Rusnano and partners set up SynBio innovative pharmaceuticals project in Russia

Russia’s Human Stem Cells Institute, Rusnano (Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies), Pharmsynthez, Cryonix, UK-based FDS Pharma and private investor Dmitry Genkin have established limited liability company SynBio to develop innovative medicines and biobetter pharmaceuticals. Biobetters are described as biotechnology-based pharmaceuticals that already exist in the market, but differ in that they are an improvement on current the biotech drugs in certain characteristics, such as effectiveness.

The project has a total budget of 3.2 billion roubles ($113 million), of which Rusnano will co-invest up to 1.3 billion roubles. The other founders will co-invest up to 1.9 billion roubles in the form of monetary resources, intellectual property rights, and shareholding in their own and subsidiary companies. The investment period will be four years, and the project is slated to run seven.

Lipoxen, a UK pharmaceuticals developer, and German company SymbioTec GmbH will be the principal R&D partners for the project. The SynBio project will develop and launch nine pharmaceutical products for Russian and international markets. These are based on three technological platforms: