CDMO Extracellular announces it has opened what it claims is Europe’s largest contract pilot plant for cultivated meat and seafood in Bristol, the UK.
The facility, established for food-grade operations, will provide essential scale-up and manufacturing services to assist cultivated meat companies in achieving their production goals and mitigating the expense and time associated with building new sites.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”The vision for the facility is to eliminate the need for cultivated meat companies to develop pilot-scale facilities”[/perfectpullquote]
According to Extracellular, its pilot plant currently has an operational capacity of 200 L and is expected to reach 2,000 L by December 2023. It can produce up to 50t of cultivated meat annually; however, the facility is expected to reach 100t per year. The facility will hold multiple bioreactors from 50 L to 5,000 L and has a planned capacity to hold 10,000 liters.
Great consumer products at achievable prices
Along with the license-free cell banks developed in collaboration with the British biotechnology company Multus, Extracellular offers intermediate and mid-scale capabilities services at its new contract pilot facility. It supports cell ag companies in developing, manufacturing and completing further commercial requirements of cellular agriculture-derived products faster and at lower prices.
The CDMO already has over a dozen customers across eight countries and four continents and has announced plans to install scale-up sites in Asia and America in the coming years. Last March, Extracellular announced it had secured funding from various investors, bringing its total raised capital to over $1.9 million.
Dr. Will Milligan, founder and CEO of Extracellular, said: “The vision for the facility is to eliminate the need for cultivated meat companies to develop pilot-scale facilities altogether, saving each company millions of pounds in CAPEX, cutting years out of their commercialisation timelines, and de-risking the scale-up process by providing the much-needed manufacturing expertise. This will allow cultivated meat companies to focus on their goals of developing great consumer products at achievable prices.”
