Biopharma firm going further with EIIS funding

It’s an industry that is worth billions to the Irish economy. Twenty years ago, Ireland had around 50 biopharma companies based here, but this figure has now increased sixfold. Globally, biopharma has become the vanguard of a new generation of biologic innovation: therapies that repair or replace defective DNA, spark natural healing processes, and sometimes offer curative potential for genetic conditions.

“GlycoSeLect advances technologies to assist the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products derived by biological means and we have worked with the new immunotherapies for cancer and vaccines, including vaccine candidates for HIV,” Robert Dunne, chief executive of GlycoSeLect, said.

“GlycoSeLect’s investment round this year has the benefit of additional access to risk capital finance for company growth with savings of up to 40 per cent for EIIS investors,” he said. “The four-year investment time frame fits into current R&D and business development timelines for new applications of its technologies, in the product manufacturing and medical diagnostics market.”

EIIS also complements the existing shareholder structure at GlycoSeLect. “Our shareholders include two international pharmaceutical industry companies and private investors with interest in the improvement of pharmaceutical product development timelines and overall costs to benefit patients worldwide.”

The EIIS funding will be used to support grant funded research projects in pharmaceutical manufacturing, on-line product analysis and the emerging field of glycan based medical diagnostic products.

Dunne said that the company’s growing product development activity, mean the funding will accelerate the deployment of marketing activities into GlycoSeLect’s global footprint of industry product distributors established during 2022.

Biopharmaceutical medicinal products are mainly developed using glycoprotein chemistry, taking years and billions of dollars until they reach the patient.

“At GlycoSeLect we have developed technology using glycans (a particular sugar structure on the glycoprotein) to enable high throughput, and speed up, routine product analysis on several blue-chip industry standard analytical platforms,” said Dunne.

GlycoSeLect Ltd specialises in the development and production of Recombinant Prokaryotic Lectins (RPLs). These are glycoselective bio affinity compounds, they recognise and bind to specific glycan structures displayed on glycoproteins and other glycosylated biomolecules.

“They can therefore enable simple, fast, and efficient detection, analysis, separation, and purification of intact glycosylated biomolecules,” said Dunne.

“Unlike with traditional plant and eukaryotic lectins, RPLs production easily delivers high-quality products with consistent performance and enhanced glycan specificity and affinity.”

This property enables higher yields of these molecules and makes them suitable for applications in larger-scale separation and purification methods.

“These applications have then validated uses in product manufacturing which reduce product purification steps leading to significant savings in manufacturing costs,” said Dunne.

“Our technology is a significant and major improvement over current glycoprotein separation offerings and is simple, rapid and cost effective,” he said.

New applications in manufacturing will be supported by recently started joint development projects with the National Institute of Biopharmaceutical Research & Training (NIBRT) and a second project with an EU headquartered pharmaceutical industry supply company.

“We will use an EIIS capital raise to expand applications of its technology into new products and accelerate business development in its geographic markets.”

Company chief executive, Robert Dunne, is a highly experienced pharmaceutical industry executive with experience in both multinational companies and SMEs. “I have spent over 40 years in the pharmaceutical industry and have expertise in business development, operations, regulatory and quality management,” he said.

“The GlycoSeLect team was strengthened in 2022 by the recruitment of a scientist with considerable glycobiology expertise and the recruitment of a business development manager.”

The business is located in the Hamilton Building at Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. There are five staff employed, growing to ten by the beginning of 2024. GlycoSeLect products are available in the global areas of biopharmaceutical product development including Europe, US, and of increasing importance, China and India.

For further details, contact chief executive Robert Dunne: eiis@glycoselect.com