Austrian biosafety companies expand into Asia

Published: 19-Mar-2009

Mycoplasma biosafety specialist Mycosafe Diagnostics and virus and prion biosafety company ViruSure, both based in Vienna, Austria, are to establish a second site in Singapore as part of a joint venture. This move will ensure that both companies are in an ideal position to offer the biosafety expertise and laboratory services so urgently required in the rapidly expanding biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in Asia.


In the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, contamination with mycoplasmas, viruses and prions can result in expensive losses if they are detected too late due to a lack of warning signs or inadequate contamination checks. The knock-on effect is that therapeutics are not approved for the market due to inconsistencies in the manufacturing process, diminished quality and possible risks to health.

Mycosafe is a leading service provider of GMP-certified quality control analyses for detecting and preventing mycoplasma contamination. “As mycoplasmas have the potential to cause considerable damage, well-defined mycoplasma biosafety testing procedures are laid down in international regulatory protocols,” said founder and managing director of Mycosafe Professor Renate Rosengarten. “Based on these standard procedures, more rapid and technologically innovative alternative test methods have recently been developed and are currently being validated for compliance with the regulatory requirements.

“Mycosafe began specialising in this niche in the market five years ago and is now one of the few providers worldwide that can offer sound scientific and regulatory know-how in this area. Our new site in Singapore will enable us to bring this expertise directly to the expanding Asian bioscience and biopharmaceutical industry.”

ViruSure was founded four years ago and has also established a reputation as a key biosafety company. “Mycoplasma biosafety demands special scientific and regulatory expertise and experience. Similarly, the detection and management of virus and prion contamination requires state-of-the-art know-how and experience built up over many years,” added Dr Andy Bailey, co-founder and managing director of ViruSure. “As one of the few companies specialising in this area, ViruSure offers this know-how and experience.”

Contact Mycosafe Diagnostics GmbH Veterinaerplatz 1 1210 Vienna Austria T +43 1 250 77 2150 {encode="renate.rosengarten@mycosafe.com" title="renate.rosengarten@mycosafe.com"}

ViruSure GmbH Tech Gate Wissenschafts- und Technologie-Park Donau City Straße 1 1220 Vienna Austria T +43 1 269 9120 {encode="andy_bailey@virusure.com" title="andy_bailey@virusure.com"}

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