Dublin life-sciences firm to double workforce

06-12-2006

by Aoife Carr

Celtic Catalysts, the NovaUCD-based life sciences company, is to double its staff numbers to 20 over the next year.

The jobs will be in the scientific research and production field and will be highly specialised, according to the company.

NovaUCD is University College Dublin's EUR11 million Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre. It provides innovators and entrepreneurs with the necessary support and knowledge to take their ideas from proof of principle to commercial success.

Celtic Catalysts develops cost effective chiral products for the pharmaceutical and fine chemicals industry.

About 75 percent of all drugs due to come on the market in the near future will be chiral compounds. This means that on a molecular level, the drugs can exist in mirror image forms, just as one's left hand is a mirror image of the right hand.

Dr Declan Gilheany, co-founder of Celtic Catalysts explained that developing drugs in these mirror image formats allows pharmaceutical companies to make them more effective and specific in targeting conditions with less risk of side effects. The current market for these types of drugs is estimated at around USD200 billion.

Celtic Catalysts has developed intellectual property which enables pharmaceutical and fine chemical companies test and manufacture chiral products cost effectively.

As part of its expansion, Celtic Catalysts is seeking to acquire 3-5,000 square feet of laboratory space either in UCD or elsewhere in Ireland.

Commenting on the expansion, the chief executive of Celtic Catalysts Brian Elliott the company was at a very exciting stage.

"Having developed and protected a unique portfolio of intellectual property we are now at the very exciting stage of launching new products based on this. We look forward to continuing these development programmes and working with the fine chemicals and pharma industries to further commercialise the fruits of our research into a growing market," he said

The company's advisory board is chaired by Nobel Prize winner, K. Barry Sharpless.