Thursday, December 10, 2009

Pfenex Spins Out From Dow Chemical With $24M

San Diego-based Pfenix, a new startup focused on biotechnology technology for producing proteins, has spun out of Dow Chemical Company, Pfenex said this week. As part of the spinout, the firm has received $24M in a Series A funding round. The funding was led by Signet Healthcare Partners. The amount was disclosed from a regulatory filing Wednesday. Pfenex is headed by Bertrand C. Liang, and according to the firm initially includes a team of over 20 scientists. The company develops a Pseudomonas fluorescens-based platform used to produce proteins for human therapeutics and vaccines, reagents, diagnostics, and discovery applications.

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