one to watch
‘The Government was into IT and biotechnology and we were neither.
The venture capital companies did not understand a chemistry start-up. They didn’t know where to place us’
Award-winning university spin-out Celtic Catalysts boasts a Nobel Prize-winning chairman, and its technologies have caught the eye of the big pharma players, but, says founding CEO Dr Brian Kelly, it wants to remain an Irish company. He spoke to JimAughney
Life sciences company Celtic Catalysts has developed ground-breaking chemistry that enables its end-user clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech and fine chemicals industries to realise significant manufacturing cost savings. The innovative venture capital-backed company and
its founders have caught the eye of the experts in recent years, snatching a number of awards that include the Thistle Biotech International Rising Star Award (2008), the NovaUCD Innovation Award (2008) and the Shell LiveWire Entrepreneur of the Year Regional Winner (2006). In April it won the Application of R&D category at the 2011 Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards. Headquartered in NovaUCD, the Innovation and
Technology Transfer Centre, Celtic Catalysts boasts Barry Sharpless, who won the 2001 Nobel Prize for his pioneering work in chiral chemistry, as the chairman of its scientific advisory board. Today the company’s technology is integrated into the
manufacture of a number of potential blockbuster drugs currently in development by major pharmaceutical com- panies, but it has taken Dr Brian Kelly 13 years to bring his idea to this stage. “I was at a PhD conference in St Andrews, Scotland,
sitting listening to a speaker when I realised that robot- ics could be applied to use and discover catalysts,” Kelly recalls when we meet. The catalysts which Kelly was considering are those chemicals that speed up chemical reactions, particularly as they apply to the pharmaceu- tical industry. The conference was held in 1998 and Kelly was halfway through his PhD at the time. “I put the idea to the back of my mind and got on with
finishingmy PhD. Later, as part ofmy study, I was asked by Dr Declan Gilheany, my PhD supervisor, to proof- read a paper that was part of a grant application to the European Union,” he continues. Gilheaney wanted to carry out experiments in paral-
lel in research labs. “It was clear to me that he was thinking along similar lines tomy idea from St Andrews. We spoke about it and identified the type of machine which would be most suitable for the lab experiments.” The third-year PhD student realised how “somebody
of Declan’s calibre could add value to the concept” and in February 2000 the pair jointly set up Celtic Catalysts as a campus company at UCD. However, it was not until 2001 that Kelly completed
his PhD and began working seriously on a business plan aimed at raising the necessary funding. Kelly and Gilheany needed about €2.5m, but Kelly quickly discov- ered that raising funding would not be easy. “The Government was into IT and biotechnology and
we were neither. Indeed the venture capital companies did not understand a chemistry start-up. They didn’t know where to place us,” he explains. The pair of chemists quickly realised that one of the
first things they needed for the company was a heavy- weight scientific board. “Through Declan Gilheany’s academic contacts, Barry Sharpless of MIT agreed to come on board as chair of the scientific board of Celtic Catalysts.” Sharpless was impressed by the duo’s plans and when
he won the Nobel Prize in this area, interest in the company increased and, as Kelly puts it, “we became credible”. To assist in raising funding, Kelly contacted the UCD
Summer 2011 Irish Director 31
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