Ventria Bioscience

{{Infobox company

|name = Ventria Bioscience

|logo = Image:Ventria-logo.PNG

|type = Private company

|foundation = 1993

|founder =

|location = Fort Collins, CO

|area_served = United States

|industry = Biotechnology

|revenue =

|operating_income =

|net_income =

|assets =

|equity =

|num_employees =

|products = Bioscience Products

|homepage = [http://www.ventria.com www.ventria.com]

}}

Ventria Bioscience is a biotech company with a focus on human nutrition and human therapeutics. The company was established in 1993 in Colorado.[https://archive.today/20120709064456/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=1922046 Bloomberg BusinessWeek - Ventria Bioscience, Inc.] The company's core technology is a genetically modified crop-based protein production system (also called a "pharming" system or 'biopharming'{{Cite web |date=2004-06-02 |title='Biopharming' is back, report finds |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5120691 |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=NBC News |language=en}}) called ExpressTec.{{Cite web |date=2017-11-09 |title=InVitria Announces New Media Formulation Service |url=https://www.labmanager.com/invitria-announces-new-media-formulation-service-6051 |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=Lab Manager |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2022-09-14 |title=Ventria Bioscience Wins Exclusion Order Against Infringing and Mislabled Products From Wuhan Healthgen |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220914005883/en/Ventria-Bioscience-Wins-Exclusion-Order-Against-Infringing-and-Mislabled-Products-From-Wuhan-Healthgen |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=BusinessWire}}{{Cite web |last=Gilbert |first=Annelise |date=2023-10-03 |title=Ventria Defeats Wuhan Healthgen Challenge to Cell Culture Patent |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/ventria-defeats-wuhan-healthgen-challenge-to-cell-culture-patent |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=news.bloomberglaw.com |language=en}} They have also made applications to grow rice with human genes.{{Cite web |date=2007-03-07 |title=Rice with human genes to be grown in US |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19325943-100-rice-with-human-genes-to-be-grown-in-us/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US}}

ExpressTec uses self-pollinating crops such as rice and barley to minimize the risk of gene flow normally associated with transgenic plants. 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

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. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius was 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."{{Cite web | url=http://www.kansasbio.org/news/pdf/kansas_ventria.pdf | title=Kansas Bio}} 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.

Divisions and Subsidiaries

In 2009, Ventria Bioscience launched InVitria, a division focused on developing and commercializing animal-free cell culture supplements and reagents for the biotechnology and life sciences industries. InVitria's products, including recombinant proteins like human albumin and lactoferrin, are designed to replace animal-derived components in cell culture media. These products are used in various applications, such as cellular therapy, vaccines, medical devices, and regenerative medicine,{{Cite journal |last1=Alfano |first1=Randall |last2=Youngblood |first2=Bradford A |last3=Zhang |first3=Deshui |last4=Huang |first4=Ning |last5=MacDonald |first5=Clinton C |date=2014-05-01 |title=Human leukemia inhibitory factor produced by the ExpressTec method from rice (Oryza sativa L.) is active in human neural stem cells and mouse induced pluripotent stem cells |journal=Bioengineered |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=180–185 |doi=10.4161/bioe.28996 |issn=2165-5979 |pmc=4101010 |pmid=24776984}} providing more consistent, ethical, and safe alternatives for research and production in the biopharmaceutical field.

Markets and products

Human health, cell culture and biomanufacturing, and zoonotic disease are the three targeted markets for Ventria's products.{{Cite web |date=2011-06-06 |title=Ventria Bioscience Invited to Present ExpressTec (TM) at the 4th International Plant-Based Vaccines & Antibodies Conference |url=https://www.biotechnewswire.ai/20110606515/ventria-bioscience-invited-to-present-expresstec-tm-at-the-4th-international-plant-based-vaccines-a-antibodies-conference.html |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=www.biotechnewswire.ai}}

As of 2012 Ventria is developing six therapeutic products:

Human Health
VEN100 Recombinant human lactoferrin for antibiotic-associated diarrhea[http://www.ventria.com/medicines/ven100 Ventria VEN100 page]
VEN101 for Chemotherapy-Induced Diarrhea[http://www.ventria.com/medicines/ven101 Ventria VEN101 page]
VEN120 for Inflammatory Bowel Disease[http://www.ventria.com/medicines/ven120 Ventria VEN120 page]
VEN130 for Osteoporosis[http://www.ventria.com/medicines/ven130 Ventria VEN130 page]
VEN140 for Hepatic disease[http://www.ventria.com/medicines/ Ventria VEN140 information on pipeline page]
VEN200 Optibumin Recombinant human albumin as a replacement for therapeutic human serum albumin[http://www.ventria.com/medicines/ven200 Ventria VEN200 page]

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.[http://www.invitria.com/ InVitria Official Website]

The company has conducted research in the field of zoonotic disease, specifically in lyme disease and rabies, with a goal of developing vaccines and offers some its recombinant proteins to life sciences researchers under a program called BioShare.{{Cite web | url=http://www.ventria.com/bioshare/ | title=BioShare | Research Collaborations with Ventria Bioscience}}

Funding

The company has been the recipient of grants and funding from organisations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to develop their ExpressTec system.