Ventria Bioscience is a
biotech
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 ...
company with a focus on human nutrition and human therapeutics. The company was established in 1993 in Colorado. The company's core technology is a
genetically modified crop-based
protein production
Protein production is the biotechnological process of generating a specific protein. It is typically achieved by the manipulation of gene expression in an organism such that it expresses large amounts of a recombinant gene. This includes the t ...
system (also called a "
pharming
Pharming is a cyberattack intended to redirect a website's traffic to another, fake site by installing a malicious program on the computer. Pharming can be conducted either by changing the hosts file on a victim's computer or by exploitation of a ...
" system) called ExpressTec.
ExpressTec uses self-pollinating crops such as
rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
and
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...
to minimize the risk of
gene flow normally associated with
transgenic plants
Genetically modified plants have been engineered for scientific research, to create new colours in plants, deliver vaccines, and to create enhanced crops. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of '' Agrobacterium'' for the ...
. Plant-produced proteins also offer advantages for cell culture and bioprocessing use because they replace animal derived components, which have become unpopular due to concerns about
prion contamination.
Facilities
Ventria's corporate headquarters is in Denver, Colorado, with additional facilities in Kansas. On September 29, 2006, Kansas officials announced an agreement to bring Ventria’s new bioprocessing facility to
Junction City, Kansas
Junction City is a city in and the county seat of Geary County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 22,932. Fort Riley, a major U.S. Army post, is nearby.
History
Junction City is so named from its ...
. Kansas Governor
Kathleen Sebelius
Kathleen Sebelius (; née Gilligan, born May 15, 1948) is an American businesswoman and politician who served as the 21st United States secretary of Health and Human Services from 2009 until 2014. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebeli ...
was very supportive of the agreement and was quoted as stating "I welcome Ventria Bioscience to Kansas and look forward to their contributions to the health of children worldwide." The effort to attract Ventria to Kansas involved a number of players, including Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Agriculture
Adrian Polansky, The Kansas Department of Commerce, Junction City and Geary County, Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC), KansasBIO,
Kansas State University, and Kansas Farm Bureau.
Markets and products
As of 2012 Ventria is developing six therapeutic products:
* Human Health
** VEN100
Recombinant human lactoferrin for antibiotic-associated diarrhea
** VEN101 for Chemotherapy-Induced Diarrhea
** VEN120 for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
** VEN130 for Osteoporosis
** VEN140 for Hepatic disease
** VEN200 Optibumin
Recombinant human albumin as a replacement for therapeutic human serum albumin
The company offers contract biomanufacturing services using its ExpressTec platform, and, through its subsidiary InVitria, sells a line of its proteins that it manufactures for the life sciences research market.
The company is conducting research in the field of
zoonotic disease
A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human ...
, specifically in
lyme disease
Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a vector-borne disease caused by the ''Borrelia'' bacterium, which is spread by ticks in the genus ''Ixodes''. The most common sign of infection is an expanding red rash, known as erythema migran ...
and rabies, with a goal of developing vaccines and offers some its recombinant proteins to life sciences researchers under a program called BioShare.
See also
Ventria website
References
External links
Ventria Bioscience Official site
{{Authority control
Pharmaceutical companies of the United States
Biotechnology companies of the United States
Privately held companies based in Colorado
Companies based in Fort Collins, Colorado
Pharmaceutical companies established in 1993
Biotechnology companies established in 1993
Health care companies based in Colorado
1993 establishments in Colorado