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Northwest Missouri State University and Ventria Bioscience announce collaboration to create Northwest Missouri Center of Excellence for Plant-Made Pharmaceuticals
Maryville, Missouri
November 18, 2004

Northwest Missouri State University and Ventria Bioscience, a biopharmaceutical company, have reached an agreement that could turn Northwest Missouri into a Center of Excellence for plant-made pharmaceutical
production.

Northwest Missouri State University has worked to develop a program that would integrate Missouri’s existing strengths into a plan to encourage economic development, attract the life sciences industry, enhance university curriculum and provide new jobs in the Northwest Missouri area. Plant-made pharmaceuticals are a perfect fit for the State of Missouri, which is already a leader in plant biotechnology. In addition to Northwest Missouri State University, other Missouri resources include:

  • the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

  • the University of Missouri, Columbia

  • sophisticated production capabilities and land resources

Dr. Dean Hubbard, President of Northwest Missouri State, University alumnus Mel Booth, a former top executive for MedImmune, and leading biotechnology companies including Human Genome Sciences, the University Board of Regents and other experts met on campus last February to develop a vision for creating a center of excellence for plant-made pharmaceuticals at Northwest Missouri State University. From this vision, the group developed a set of criteria for the types of companies that they wanted to bring to Northwest Missouri State. The criteria included finding a company with outstanding products, with revenue potential exceeding $200 million, strong technology to enable the commercialization of many future products, a well respected Board of Directors and an experienced business and scientific team. This company would serve as an anchor tenant to attract similar companies, related suppliers and support businesses.

“We looked at several companies and decided that Ventria was a perfect fit to be our anchor company,” said Dean Hubbard. “We have been in discussions for several months and are very happy to announce that Northwest Missouri State University and Ventria have reached an agreement that involves the relocation of Ventria’s operations including their headquarters, research facilities, processing facilities and field production to Missouri.

Ventria is a biopharmaceutical company that has developed a novel production system called ExpressTec that uses self-pollinating plants, rice and barley, as factories to produce therapeutic proteins and peptides. The proteins and peptides are then extracted and formulated into medical foods or pharmaceuticals. Proteins and peptides are required for the structure, function and regulation of the body’s cells, tissues and organs. Each protein and peptide plays a unique role in the human body and has unique applications for human health.

Ventria is committed to developing products that enhance human health. “We have a number of exciting products in the pipeline and Northwest Missouri State University and the State of Missouri have worked with us to develop the infrastructure and facilities necessary to bring these products to market for the benefit of global health,” said Scott Deeter, President and CEO of Ventria.

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