Bovine Pituitary Extract (BPE) is an extract prepared from bovine pituitary glands which is used for primary or stem cell culture in serum-free or serum-reduced conditions where additional supplementation from crude tissue extracts is still required. The extract is used together with other growth factors, hormones and base media to reduce or eliminate serum usage in cultivation of non-fibroblast cell types. BPE is provided as an aqueous solution because lyophilized powder reduces its biological activity.