INOFEA participates in a European project to achieve greener, innovative and sustainable detergents, textiles and cosmetics with enzymes

02/06/2021

Its objective is to replace or reduce the use of chemical agents with microbial enzymes that can be incorporated in the manufacture of commercially available products. The addition of enzymes to detergents, as well as the processing of textiles and cosmetics with enzymes, can reduce CO2 emissions by 42 million tons per year. A team of researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is leading a European project to develop new microbial enzymes that can be used to create consumer products (textiles, detergents and cosmetics) that are more environmentally friendly. The project, called FuturEnzyme, started this week and has a funding of almost six million euros from the Horizon 2020 framework program. Detergents, textiles and cosmetics are basic goods of daily use with complex formulas that can damage the environment and generate a very high impact on CO2 emissions, in addition to the consumption of large amounts of energy, water and the discharge of chemical products into the environment. One of the most promising ways to alleviate this problem is based on substituting the chemical agents used in industrial processes by enzymes to generate these products. Their use in liquid detergents, as well as in the processing of textiles and cosmetic ingredients, could reduce CO2 emissions by 42 million tons per year, according to recent estimates. Although enzymes that cover these activities already exist on the market, less than 10% of current consumer products contain enzymes, either because of their high cost or low performance. "Current enzymes cannot cope with the formulation of higher environmental quality consumer products. It is crucial to design smart technologies based on a new generation of enzymes with higher activity, stability and lower cost, which can meet the demands of both consumers and industry," points Manuel Ferrer, CSIC researcher at the Institute of Catalysis (ICP-CSIC) and coordinator of the European project To achieve this, FuturEnzyme's multidisciplinary consortium will start with detergents, cosmetics and sportswear already available on the market. "It's not about designing new consumer products that would take years to market, but about improving existing ones to make them more environmentally friendly, functional and sustainable by incorporating enzymes in the production process", Ferrer adds. These enzymes will be extracted from microorganisms by applying techniques that allow rational selection of the most suitable enzymes at each moment and for each product. The technology will combine massive analysis of biological data using supercomputers, bioprospecting, protein engineering, biotechnology and pre-industrial testing to select the best enzymes from thousands or millions of enzymes, something that has not been possible to date. The FuturEnzyme multidisciplinary consortium is composed of 16 European academic and industrial partners from Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Portugal, United Kingdom and Switzerland. CSIC is not only the coordinator of the project, but also participates in all stages, from the extraction and characterization of these enzymes, their improvement through engineering techniques and low-cost production to pre-industrial scale trials. Julia Sanz, from the Instituto de Química Física Rocasolano (IQFR-CSIC), who will be in charge of characterizing the enzyme structures, is also participating as principal investigator. FuturEnzyme started this week and will run until 2025. More informations about the objectives of the project are on www.futurenzyme.eu

INOFEA a clôturé avec succès son tour de financement de série B

16/11/2020

INOFEA AG, société de biotechnologie spécialisée dans le développement d'une nouvelle plateforme enzymatique, a annoncé aujourd'hui la pleine réussite de son dernier tour de financement de série B. "C'était très encourageant de dépasser notre objectif avec le soutien des actionnaires existants et nouveaux", a déclaré la PDG, Dr. Anne Timm. "Toute l'équipe INOFEA et notre conseil d'administration sont fiers de cette étape importante et nous remercions nos investisseurs grâce auxquels cela a été possible." INOFEA utilisera cet investissement pour étendre sa position sur le marché, en particulier dans les secteurs pharmaceutique et alimentaire. La croissance permanente de sa clientèle montre la valeur des enzymes raffinées dans le domaine de la biotechnologie blanche. Les clients d’INOFEA apprécient cette technologie qui permet de réaliser des économies de produits de base premières, d’énergie et de coûts dans des processus de fabrication continus. Cette technologie unique au monde rend les enzymes jusqu'à 20 à 35 fois plus stables et réutilisables. Cela peut contribuer substantiellement aux objectifs de durabilité de l'industrie. INOFEA est en train de déposer de nouveaux brevets, a un contrat d'approvisionnement, plusieurs contrats de recherche et un contrat de licence. Outre la biocatalyse, la société se concentre sur le marché du diagnostic (biomarqueur), dans lequel la technologie enzymatique enzzen® rend superflues les biopsies complexes et douloureuses pour le patient. L'INOFEA étend son équipe tant sur le plan technique que commercial, laquelle a été récemment élargie pour inclure un responsable du développement commercial avec une grande expérience de l'industrie, ceci afin que les efforts de croissance ambitieux de l'entreprise soient réalisés dans les années à venir. INOFEA invite les entreprises de l'industrie qui recherchent activement des solutions enzymatiques pour la biocatalyse et le diagnostic à nouer des partenariats avec elle pour le développement d'enzymes robustes et recyclables.

