CSIC spin-off, BioGLane, discovers natural iminosugar that improves quality of intestinal flora
Sergi Pumarola, managing director of BioGLane: “A breakthrough concept like D-fagomine couldn’t have come out of a traditional company".
Coinciding with the enlargement of their facilities at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), BioGLane –a spin-off of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)– organized an event to present their business project and the results of their pioneering research on a natural iminosugar, fagomine, which is found in traditional foods in many countries. Little was known previously about fagomine, which improves the quality of intestinal flora.
The presentation was led by Sergi Pumarola, managing director and co-founder of BioGLane, and Pere Clapés and Josep Lluís Torres, scientists from the CSIC and co-founders of the spin-off. “Knowledge transfer between universities and research centers and business is always an inevitable aim for both parties, and even more in the current panorama. With the creation of BioGLane, researchers are bridging the gap between these two realities,” explained Pere Clapés.
For a healthy life
BioGLane focuses its activity on obtaining highly complex bioactive substances, like analogous sugars, industrially through innovative enzymatic processes. Afterwards, they market these substances as components for new functional foods, which provide solutions to weight control and nutritional imbalances related to the consumption of refined sugars.
Their most noteworthy project so far is the development of this natural molecule, fagomine, a glucose analog component. BioGLane is the first company in the world to show fagomine’s nutritional value, both in controlling adverse effects of refined sugars and improving the quality of intestinal flora.
“We are offering a new concept of functional foods: controlling the speed at which the body assimilates sugars and starches using a natural product that has been proven both safe and effective. We have a new tool to help us lead a healthy life, which is difficult in a culture of abundance,” explained Josep Lluís Torres.
According to Sergi Pumarola: “A breakthrough concept like D-fagomine couldn’t have come out of a traditional company, because it is necessary to not only be open to participating with experts from a number of fields, but also to explore new areas of knowledge with the conviction that the effort will be worth it.”
Commercialization in the United States
This Catalan biotech company hopes to begin the authorization process to sell their product in the United States in 2010, and later in Europe, “where the authorization process is longer,” according to representatives from the company.
Currently, the project is being carried out thanks to the initiative of these entrepreneurs and the financial support of Genoma España, Caja Navarra and other bodies from the national and regional administrations.
The event was closed by Màrius Rubiralta, secretary general of Universities for the Ministry of Education and former president of the PCB, and Andreu Mas-Colell, president of the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and former secretary general of the European Research Council.