Biotech is back

IRL is building extra capability
in high value lipid purification
and extraction.

Having emerged relatively unscathed after the financial crisis, the sector, which spans new, sustainable materials and fuels, to food, pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals and nutriceuticals, is now looking forward to a bright future, as technologies mature, and move out of the lab and onto the factory floor.

Globally, industry revenues are tipped to grow from $220 billion in 2008 to as much as $850 billion by 2020, and in New Zealand optimism is also running high. Auckland's Lanzatech, for example, which employs biotechnology to convert waste gases into fuel, is planning a public listing within the next two years. And Wellington-based IRL partner Mesynthes is ready to launch its FDA-approved extracellular matrix-based wound-healing product, Endoform, aiming for revenues of between $40 million to $50 million within five years.

The sector's resurgence is also reflected in the growing fortunes of GlycoSyn, the arm of Industrial Research Ltd that is playing a key role in the establishment of a homegrown, high value pharmaceuticals industry.

GlycoSyn discovers, develops and manufactures high value small molecules for pre-clinical and clinical trials, and is backed by IRL’s world class Carbohydrate Chemistry group, whose diverse activities include helping NZ coatings company Resene create a sustainable paint industry.

GlycoSyn's growing reputation has seen an increasing number of global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seek out its world class capabilities, with major contracts recently signed with new clients in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

"The recession closed a lot of markets because there simply wasn't capital available for riskier, early stage drug development, which is usually the time when GlycoSyn is involved. But, in 2011, biotech is definitely back. Our fee-for-service work is skyrocketing," says General Manager Paul Benjes.

GlycoSyn is expanding to meet demand, with three new staff members on board and a fourth being recruited. It is also increasing its capability by taking over additional facilities at the IRL campus in Gracefield.

Dr Benjes says growing demand also reflects the track record GlycoSyn has established since 2004, completing high value contracts for clients in the United States, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

"We were able to retain all of our existing clients during the downturn. We get a lot of repeat business and those customers also tell others about us.

"One of the things our clients like is that we are open and transparent. We talk to them regularly and give them updates on the work we are doing for them. There are no secrets and they find that refreshing."

The appointment of a United States-based Business Development Manager is also paying dividends. Richard Lauricella has been promoting the GlycoSyn brand and capabilities in the US since June 2009. Dr Benjes says that has raised GlycoSyn's profile in the market and resulted in new contracts.

GlycoSyn used the economic downturn as a time for ongoing self-investment in researching very high value but low volume products it can sell to global pharmaceutical and biotech customers.

Owning the intellectual property and a proprietary manufacturing process gives GlycoSyn an additional revenue stream. After a decade of developing and producing a carbohydrate-based product used in the manufacture of complex glycoprotein therapeutics,

GlycoSyn is poised to enjoy significant revenues from the investment, with one customer's drug having achieved market approval and now being manufactured in commercial quantities.

GlycoSyn is not the only part of IRL where business is increasing in step with the industrial biotechnology sector's resurgence. IRL's Integrated Bioactive Technologies team is also experiencing an upswing in demand for its chemical engineering and high value extraction expertise from some of New Zealand's biggest primary sector players, as well as niche natural products companies.

To meet the growing need for new high value, highly pure natural products, IRL is constructing a specialist piece of equipment, known as a supercritical fluid chromatography unit, to purify high value and pharmaceutical grade lipid compounds for biomanufacturing industry partners.

IRL's pilot scale unit – the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere – will operate in a manner similar to preparative HPLC^[?], except that it uses a supercritical fluid instead of an organic solvent as the mobile phase. The supercritical fluid can be easily recycled, whereas in preparative HPLC, the organic solvent normally goes to waste.

The supercritical fluid chromatography unit will complement IRL's existing capability in supercritical extraction and the production of high value lipid extracts, as these extracts can be further separated into highly pure fractions using the new technology.