Carbohydrate Chemistry impact case study

Industry need

In 1990, IRL’s Carbohydrate Chemistry team began investigating the new field of glycotherapeutics or carbohydrate-based therapies. Led by manager Dr Richard Furneaux and science leader Dr Peter Tyler, the team’s goal was to develop carbohydrate compounds that would become the building blocks for new drugs.

The research

The research received a major boost in 1994 when a partnership was forged between IRL’s Carbohydrate Chemistry team and Professor Vern Schramm of the Department of Biochemistry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.  The collaboration has resulted in a range of promising new drugs to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs, combat auto-immune diseases such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, and treat certain forms of cancer.

Commercialisation of the research

The research project has delivered a number of milestones. Landmarks include:

GlycoSyn's state-of-the-art facilities

• The development of Forodesine – discovered in 1997, licensed in 2000, in pivotal phase 2 trial for cutaneous T-cell lymphona in 2007. More than 100 of a target 130 to 140 patients have been enrolled and preliminary data is expected in the first half of 2010.
• Licensing in 2008 of drug candidates that show promise in pre-clinical trials for the control of a range of cancers including breast, colon, prostate, head and neck.
• The establishment, in 2003, of IRL GlycoSyn, a small-scale manufacturing facility to develop and produce high-value therapeutics under current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) conditions for use in phase one and two clinical trials.

Economic benefits

IRL’s Carbohydrate Chemistry team developed an efficient process for the manufacture of a speciality carbohydrate N-acetyl-mannosamine or ManNAc. It then secured a Palmerston North-based pharmaceutical intermediaries manufacturer, New Zealand Pharmaceuticals (NZP), as a trusted “Good Manufacturing Practice” partner to scale up production.

In 2003, IRL licensed the technology package to NZP, and, from there, the company was able to tap into the market for ManNAc.  It fulfilled orders worth in excess of $10 million in the 2006/2007 financial year.

This further strengthened the relationship between NZP and IRL and sparked NZP’s interest in glycotherapeutics research being undertaken at IRL’s Gracefield campus.  The pipeline of potential new products out of IRL laboratories and the GlycoSyn facilities, along with the market success of ManNAc, encouraged NZP to invest $10 million in a new factory in Palmerston North to produce glycotherapeutics. This was the largest single investment by NZP in its 36-year history. Co-funding came from national economic development agency New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), which invested $500,000, and $1.5 million came from TechNZ, FRST^[?]’s programme to support research and development by firms.

Economic benefits – international returns

To date, the research has returned around $8.7 million in annual licence maintenance fees and milestone payments for a potential $200 million per annum return, should these drugs go to market.  This projected market figure represents the serious nature of the diseases being targeted, their prevalence around the world and the major costs they pose to health systems globally.

The development of the first drug candidates were progressed through a US company, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals. With the completion of the NZP plant and the establishment of a core cluster of drug development companies in New Zealand, including Antipodean, Genesis, Neuren, Pathways and ProActa, there is now an infrastructure for biotechnology in New Zealand.  These companies have been assisted by GlycoSyn and/or IRL’s Carbohydrate Chemistry team using expertise developed in FRST-funded research.

Future work

The IRL research has strong potential to deliver drugs in the future that will directly benefit the New Zealand economy by helping the growth of a new industry and providing skilled jobs in a new field.  The focus on the high-value specialised niche area of glycotherapeutics also gives NZP a competitive advantage by ensuring it does not have to compete directly with low-cost pharmaceutical producers in China and India.

Recently NZP has committed $500,000 of funding towards a new, $2.5 million FRST-funded four-year Chiral Pharmaceuticals research programme at IRL.  This increased R&D spend by NZP will help to ensure the R&D flow at IRL continues and new products are produced.

NZP’s new facility is also bringing benefits to the Palmerston North community through the flow-on to NZP’s suppliers and by adding new jobs to the local economy.

NZP Market Development Manager Selwyn Yorke says IRL’s carbohydrate chemistry expertise has been a key factor in the company’s export expansion into global markets.

“IRL’s Carbohydrate Chemistry team is the essential research provider for growing NZP’s new export business,” he says.