From the Vienna University of Technology to a biotech start-up that could revolutionise medicine: Microorganisms take the lead.
Three graduates of the Vienna University of Technology set themselves an ambitious goal: In future, medicines and vaccines will be swallowed and no longer injected thanks to lipids. This will not only help people who are afraid of injections – it will also increase the effectiveness and storability of active ingredients. Julian Quehenberger, Oliver Spadiut and David Wurm successfully took the plunge into self-employment with their company NovoArc. David Wurm, one of the three founders of the biotech start-up from Vienna, explains what lies behind the ambitious project
What does NovoArc do, in simple terms?
David Wurm: NovoArc is a producer of special chemicals for the
pharmaceutical industry. Our lipids are used to better administer
active pharmaceutical ingredients to patients. People are familiar
with this technology from the Covid vaccines, in which lipid nanoparticles
are also used to protect the mRNA. We use similar lipids,
but they are much more stable than currently available lipids. We
want to make ingredients that currently have to be injected orally
available, so that people who are afraid of injections can swallow a
pill. This applies to a wide range of drugs such as antibiotics and
cancer therapeutics. The Holy Grail would be insulin, but it’s still a
long journey until then. Active ingredients that are protected by our
lipid envelope are not broken down in the stomach by acids or degraded
by enzymes; they are transported through, then stick to the
intestinal mucosa and slowly release the active ingredient, making
it easily absorbed by the body. Because of the stabilising protective
shell, many active ingredients do not have to be stored at minus 70
degrees, but perhaps only at four degrees or even at room temperature.
Have you developed this technology
Wurm: These kinds of molecules, lipids, have been around for some
time. Until now, no one had managed to produce them in sufficient
quality and quantity for the pharmaceutical industry. We can do this
both in a reproducible and scalable way. We hold a patent for this.
From the Vienna University of Technology to the founder of a
company – what was the decisive moment to take this step?
Wurm: It was a unique opportunity. For one thing, the technology
was something exciting. Based on the feedback from the industry,
but also from investors, we recognised the potential. On the other
hand, there was the founding team. We were aware that an opportunity
like this doesn’t come around often and you have to grab it
by the scruff of the neck. That’s why we decided not to take the
classic academic or pharmaceutical route, but to take the risk of
founding our own company.
Does the researcher or the businessman in you prevail now?
Wurm: It was a nice opportunity to have the best of both worlds.
We will continue to be very research-driven; our co-founder Julian
Quehenberger took up this part as CTO. I am very much involved
with business development, with customers, the marketing and the
business part, but I still have the connection to science. I have always
been interested in applied research and not so much in basic
research. It is exciting to follow the life cycle from basic research to
the product.
You want to have your own production plant by 2025. How
difficult was the financing?
Wurm: We are currently financing ourselves through three pillars:
On the one hand there is public funding such as from the Research
Promotion Agency FFG and the Austria Wirtschaftsservice AWS,
and the other hand we already have paying customers to whom we
sell lipids or for whom we process orders. And, of course, we have
a financially strong investor. That also enabled us to expand. In
June 2023, we moved into our new facility in Vienna near the Meidling station with 400 square metres, which is a mixture of
laboratory and office space. For the years 2025/26, we expect that
the demand from customer orders will be so great that we will no
longer be able to accommodate it in the facility in Meidling and will
have to expand further accordingly.
When will the pill replace the syringe?
Wurm: In the past, when a new drug was developed, it was assumed
that it would take ten to 15 years for it to reach the market.
Through Covid we have learned that it can be done faster. Accordingly,
we are confident that we can do it more quickly. We are already
in contact with some companies that are testing our technology
and we are conducting preclinical studies.
It is always said that there are too many obstacles in Austria
for a quick and uncomplicated approval of drugs.
Wurm: It is important that drugs are well tested and safe before
they are put on the market. Of course, there are countries where
you can get approval more quickly. We are very attached to Austria because all three founders grew up here and we want to keep our
main location in Austria. But, of course, we are planning to expand
into other countries and markets.
Are there already patents for your lipids?
Wurm: Even when we were still at the Vienna University of Technology,
we submitted the production process for a patent and also
received it at the European Patent Office in April. We have also
applied for a worldwide patent, which is progressing rapidly. In the
second field of application of our lipids, the administration of mRNA
vaccines, we were also able to show in experiments
with cell cultures that we are more efficient
by a factor of ten to 90. With a conventional
vaccine dose, as administered through a syringe,
ten to 90 people could be vaccinated with
our lipids. We have also applied for a patent for
this process in autumn 2022.
When will NovoArc products play a significant
role in cancer therapy?
Wurm: It must be said first that we do not produce active ingredients.
Our USP is that we can protect active ingredients and
make them more easily and better available to patients. Normally,
we are contacted by a pharmaceutical company whose active
ingredient has, for example, poor stability or is poorly absorbed
by the body. We select the appropriate lipids, produce them and
package the active ingredient in them. If the test results are
good, the active ingredient manufacturer puts the drug on the
market with our packaging, the lipids. Accordingly, we will not
launch a new cancer drug ourselves. With conventional therapies,
people often have to go to the doctor or
hospital several times a day. I am convinced
that we can contribute to the quality of life of
patients with our technology.
What are thermoacidophilic archaea and
what role do these microorganisms play in your
products?
Wurm: This is our pet, our production organism
that we use to make lipids. The organism was isolated from hot, sulphurous springs at the Yellowstone
National Park and feels most comfortable
in extreme conditions, such as
pH 3 and 80 degrees temperature. Accordingly,
its cell membrane, which contains the lipids we
extract, purify and use as our product, is stable.
The organism normally grows very slowly. It was
not easy and took a long time to develop an industrial
production process here.
So, you run a witch’s kitchen, so to speak,
in Vienna-Meidling to create this environment?
Wurm: We try to recreate those conditions that
the organism finds in nature and optimise them so that it grows
faster and produces even more. Of course, this takes place in a very
well-controlled environment so that we always achieve the same
product quality. We use fermentors for this. These are steel vessels
in which we control the temperature, pH value and other parameters,
gassing and stirring so that the organism feels comfortable,
thrives and grows.
Do you still cooperate with the Vienna University of Technology?
Wurm: We have carried out several projects in
cooperation with the University, and we will
also collaborate in future at a scientific level and
with regards to infrastructure.
Is Austria a good ground for start-ups?
What could be improved to make the business
location more interesting for biotech?
Wurm: In Austria there are some offers for the
start-up world, such as good funding programmes
and support from AWS, where founders
are motivated to take this step. As far as the
start-up is concerned, Austria is quite well positioned
compared to other countries. After the start-up phase, after
one to three years, there is potential for improvement so that there
is then support in whatever form. As far as the guidelines of Austrian
and European investors are concerned, they are not particularly
risk-affine like in the US. In general, however, Austria is a good
location for founding a biotech start-up.
When can we buy shares in NovoArc?
Wurm: We haven’t planned an IPO yet, but we are also not exitdriven.