Eurogentec is an international

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

supplier, based in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, that specializes in

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

and

proteomics Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins. Proteins are vital parts of living organisms, with many functions such as the formation of structural fibers of muscle tissue, enzymatic digestion of food, or synthesis and replication of DNA. In ...

kits and

reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

s as well as cGMP

biologics A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, th ...

. The company was founded in 1985 as a spin-off from the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

. Eurogentec's

contract manufacturing organization A contract manufacturing organization (CMO), more recently referred to (and more commonly used now) as a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) to avoid the acronym confusion of Chief Medical Officer or Clinical Monitoring Organ ...

facilities are licensed by the Belgian Ministry of Health to produce clinical trial and commercial biopharmaceutical material and also licensed by the US FDA to manufacture a commercial recombinant protein product for the US market. Eurogentec operates two manufacturing facilities in Belgium that provide custom biologics and

oligonucleotide Oligonucleotides are short DNA or RNA molecules, oligomers, that have a wide range of applications in genetic testing, research, and forensics. Commonly made in the laboratory by solid-phase chemical synthesis, these small bits of nucleic acids c ...

-based components for diagnostic and therapeutic/prophylactic applications.

History

1985: The company was founded in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

by two young researchers from the University of Liège, Prof. Joseph Martial and Prof. André Renard. Prof. Joseph Martial crossed the Atlantic at the end of the 1970s to work at

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...

in an American laboratory and returned a few years later, as a trained genetic engineer, at a time when these technologies were still largely confined to North America. Above all, he came back with a certain concept of the economic role potentially assumed by a university researcher in creating his own enterprise. At that time, there was no ''ad hoc'' structure at the ULg to support the launching of a spin-off. Prof. J. Martial recruited a young researcher (Prof. A. Renard). The laboratory was then welcomed by ULg authorities in their facilities. The company's first goal was to perfect a vaccine for fish breeding through genetic engineering. 1987: Eurogentec started to distribute

Oligonucleotide Oligonucleotides are short DNA or RNA molecules, oligomers, that have a wide range of applications in genetic testing, research, and forensics. Commonly made in the laboratory by solid-phase chemical synthesis, these small bits of nucleic acids c ...

s for Research laboratories. The company's first years were difficult but in the very early 1990s, Jean-Pierre Delwart, economist from Brussels University, boarded the ship and put Eurogentec in a favorable current. EurogentecNA resized

1996: Eurogentec became a

contract research organization In the life sciences, a contract research organization (CRO) is a company that provides support to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries in the form of research services outsourced on a contract basis. A CRO may provid ...

(CRO) for the biopharmaceutical sector and entered into collaboration with SmithKline Beecham biologicals (Rixensart, Belgium) for the production of recombinant proteins for phase I, II and III clinical trials. In addition to its pharmaceutical manufacturing activities, Eurogentec became a service company for the biotechnical research industry and university laboratories. 1999: Eurogentec acquired Oswel Research Product Ltd. a biotechnology company based in Southampton, Great Britain and specialized in the synthesis of chemically modified and complex oligonucleotides and their analogues (DNA, RNA, PNA). 2002: Eurogentec acquired Wita Proteomics, a company specialized in proteomics services, based in Berlin (Germany). A few months later, Eurogentec installed its US office in San Diego for the production of oligonucleotides (EGT NA). Eurogentec headquarters

2004: Eurogentec opened its new production laboratories (Oligonucleotides and peptides synthesis) in the Liege Science PARK (Belgium). This intelligent building is also ecological: the building is equipped with a home automation system (lighting without switch) and the heating is produced from a condensation boiler allowing energy savings. From 2000 to 2008 Eurogentec intensified its services and signed agreements with several companies like Cepheid, Epoch Biosciences, Exiqon, Delphi, In Cell Art. 2007: In order to fully meet the Oligonucleotide ''in vitro'' diagnostics stringent manufacturing requirements, Eurogentec expanded its current GMP facility in Liège. 2008: Eurogentec received ISO 13485 Certification for the production and sales of ''In Vitro'' Diagnostics (IVD) oligonucleotides in Liège. Two years after EGT NA also received ISO 13485 certification for the Oligonucleotide diagnostics manufacturing. Building of AnaSpec

2009 October, Eurogentec announced the acquisition of AnaSpec, a privately owned proteomics company based in Fremont, USA. Anaspec is a provider of proteomics for life science research; they specialize in peptides synthesis, labelled peptides and antibodies, fluorescent dyes and enzyme activity assays. 2010: Kaneka acquired a majority stake in Eurogentec S.A. Kaneka's products include synthetic resins, resin products, chemicals, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, electrical raw materials and synthetic fibres. 2012: Start commercial manufacturing of a biopharmaceutical for USA market.

Products and services

Eurogentec has developed three interrelated business units, ''Life Science Research Products and Services'', ''In Vitro Diagnostics Manufacturing Solutions'', and ''GMP Biomanufacturing''. :The life science business unit specializes in

, and involves the development of

oligonucleotides Oligonucleotides are short DNA or RNA molecules, oligomers, that have a wide range of applications in genetic testing, research, and forensics. Commonly made in the laboratory by solid-phase chemical synthesis, these small bits of nucleic acids c ...

DNA polymerase A DNA polymerase is a member of a family of enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of DNA molecules from nucleoside triphosphates, the molecular precursors of DNA. These enzymes are essential for DNA replication and usually work in groups to create ...

s, Real-time qPCR Probes, assay services, and

. The proteomics operations are primarily concerned with custom

peptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A ...

s and

antibodies An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...

, assay kits and Proprietary Dyes & Quenchers. :The ''in vitro'' diagnostics business unit provides technical and project support for contract manufacturing of

good manufacturing practice Current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) are those conforming to the guidelines recommended by relevant agencies. Those agencies control the authorization and licensing of the manufacture and sale of food and beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceutica ...

(GMP) Oligonucleotides and Taq DNA polymerases for use in Molecular Diagnostic applications. Manufacturing processes take place in clean rooms. :The GMP BioManufacturing BU, is a full-service Contract Manufacturing Organization (CMO) and offers significant know-how in process development, technology transfer, formulation, scale-up and manufacturing of GMP proteins, protein conjugates, plasmids and bacterial vaccines for pre-clinical, clinical and commercial uses, all according to U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

(FDA) and EMA requirements.

Products in development

As of September 2014 Eurogentec Biologics was developing a vaccine against bilharziosis called ''Bilhvax'' in partnership with INSERM and researchers from the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

; the vaccine candidate was starting Phase III trials at that time.WHO. September 2014
Status of Vaccine Research and Development of Vaccines for Schistosomiasis
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eurogentec Biotechnology companies of Belgium Companies based in Liège Province Research support companies Contract research organizations Pharmaceutical companies established in 1985 Pharmaceutical companies of Belgium Liège Seraing Biotechnology companies established in 1985 1985 establishments in Belgium