Remarks by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin at the announcement of the OPSONA Therapeutics Collaboration with Wyeth

Monday 13^th February in Trinity College, Dublin

I am delighted to be here today to announce a significant collaboration between Opsona Therapeutics-one of Ireland’s youngest biotechnology companies, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Opsona Therapeutics, an Enterprise Ireland high potential start up firm and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals have signed a deal to discover and develop new pharmaceuticals to treat inflammatory diseases, including multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Wyeth is one of the world’s largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care companies.  It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products and non-prescription medicines that improve the quality of life of people worldwide. 

The collaboration between Opsona Therapeutics and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals is focused on a group of exciting drug targets, called Toll-like Receptors[1].

Opsona’s research, originally conducted here at Trinity College Dublin in the laboratory of Professor Luke O’Neill, and funded by Science Foundation Ireland, has led to many exciting discoveries. Together Opsona and Wyeth will work on this exciting new intellectual property to generate new compounds.

Importantly for Opsona, the deal has enabled the company to effectively double in size, now employing 20 professionals in its drug discovery and development teams. This is a great achievement for a company, who less than one year ago, announced that it had received its first round of venture-capital backed investment. Financially, it is also an important milestone for the company, as future milestone driven payments will enhance the company’s financial and drug pipeline position.

This deal is also a significant boost for the local biotechnology industry and indicates that indigenous biotechnology companies and local universities are producing excellent science and technology that is being recognised globally.

This is one of a series of very significant investment that Wyeth has made in Ireland. Wyeth’s other investments include significant manufacturing facilities, R&D in Irish third level institutions and in healthcare generally. I welcome the Wyeth delegation here today and encourage them, and other multi-national companies, to forge more of such links with Irish biotechnology companies and Universities.

Enterprise Ireland’s Biotechnology and High Potential Start Up divisions have worked closely with the company from its pre-start-up phase through to working with the academic founders on their patenting, research and commercialisation strategies.

In 2005, Enterprise Ireland provided R&D support to Opsona which is contributing to the development of its two lead compounds by Trinity Professor Kingston Mills. Other investors in this round included Genentech, major US Biotechnology company, Inventages, a Swiss VC and Seroba an Irish based biotechnology-focused vc.

There has been major research investment in Biotechnology in Ireland in recent years. Funding from the Higher Education Authority (HEA), Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the Health Research Board and Enterprise Ireland means that a biotechnology and lifesciences research ecosystem has been firmly established in Ireland with a strong base in the third level sector.

Enterprise Ireland’s biotechnology strategy is focused on maximizing the creation and growth of commercially-focused biotechnology companies in Ireland

On campus, Enterprise Ireland is active in funding applied research, which has a commercial output through its Commercialisation Fund.  Over 100 life science technologies are currently in the pipeline with a number of these forming the basis for spin-out companies while others are being licensed to existing companies.

Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Specialists work with University Technology Transfer Offices to help identify, protect and exploit the technologies being developed. 

Campus-based incubation space for life science start-up companies has doubled in the last two years with 6 Bio-Tech Incubators providing 21 bio- incubation spaces for start up companies.

Ireland’s continued growth as a centre for biotechnology will depend on continuing to build new alliances and networks with the global biotech sector. I again congratulate Opsona Therapeutics and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and wish them every success in their work together in future.

ENDS

ETE 1525a

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