South West Most Exciting Companies: EnsiliTech
EnsiliTech has received global recognition for its trailblazing new methods of transporting medicines and food without reliance on refrigeration. Founder Dr Asel Sartbaeva explains to Insider why the ensilication technology she has developed could be transformational in delivering access to vaccines across the globe, and has been described as a potential solution to a “$35bn a year global vaccine refrigeration problem”.
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00:00If you, if you feel like there's a, as we work through these, if you feel like there's a, you'd like to say it in a different way, feel free.
00:09If we get through all of them in one, that's great, but if not, we can edit it.
00:14But it's, I think as a starting point, if you can explain what it is that Insilitech does and how you created the company.
00:22Sure, sure. So Insilitech is a deep tech biotech startup.
00:26We span out from University of Bath. We have developed a chemical technology which can make existing vaccines and new vaccines,
00:34which are being developed, thermally stable so that they can be transported without refrigerators or freezers in the future.
00:41We have created the coating, which we put on top of the molecules, the vaccine molecules,
00:48and then this coating makes them stable so that they can be then taken out of the fridge and they stay stable all the way,
00:55at room temperatures, at different humidities, can be transported anywhere around the world,
01:01which means that they can be put in a normal envelope and sent anywhere around the world.
01:05And also our coating makes them more stable for longer so we can extend the shelf life,
01:11which means that anywhere in the world you can send those vaccines and people who today don't have access to vaccines
01:18potentially will be able to have this access with our technology.
01:22Amazing. That was great, by the way. You've touched this a little bit,
01:27but how transformative would that technology be in healthcare terms if it became commercially available?
01:35Very transformative because today something like up to 25% of the vaccines spoil before they're being brought anywhere around the world.
01:44And in some countries around the world, especially in low-income countries,
01:48up to 50% of the vaccines could be spoiling before they're being brought to people around the world.
01:54So that means, obviously, spoilage, wastage of the vaccines, but also wastage of the energy
02:02because we need to keep those refrigerators running all the way through.
02:06Wastage in terms of all the packaging and all the vials, so there is a lot of waste associated with all of this.
02:14The cold chain failures cost the biopharma industry something on the order of $35 billion every year.
02:21So the cost is high, the environmental cost is high, but the most horrific is the human cost.
02:28Today, 1.5 million infants, so these are children under five, are still dying from vaccine-preventable diseases all around the world every year,
02:36despite the fact that we have vaccines which can stop those deaths.
02:411.5 million every year is something like one every 20 seconds.
02:46So it's a horrific human cost which could be prevented if we can just bring those vaccines intact to people all around the world.
02:55And that's exactly what Insilitech is trying to do by developing the technology, Insilication technology,
03:01which we have developed originally at the university and now spun out into the company.
03:06And we know, we've talked about the healthcare benefits, but presumably a huge commercial market here.
03:14If you can engage and work with the right network in order to bring it to fruition,
03:23what are some of the challenges that you're experiencing trying to bring this into a commercial space?
03:29So we are a mission-driven company.
03:32So our mission is to make sure that cold chain is not a problem for the vaccine delivery.
03:38So that's sort of more going to be affecting consumers, the users.
03:44But our customers for the Insilitech are actually biopharma companies who produce the vaccines.
03:50We want them to take our technology license from us and then use it to produce thermally stable vaccines.
03:58So there is a bit of a dichotomy there, which means we need to convince the companies, the biotech companies, to take up our technology.
04:05And what's interesting today is that there is a push for the companies to become more ESG friendly, to become more environmentally friendly.
04:13And from that point of view, they're already looking at technologies like ours to see how they can make the shift for more environmentally friendly transportation, supply chain and everything else, logistics.
04:27So from that point of view, we're already engaging with customers.
04:31We're already running two pilot studies.
04:33So we have two contracts.
04:35Very excitingly, we've just sent back some of the samples last week.
04:40So we are expecting our first payment from our first client.
04:43So Insilitech is doing well from that point of view.
04:46And we're currently talking to 10 more customers who potentially want to use our technology in the future.
04:53So there's definitely an appetite for change here.
04:58But biotech, I guess, is an area where change doesn't happen very quickly.
05:06So it takes time to get through the R&D stage, the preclinical stage, where we are now.
05:12And then there is quite a lengthy clinical stage before the products can be brought to the market.
05:19And we talk about our Most Exciting Companies campaign as being this five-year initiative.
05:26I'll ask you the same question I asked in the roundtable earlier today.
05:31What are your ambitions? What's the roadmap for you guys going from startup to potentially bringing this to scale?
05:39So absolutely, we're still calling ourselves a startup.
05:42But actually, we are now on that change to scale up, actually.
05:47So we are on the journey to scale up right now.
05:50And embracing it at the moment, there are a lot of challenges to overcome.
05:56So we need, obviously, biotech companies to come and to license our technology in the future.
06:03So that's a big sell for us, which we are trying to do right now.
06:07We're also thinking ahead for the adoption of the insulicated thermally stable vaccines.
06:14We will need the regulatory bodies to embrace the technology, too.
06:18So that's something we already started talking about to the regulatory bodies.
06:22We're talking to EMA, MHRA, FDA, and other regulatory bodies.
06:27And then the other big aspect for us, which is quite important also, there is a big problem with vaccine hesitancy.
06:35So people don't want to take vaccines sometimes because of the misinformation, which has been spread around quite a lot.
06:41So we're working a lot on educating people and actually saying, you know what, vaccines are really good at preventing diseases all around.
06:51And they can help save lives and they can also prevent a lot of diseases.
06:56And perhaps we will succeed also at educating public so that public will not shy away from vaccines in the future, too.
07:06Brilliant. That was very eloquent. Thank you.