c-LEcta Reports Record Year With Significant Growth

c-LEcta, a global biotechnology company with technology leadership in enzyme engineering and bioprocess development, successfully continued its dynamic business development in fiscal year 2021.

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“We are very proud of our performance in recent years. Our products have provided good growth momentum, but also great resilience due to the diverse use cases and this has supported us over the last two years. To continue to drive this growth in the long term, we have continued to build our team this year and are now pleased to have 120 highly qualified employees on board. We plan to continue to invest in additional staff and equipment in the future, as well,” commented Thomas Pfaadt, CFO of c-LEcta GmbH.

The EXCiPACT certification of c-LEcta’s high quality standards in production and distribution was a highlight of the past year. The requirements for these certifications go beyond those of ISO 9001 and represents an international seal of approval that guarantees the highest quality standards for pharmaceutical excipients and other critical input materials in the pharmaceutical industry. The certification confirmed the high quality standards of c-LEcta and reduces the effort for customers regarding supplier audits in the future.

The product NuCLEANase, a specially optimized enzyme preparation that cleaves all types of DNA, was launched in October 2021. This can be used to remove DNA residues from products manufactured by using microorganisms such as enzymes for the food and feed industries. NuCLEANase was already in high demand at the time of its sales launch, which only underscores its great market potential.

“NuCLEANase is an impressively diverse product with great potential. However, the development also demonstrates the versatility of our ENESYZ technology platform, which allows enzyme developments based on different production systems for a wide range of applications. ENESYZ is constantly being further developed: This year, for example, we were able to integrate an additional expression host, Bacillus, into our enzyme engineering platform,” commented Dr. Marc Struhalla, founder and CEO of c-LEcta.

The company also made significant progress in the area of machine learning and artificial intelligence in 2021. “We have recently achieved some very promising results in this innovative area. The topic is an increasingly important building block for our future product developments. We are rapidly expanding our expertise in this area to defend our technology leadership in enzyme engineering,” said Dr. Struhalla.

c-LEcta is already globally positioned, with approximately 97% of sales now generated abroad. In total, c-LEcta now serves over 400 customers in more than 40 countries. The company has concluded supply contracts for enzyme products with many customers in the pharmaceutical sector, and many customers have approved c-LEcta as a supplier. Long-term customer relationships can thus be established in future areas such as gene and cell therapy. In addition to Europe, mainly North America and Asia play an important role.

c-LEcta’s most important markets, the food and pharmaceutical industries, are subject to strict regulations worldwide. Two enzyme dossiers were submitted by c-LEcta in May 2021. These enzyme dossiers for the food industry complement the company’s offering to its customers, who thus no longer have to worry separately about approvals for the use of the enzymes. By submitting a master file to the FDA, c-LEcta supports its customers from the pharmaceutical industry in terms of regulatory compliance and demonstrates the quality of its manufacturing processes and products.

In October, c-LEcta secured its own building complex with over 10,000 m² in the new BioSquare, which is to be built at the “Alte Messe” site in Leipzig starting in the second quarter of 2022. “We want to and will continue to grow. Great new facilities for the life science industry are being built at Alte Messe, which will allow us to provide state-of-the-art office and laboratory space for our growing team,” Dr Struhalla said.

A milestone in c-LEcta’s company history was reached in February 2022, when Kerry Group acquired a majority stake in the company. Kerry Group is the world’s leading sustainable nutrition company and is a taste and nutrition partner for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets.

Since the acquisition of the majority shareholding, Kerry and c-LEcta have been working closely on numerous projects including the joint global distribution of the DENARASE and NuCLEANase products and have identified new areas of development for the food industry. c-LEcta’s unique enzyme engineering competences and its experience in strain development with Bacillus will be of particular benefit.

“The biotechnology industry has received strong media attention since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and also significant inflows of funds. c-LEcta also had a record year and has now gained a strong partner in Kerry Group. Their global presence in the food and pharmaceutical sectors gives c-LEcta access to additional markets. Kerry Group brings broad expertise in ingredient technologies and applications, making them a perfect fit for us to better exploit our growth potential in the future. We will continue to work with our current industry partners and, of course, manufacture and distribute our products for our valued customers,” explained Dr Struhalla.

About c-LEcta

c-LEcta is a global biotechnology company specializing in the development, production and distribution of enzyme products. The company uses world-class enzyme engineering and production technologies to provide its partners in the food and pharmaceutical industries with superior biotechnological solutions for innovative industrial applications. Product development is based on the proprietary enzyme technology platform ENESYZ® and is carried out both in-house and in close cooperation with industry partners worldwide. c-LEcta supplies its products to more than 400 customers in over 40 countries. c-LEcta currently employs more than 120 people at its headquarters in Leipzig.

c-LEcta is part of the Kerry Group. Kerry is the world’s leading taste and nutrition partner for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets. The company employs 22,000 people across over 150 locations and uses its broad range of ingredient solutions to innovate with its customers and create great tasting products, with improved nutrition and functionality, while ensuring a better impact for the planet.

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