´s position as a highly attractive and competitive host for the production of biopharmaceuticals.

“The ongoing commitment of Boehringer Ingelheim in our technology collaboration underlines the skills and capabilities of our great team. We are very much looking forward to new exciting developments in this fruitful collaboration”, said Dr. Thomas Purkarthofer, Head of Business Development at VTU Technology.

“We are excited about the continuation of our successful collaboration with VTU Technology. Together we established Pichia pastoris as innovative platform for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals,” said Georg Klima, Executive Director Process Science Austria at Boehringer Ingelheim. “With the renewal of our collaboration we will further expand our technological lead for Boehringer Ingelheim’s own development projects as well as for Boehringer Ingelheim BioXcellence™ customers globally.”

About Boehringer Ingelheim

The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, Boehringer Ingelheim operates globally with 142 affiliates and a total of more than 47,400 employees. The focus of the family-owned company, founded in 1885, is researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing new medications of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine. In 2013, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of about 14.1 billion euros. R&D expenditure corresponds to 19.5 % of its net sales.

About VTU Technology

VTU Technology, a leading contract research and development company, offers the broadest toolbox and most versatile technology platform available for Pichia pastoris recombinant protein expression / production enabling highest productivities delivering up to 22 g/L of secreted protein within a few weeks development time. VTU´s yield-enhancing Pichia pastoris expression platform is based on its proprietary AOX1 promoter libraries and set of expression enhancing helper factors, several platform strains with different genetic backgrounds, elaborated cloning and transformation protocols, a high-throughput screening & cultivation regime combined with excellent know-how in fermentation and downstream process development for maximization of product yield and overall process performance.

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