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Drug firm dipping toe in the market

Drug firm dipping toe in the  market

If you have ever had the misfortune of having your big toenail removed by a podiatrist in Aberdeen, it may have been used to create a ground-breaking fungus treatment.

The anti-fungal drug has been developed by Novabiotics, a biotechnology spin-out from the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health.

And the company, entering its tenth year, is looking to make millions for its founder Dr Deborah O’Neil, along with a string of investors whohave so far pumped almost £12million into the venture.

Novabiotics is looking either to find a buyer, likely a major pharmaceutical company, or float on the stock exchange.

Lively, chatty and assured, Dr O’Neil, an immunologist by training, may not initially seem like the type of person who spends a lot of time with toenail clippings.

But it is the secret to the success of the firm she founded in 2004 and what is making potential buyers and investors pay attention.

“Weirdly our product is bit of a holy grail,” said Ms O’Neil.

The condition, known as onychomycosis, is “a difficult clinical nut to crack”.

“Nails are good at keeping stuff out, it is kind of their job,” she said.

She explained the firm uses the samples from “our friendly local podiatrist in Aberdeen” to test its treatment.

“We have actually patented this model because it is very predictive of how the drug actually works,” she said.

“A big mistake a lot of people have made in the past is finding interesting data on a bench in a lab thinking it is going to work in the clinic, forgetting this whole issue you can’t get things to penetrate the nails.”

The market for fungal nail infections in the US alone was estimated to be worth almost £2billion in the next six years.

The unsightly problem is linked with age and type two diabetes, both growing scourges in the West where people are able to pay handsomely to treat the problem.

“As your circulation slows down, you are almost guaranteed to get this,” warned Ms O’Neil.

“Big pharma loves this kind of thing, it is a chronic condition, the ageing population is creating a bigger market all the time for it.”

It is not the first time that Ms O’Neil has looked to take the results of her research to the markets.

The firm tested the waters of a stock market listing in 2005/6. But investor cold feet at the time has since proved fortuitous for Ms O’Neil and Novabiotics.

Since then the firm has upped its drug pipeline, including a treatment for life-threatening cystic fibrosis.

That’s the condition Gordon Brown’s son Fraser was diagnosed with while the Scottish politician was Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The drug, Lynovex, is due to start its first clinical trials at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in coming weeks.

In the summer, the company also struck an agreement with Taro Pharmaceuticals, an Isreali-American skin specialist company, which will take the nail treatment drug through the expensive process of getting approval to tap the US market from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Taro’s directors meet regularly at Ms O’Neil’s labs and office at Craibstone, which is surrounded by fields of sheep and forest walkways, but only five minutes from the airport. “We have ended up not being a one product company. We have so much gas in the tank now,” she said.

Ms O’Neil seems more confident than ever. Last month she won the Business Leadership Award at the Scottish Enterprise Life Sciences Annual Dinner in Edinburgh. It came after she won the “most promising” award from the same group in 2005.

“It’s my award for stubborness and hanging in there,” she joked.

She would also encourage other scientists to take the leap and commercialise their ideas.

“More scientists should. There are some great ideas out there.

“It is perceived as being a lot scarier than it is.

“It is not a permanent decision. You are not ripping up your permit to do science.”