Global Leader in Plant Cell Fermentation (PCF®)

Phyton Biotech develops and applies sustainable and “green” chemistry manufacturing solutions for phytochemicals using PCF®, serving the Pharmaceutical, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Cosmetic, Agricultural and Food Ingredient industries.

Utilizing our revolutionary PCF® platform, Phyton offers a time, risk, and cost-balanced path to commercially viable production processes. With certified GMP facilities in Germany and Canada, Phyton combines highly developed technology and quality to meet our global customers’ needs. We have a successful track record of developing and implementing innovative contract development solutions for clients around the world.

What is Plant Cell Fermentation (PCF®)?

Plant Cell Fermentation (PCF®) Technology promotes the natural processes of plant cell growth and biosynthetic pathway expression ex planta in a controlled and fully defined fermentation environment:

  • Non-GMO viable plant cell suspensions are used
  • Starting material comes from cryopreserved cell bank
  • Medium is fully defined, protein-free and does not contain animal-derived components
  • Process is operated in aerated stirred tanks with proven scale-up technology
  • Fermentation product can be simply extracted or further processed to concentrated active ingredient, such as for production of paclitaxel
  • Fully controlled or even GMP compliant environment

Why Plant Cell Fermentation (PCF®)?

PCF® provides many advantages over traditional methods of developing and producing phytochemicals.

  • Fully & strictly controlled GMP manufacturing process from starting material to finished API secures consistency of products and meets quality requirements of different industries
  • Paclitaxel and docetaxel meet USP/EP/JP compendial specifications
  • CEP’s and DMF’s in place
  • Registered in every major country in world
  • Inspected & certified by major regulatory agencies: FDA / EMA / EDQM / TGA / PMDA / Health Canada / KFDA

  • Full control over entire supply chain – own producers of starting material
  • Sustainable solution able to overcome supply constraints for actives derived from plants species that:
    • are rare, hard-to-source, slow-growing or endangered
    • are low in concentration or variable in quality of target molecule
    • difficult to handle or purify into the target molecule
    • grow in regions that are politically unstable and unreliable
  • Large capacity; 100% ability to supply APIs and on-time delivery; short lead times for delivery
  • North American source competitive with any supplier of quality product in the world
  • 25 years’ experience in product/process development, production and commercialization using PCF® technology

  • Award-winning manufacturing process meets green chemistry and sustainability principles
  • Ideal for replacing extraction from wild slow-growing, endangered or environmentally sensitive native plant species or cultivated plant biomass
  • Not subject to climate change
  • Read our Green Biochemistry case study on paclitaxel.

Recombinant therapeutic proteins are high-value biopharmaceuticals for which the demand continues to increase dramatically.

To produce these proteins requires cost-effective and advantageous expression hosts, which allow for dedicated genetic engineering of a given protein. In general, plants are considered superior hosts in terms of safety as they do not serve as vehicles for human viruses or TSE.

At Phyton, our plant cells are cultivated under controlled conditions avoiding any animal-derived media components, thus further improving safety. In addition, plant cell cultures, and their industrial application within our PCF® process, are highly reliable means of commercial production which is not affected by environmental factors.

Phyton has developed a plant cell line – The Universal Host™ – which provides favourable conditions for the manufacture of both complex and unmodified proteins. Phyton has the world’s largest BSL-1-approved bioreactor cascade in place (7500 L) authorized for use with genetically engineered plant cells. Phyton has extensive expertise and know-how in genetic engineering with special emphasis on complex proteins. The Universal Host™ can also be applied in the metabolic engineering of a diverse range of secondary metabolites.

  • Unique capability to address entire development chain for development, production and commercialization of complex small molecules, plant-based actives and recombinant proteins
  • Access to enormous collection of cryopreserved plant cell culture
  • World‘s largest cGMP PCF® facility (200,000 litres)
  • Capacity to meet more than 1/3 of the global demand for paclitaxel and docetaxel
  • Scalable industrial production from kilograms to tonnes of annual product volumes

  • Offer attractive commercial production at industrial scale at competitive prices

Applications of Plant Cell Fermentation (PCF®)

  • Supply solutions for plant-based molecules in multiple industries
  • High-quality Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and precursors thereof
  • Innovative Active Cosmetic Principles
  • High-value ingredients for the flavour & fragrance industries and other food and health applications
  • Safe, reliable and cost-effective way to produce high-value recombinant therapeutic proteins

Producing Phytochemicals with Plant Cell Fermentation

The process of producing phytochemicals via plant cell fermentation

Custom Process Development

Our team of experts at Phyton Germany can develop new processes for clients for a variety of complex plant-based molecules. Based on our significant experience working with phytochemicals using our award-winning (PCF®) platform, Phyton is capable of developing custom processes to meet the needs of clients across the Pharmaceutical, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Cosmetic, Agricultural and Food Ingredient industries.

Contact Us About Partnering Opportunities

Download our brochure on specialty fermentation solutions via PCF®