INOFEA successfully closed its Series B financing round

16/11/2020

Muttenz, Switzerland, Nov. 16, 2020: End of September 2020 INOFEA AG executed the successful closure of its recent financing round Series B. “It was amazing to see that we have been able to oversubscribe our target, both with the support of existing and also of new shareholders”, said the CEO, Dr. Anne Timm. “The entire INOFEA Team and our Board are proud of this important milestone and we thank our investors who made this happen.” INOFEA will use its investment to grow its market position, mainly in the Pharma and Food segment. The constant growth of the customer base demonstrates the value of the technology in the white biotech sector. INOFEA’s clients are particularly in favour of the technology as it supports raw material, energy and cost savings when used in continuous manufacturing processes. The unique technology makes enzymes up to 20-35 times more stable and reusable. This supports a valuable contribution to the sustainability targets of the industry. INOFEA is in the process to file new patents, has a supply agreement, multiple research agreements and a license agreement in place. Beside Biocatalysis the company focuses on the market of diagnostics (biomarkers) where the enzzen®-enzyme technology makes complicated and for the patient painful biopsies obsolete. INOFEA is expanding its team, both on the technical and commercial side and an industry-seasoned dedicated Business Development Manager has been hired. This will enable the ambitious growth aspirations of the company in the coming years. INOFEA invites companies in the industry who are actively looking for enzymatic solutions for Biocatalysis and Diagnostics to enter into partnerships for the development of robust and recyclable enzymes.

INOFEA hat seine Finanzierungsrunde der Serie B erfolgreich abgeschlossen

16/11/2020

INOFEA AG, ein Biotechnologie-Unternehmen, das sich auf die Entwicklung einer neuartigen Enzym-Plattform konzentriert, gab heute den erfolgreichen Abschluss ihrer jüngsten Finanzierungsrunde Serie B bekannt. „Es war erfreulich zu sehen, dass wir unser Finanzierungsziel sowohl mit der Unterstützung bestehender als auch neuer Aktionäre überzeichnen konnten“, sagte Dr. Anne Timm (CEO). "Das gesamte INOFEA-Team und unser Vorstand sind stolz auf das Erreichen dieses wichtigen Meilensteins und wir danken unseren Investoren, die dies möglich gemacht haben." INOFEA wird die Mittel nutzen, um die Marktposition im Pharma- und Lebensmittelbereich auszubauen. Das stetige Wachstum des Kundenstamms zeigt den Wert der veredelten Enzyme im Bereich der weißen Biotechnologie. INOFEA’s Kunden schätzen die Technologie, da damit Rohstoff-, Energie- und Kosteneinsparungen bei kontinuierlichen Herstellungsprozessen möglich sind. Die einzigartige Technologie macht Enzyme bis zu 20-35-mal stabiler und wieder verwendbar. Dies ist ein wertvoller Beitrag zu den Nachhaltigkeitszielen der Kunden. Neben der Biokatalyse konzentriert sich das Unternehmen auf den Diagnostik-Markt (Biomarker), wo die Enzzen®-Enzymtechnologie komplizierte und für den Patienten schmerzhafte Biopsien überflüssig macht. INOFEA erweitert zur Zeit das Patentportfolio, verfügt über Lieferverträge, mehrere Forschungsvereinbarungen und eine Lizenzvereinbarung mit industriellen Partnern. INOFEA erweitert die Anzahl der Mitarbeiter, sowohl auf der technischen wie auch auf der kommerziellen Seite und das Team wurde kürzlich mit einem branchenerfahrenen Business Development Manager gestärkt, um so ehrgeizige Wachstumsziele in den kommenden Jahren zu realisieren. INOFEA lädt Unternehmen, die nach enzymatischen Lösungen für die Biokatalyse und Diagnostik suchen, dazu ein, mit ihr Partnerschaften für die Entwicklung robuster und wiederverwendbarer Enzyme einzugehen.

INOFEA is certified to be one of the finalists of the EIT-Food Accelerator Network 2020

30/10/2020

INOFEA is certified to be one of the finalists of EIT-Food Accelerator Network 2020, operated by MassChallenge Switzerland.