VentriLabs lands Vinnova grant to validate its gentler biopharma pump
What's the deal? Gothenburg-based VentriLabs has won a grant from Swedish innovation agency VinnovaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to further test its DuaFLO BioPump, which is designed to circulate living cells more gently during drug manufacturing. The company will run the validation with researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
What's the endgame? Many biologic medicines, including antibodies for cancer and autoimmune disease, are made using living cells grown in bioreactors. The pumps that circulate those cells can damage them through mechanical stress, cutting output. DuaFLO uses a continuous, non-pulsatile flow to reduce that stress.
Why it matters: In previous independent testing with CHO cells, the pump showed up to 25% higher IgG antibody productivity than a reference pump. If replicated, that could let manufacturers produce more medicine from existing capacity and lower costs.
The test: KTH's Cell Technology Group, led by Professor Veronique Chotteau, will evaluate DuaFLO in high-density perfusion cultivation, measuring cell growth, viability, and productivity against reference pumps.
"The data from this project will give customers and equipment manufacturers a strong basis for assessing DuaFLO in their own processes," said chief executive officer Robin Öz.
What could go wrong? Early results rest on a single comparison, and the pump remains in early access. Broad adoption depends on replicating the gains under varied industrial conditions.
The signal: The Vinnova grant is modest, non-dilutive support rather than a major financing round — but it reflects growing interest in squeezing more yield from existing bioreactor capacity as demand for biologic medicines climbs.
Read more: mynewsdesk.com
Image credit: kaibara87
