In an article published in Knack & Le Vif, care of Kompas Media, the CEO of TOKU-E EU NV shares his vision.
Article translated from French publication.
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The major ambitions of this biotech player: To make European start-ups less dependent on chemical giants for buffers and chemical products derived from biotechnology for their GMP.
TOKU-E, with its European headquarters in Ghent, specializes in the development of innovative antibiotics. These products are primarily intended for pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers working in microbiology, cell biology and phytobiology, virology, cell therapy, and cancer research. This primarily involves limiting contamination and streamlining genetic selection, resulting in time savings, better results, and standardized processes.
It should be noted that TOKU-E is not a pharmaceutical company, as it does not manufacture drugs for humans (or animals). The company develops products for its B2B clients' in-depth research. "For forty years, we have been designing, producing, and distributing antibiotics and other antimicrobials for non-therapeutic applications, such as genetic selection products for the biomedical sector," explains Qiubao Pan, co-founder of TOKU-E. “Transfection allows researchers to integrate genes into cells. Thanks to our genetic selection antibiotics, untransfected cells are eliminated. Those that remain produce antibodies to other proteins that can be purified and used. These are used to make vaccines and antibiotics. We produce more than 70 cross-linking products related to genetic selection. This is our core business. Our target groups include research laboratories, universities, and distributors of our products. We also have two laboratories, one dedicated to microbiology and the other to cell culture.”
Scaling start-ups
“About ten years ago, we opened a site in Ghent, but only for the distribution of our products. For the past five years, we have increasingly focused on the R&D side. The COVID crisis has clearly shown that Europe is dependent on Asia and America when it comes to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices). R&D activities in Europe should allow us to use our own selection methods when studying stem cells and other things. Or to obtain the purest possible antibiotic composition, to exclude any other molecules from binding. Indeed, we have observed that the presence of impurities in the selection of antibiotics has a major influence on the success of transfection and protein production.
This is important because Europe has many promising R&D startups. However, for them to scale, good genetically selected antibiotics for cell growth and GMP chemicals for bioprocesses are needed. These are available elsewhere. We therefore believe that an optimal and robust GMP structure must be put in place, including to contain the next pandemic as efficiently as possible. Indeed, most bioprocesses, biological buffers, and guanidine molecules are manufactured in large companies (Dow Chemical in particular), leading to an overly strong dependence on Europe if they have to be ordered there. We saw this particularly during the COVID pandemic. These companies also have no intention of coming to Europe: They just deliver here.”
Construction of a GMP plant
Qiubao Pan: “Our platform could not have found a better location than Ghent, a biotech ecosystem with colossal potential and a high concentration of savvy, innovation, and efficient activities. For example: UGent, and VIB, the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology, which focuses on strategic and innovative basic research in life sciences That's also why I think it's wise to build a bridge between production and R&D, to improve the purity of final products, enable reformulations, or modify concentrations. Our major ambition is to build a GMP plant specifically in Belgium, to support national (and by extension European) bioproduction by guaranteeing as much flexibility as possible. Biotech startups with ambition are therefore always welcome here.”
AI-based software
These GMP plant projects demonstrate that AI is advancing at breakneck speed and can therefore be useful here as well. “Traditional chemical companies had to rely mainly on manual labor and processes. AI now allows us to automate many processes and use robots to track data, which is obviously crucial for healthcare.” concludes Qiubao Pan.
Link to article (French) published 26June 2025 https://lnkd.in/eeMVaKy3
Link to article (Dutch) published 18June 2025 https://lnkd.in/eeMVaKy3