PROGEN was founded in the fall of 1983 by four Heidelberg professors as a spin-off of the German Cancer Research Center and the University of Heidelberg. It was the first successful biotech company in Germany. At the time, however, the goal was not so much to make a profit but rather to meet the demands of the scientific community. The unwritten rules of this community demand that researchers make the molecular tools they develop available to colleagues around the world upon request. However, the high demand and the quantity of available products proved to be a challenge for the founders, Werner Franke, and Günter Hämmerling from the DKFZ, and Ekkehard Bautz and Peter Gruss from the University of Heidelberg. It quickly became clear that their laboratories could no longer keep pace with the demand for reagents logistically. So, they founded PROGEN Biotechnik GmbH with a starting capital of 100,000 German Marks to ensure the distribution and thus the research of proteins and genes (hence the company name). This decision, which was unusual at the time, was met with disapproval by the President of the University of Heidelberg. “At the time, entrepreneurship was almost considered disreputable,” Werner Franke later recalled.

The most important foundation for PROGEN's establishment was the development of antibodies that allowed the recognition of the origin of cancer cells and thus made it possible to deduce metastases from the primary tumor. The method was based on his discovery that different cell types differ in the composition of certain proteins in their cytoskeleton. Franke's team had developed antibodies that recognize these differences and can thus characterize cancer cells. These antibodies are still extremely useful tools for cancer research and diagnostics today.

Another cornerstone for PROGEN was the world's first procedure for detecting hantavirus, which was developed by Ekkehard Bautz in the form of an ELISA immunoassay. This detection method was also based on the ability of antibodies to recognize and bind certain proteins, in this case specific proteins of the hantavirus. From then on, antibodies became the most important product in the growing portfolio of the Heidelberg-based biotech pioneer.

Thanks to its close ties to biomedical research and expertise in the application of products in diagnostics, the company placed a high value on the quality of its products from the very beginning. This is not a matter of course in the antibody mass market, which is often flooded with products of varying quality.

In 2010, PROGEN received quality certification according to DIN EN ISO 13485.Although the existing antibody portfolio remains an important pillar of PROGEN, adeno-associated viruses (AAV) came to the fore in the early 2000s. AAVs have proven to be ideal vectors for transporting genes into body cells, enabling the treatment of genetic defects. Jürgen Kleinschmidt of the DKFZ developed the most widely published AAV antibodies to date, as well as the first ELISA kits for AAV capsid titer determination based on them. Both the antibodies and the ELISA kits have since become the gold standard in AAV analysis. In 2019, the company was granted exclusive rights to use the AAV antibodies and ELISA test systems developed at the DKFZ. Making gene therapy better. Together. – This is the motto of PROGEN Biotechnik GmbH today. The company specializes in providing its customers in the gene therapy field with the necessary reagents and test systems for the urgently needed analytics and safety assessment of new therapies. Despite the close cooperation with laboratories and experts in the life sciences, which has always determined the company's course, PROGEN also experienced economically turbulent times due to several changes of ownership. However, these challenges were overcome when PROGEN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the family-run R-BiopharmAG in 2012.Under the joint leadership of Katja Betts and Maik Lander, PROGEN Biotechnik GmbH is on a path of growth. In 2023, the company opened a subsidiary in the United States. With a current staff of 42, PROGEN remains true to its original mission of being a reliable partner to biomedical research worldwide.