Symbiotec Pharmalab, a science-driven pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, today announced a 10-year, take-or-pay contract development and manufacturing agreement with a European alternative protein innovator. The agreement reserves dedicated capacity for the partner at Symbiotec's Ujjain campus for the full term.

Under the agreement, production will be based at Symbiotec's biomanufacturing campus in Ujjain, which features four 100 kilolitre (kL) fermenters, modular downstream processing, and integrated quality assurance and quality control capabilities. Production begins at the existing facility, with a new dedicated plant of several hundred thousand litres of fermentation capacity to follow, and contracted expansion options reserved for the partner that take the programme into the millions of litres.

Precision fermentation uses engineered microorganisms to produce proteins traditionally derived from animals. These ingredients must meet high-quality standards and be produced at a cost that allows wide adoption, two demands that usually pull against each other. Symbiotec brings both: the quality systems of a pharmaceutical manufacturer, and a long record of building and running its own fermentation plants at scale.