Posted 28 November 2011
Pharmaceutical research and technology company, APC wins NovaUCD 2011 Start-Up Award
APC Ltd, a new University College Dublin pharmaceutical research and technologies company, has won the NovaUCD 2011 Start-Up Award.
APC provides pharmaceutical processing technologies and customised solutions to pharmaceutical companies that require the delivery of their medicines to the global market in a lean, reliable and robust manner. APC’s unique solutions allow its clients to reduce the risk, cost and time to market for new and existing pharmaceutical medicines.
Pictured far right: Professor Brian Glennon and Dr Mark Barrett, co-founders of APC Ltd, after receiving their award
APC plans to create 20 predominantly high skill jobs within the next two-years and is investing in technology research and development and plans to launch additional products, services and processing technologies to the market in 2013.
APC has already hired 3 permanent, PhD qualified engineers and chemists and is generating significant revenues.
“The participation of researchers on this key new venture support programme to establish, grow and develop high-tech and knowledge-intensive companies, is of critical importance for the development of a sustainable smart economy in Ireland,” said Professor Peter Clinch, UCD Vice-President for Innovation.
“The ventures that were showcased on this year’s NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme (CCDP) are being established to translate innovative ideas arising from UCD research programmes into value-added products and services.”
“These ventures will in time also lead to the generation of highly-skilled employment opportunities and I am delighted to see that APC, the overall winner, plans to generate 20 such jobs by 2013.”
Co-founded earlier this year by Professor Brian Glennon and Dr Mark Barrett as a spin-out from the UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, APC already includes many of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world on its client list.
By integrating its advanced engineering and scientific competencies APC enables pharmaceutical companies to deliver their medicines to market in a quicker, leaner, more reliable and more cost effective manner. It does so by providing these companies with engineering and technology solutions which deliver cycle time improvements, yield and capacity increases, improved impurity reductions, better control of product characteristics and reductions in batch rejections.
Professor Brian Glennon joined the UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering in 1995. Prior to joining UCD he worked as a Chemical Engineer in Merck Sharp & Dohme. He is leader of the UCD Pharmaceutical Process Engineering Research Group and Deputy Director of the Solid State Pharmaceutical cluster a Science Foundation Ireland-funded Strategic Research Cluster.
Dr Mark Barrett joined the UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering in 2009. Previously he worked as a Process Development Engineer in Schering-Plough. Since joining the UCD Pharmaceutical Process Engineering Research Group he has led national and international industrial research activities.
As the winner of the NovaUCD 2011 Start-Up Award, APC receives a €5,000 prize cheque, €6,000 of professional services from Deloitte, €3,000 of legal services from Arthur Cox, €1,000 worth of business and taxation consultancy from Delaney Financial Consultancy and NewMarket Partnership and six-months free desk space at NovaUCD.
APC will also receive a year’s free subscription to AccountsIQ software which allows SMEs to manage their entire accounting requirements via the internet.
Congratulating all the participants on this year's programme, John O’Dea, HPSU Department Manager, Life Sciences said: "Enterprise Ireland is delighted to recognise the high level of entrepreneurial activity being undertaken in NovaUCD and to partner with NovaUCD in supporting the establishment of new market-led businesses.”
“The enterprises which have completed this year’s CCDP have demonstrated great ingenuity in commercialising innovative technologies. They represent an essential element in realising the full commercial potential of the significant investment in research and development being made by the Irish Government.”
"Enterprise Ireland looks forward to supporting the success of this year's participants and assisting them to realise their full commercial potential.”
NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme (CCDP)
185 new ventures and 290 individuals have now completed the NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme (CCDP), which is supported by Enterprise Ireland, and which has run annually since 1996.
The aim of this Programme is to assist UCD academic and research entrepreneurs in the establishment and development of new high-tech ventures to commercialise the output of their research activities. The programme assists participants in defining, developing and transforming their innovative ideas into sound and commercially feasible new ventures and in preparing detailed business plans.
Two other ventures, ForkStream and Equilume, participating on this year’s Programme, received runner-up awards, cheques for €3,000 and €2,000 along with €2,000 and €1,000 worth of legal services from Arthur Cox respectively in addition to six-months free desk space at NovaUCD.
ForkStream, a new ICT venture, is developing a disruptive technology to allow mobile network operators to cost effectively and seamlessly offload smart phone traffic to any available WiFi network. The promoters of ForkStream are Dr John Fitzpatrick and Dr Hamid Nafaa, researchers in UCD’s School of Computer Science and Informatics.
Equilume, a new equine biotech venture, is developing a novel light therapy solution, the Equilume Light Mask, to assist Thoroughbred breeders in maximising the reproductive efficiency of their mares. The promoter of Equilume is Dr Barbara Murphy, a researcher in UCD’s School of Agriculture and Food Science.
The NovaUCD 2011 Campus Company Development Programme Awards Evening was an Innovation Dublin 2011 event.
(Produced by UCD University Relations)
