ProFuse Technology's EU-funded supplements

ProFuse Technology, a supplier of cell culture media supplements, has developed new products to lower cultivated meat production costs after a two-year project backed by €2.4 million from the European Innovation Council. The company, as reported by Green Queen, has also expanded its focus to address the significant muscle loss experienced by users of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic.

GLP-1 users can experience a 25-40% decrease in muscle mass over 8 to 16 months. ProFuse aims to apply its muscle-growth technology to drug and dietary supplement discovery to counter this effect. The underlying challenge of growing muscle effectively is the same for both pharmaceuticals and cultivated meat production.

Two key products from EU funding

The project built on earlier research and focused on developing enabling technologies for growing muscle. "Cultivated meat has three big challenges ahead of it: cost parity with farm-grown meat, scale-up, and quality and taste," said project coordinator Guy Nevo Michrowski. The work yielded two specific outputs.

The first is ProFuse-S1, a supplement designed to help young muscle cells mature into fully formed muscle fibres faster and more efficiently. These mature fibres are crucial for providing meat's texture, structure, and protein content. A second-generation supplement, ProFuse S-2, was later developed and tested in 3D systems to better mimic industrial meat production.

The second product is a non-GMO bovine muscle cell line adapted for cultivated meat production. While some producers use other cell types like fibroblasts, ProFuse focused on myoblasts, which are precursor cells that grow into muscle. The goal is to give producers a reliable, scalable source of beef muscle cells.

Industry testing shows cost and yield benefits

ProFuse worked with cultivated meat companies to test its technologies in real production settings. Israeli startup SuperMeat tested the ProFuse-S1 supplement. The company reported that the supplement saved time, sped up cell maturation, and significantly increased overall muscle yield, which ultimately reduced production costs per kilogram.

An unnamed company from the Netherlands tested the ProFuse-B8 bovine cell line. ProFuse stated that this initial collaboration phase successfully demonstrated cell adaptation in serum media, laying groundwork for future integration as production timelines align.

The European Innovation Council funding also helped prepare the products for commercial use. This involved developing licensing models, compiling safety dossiers for regulators, mapping partners, and starting proof-of-concept work to demonstrate potential time and cost savings to customers.

ProFuse predicts the cultivated meat market will reach €22 billion by 2050. The company is not alone in branching out from food; in January, industry leader Upside Foods launched a life sciences arm called Lucius Labs to offer media and stem cell formulations. ProFuse is banking on the parallel growth of both the cultivated meat sector and the market for GLP-1 drugs.