Multus launches animal-free fetal bovine serum alternative for cultivated meat production

UK – Multus, a biotechnology company based in the United Kingdom, has introduced Proliferum B, a serum replacement designed to enhance cultivated meat production. 

The product eliminates the need for fetal bovine serum (FBS), a costly and ethically controversial material traditionally used in cell culture.

Proliferum B is the first offering developed through Multus’ machine learning-based platform. 

The company states that the product addresses longstanding challenges such as high costs, ethical concerns, and inconsistent performance tied to FBS use. 

According to Multus, Proliferum B can speed up early research and development processes without relying on FBS or requiring companies to develop alternative products from scratch.

“We want cultivated meat to be affordable and accessible for everyone,” said Cai Linton, Multus’ co-founder and CEO. 

“To achieve that, we need to streamline media development, allowing cultivated meat companies to progress and scale their operations more efficiently.”

The use of FBS in cultivated meat has posed significant hurdles for the industry, with existing alternatives being expensive and slow to develop. 

Multus highlights that no previous replacements were available for use with industry-relevant cells.

Proliferum B was developed using bovine cells and tested on multiple cell types, including primary bovine fibroblasts, immortalized bovine satellite cells, and immortalized murine pre-adipocytes. 

The company reports that the serum replacement delivered shorter doubling times and consistent performance over multiple cell passages compared to FBS.

Multus aims to support the cultivated meat sector by providing scalable, animal-free, and food-grade growth media. 

The company’s portfolio includes ISO 22000-certified products such as attachment molecules, serum replacements, and other essential ingredients.

Earlier this year, Multus inaugurated what it claims is the first commercial-scale plant for producing serum-free growth media for the cultivated meat industry. 

The facility was funded through a US$10.1 million (£7.9 million) round and an earlier US$2 million (£1.6 million) investment to launch Proliferum M, a growth medium for large-scale food production.

Multus is now offering Proliferum B for sampling, with specifications available upon request.

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