2018 Corporate Excellence Awards Supplement
78 CORPORATE VISION / Corporate Excellence Awards 2018 CORPORATE VISION / Issue 4 2018 35 , BioLingus is a Swiss biotech company spearheading the development of oral (sublingual) delivery of peptides and proteins. We spoke to Yves Decadt as we look to further explore the secrets behind the company’s ongoing success. Making the Daily Life Liveable Again Headquartered in Switzerland, BioLingus operates with a long-term mission of being one of the very best companies in the world for non-invasive delivery of peptides, proteins and vaccines, ‘beyond convenience.’ This mission helps to form the company’s business strategy, which is to develop as a ‘platform company’, in order to extract as much value as possible from the broad-based technology. Furthermore, staff all work together towards achieving this mission and this will lead to the company being able to complete its long-term goal of becoming a midsize European Biotech company, which is leading the way in non-invasive delivery of biologicals. Yves comments on why reaching this goal is important to the team at BioLingus. “In due course, we want to become a fully integrated company, including manufacturing and commercialisation of our products in selected countries and regions. In a few years from now, we might do a (partial) IPO.” Providing us with a brief overview of the company, Yves explains what particular areas the firm focuses on, before going on to explains what methods and techniques are used in order to ensure patients receive the best possible outcome from its products. “Here at BioLingus, our technology is derived from applied bio- engineering, resulting in novel bio- mimetic materials. The company focuses the development of its own products on treatment of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and inflammatory diseases. BioLingus’ main office is in Switzerland, and we have a satellite company in Hong Kong and Australia. “Importantly, our ultimate clients are the patients, who will have to take our products. From the start, we try to design and develop our products so that it will be not only effective and safe, but also convenient for the patients to take. After all, that is essential for a drug delivery system.” It is not only the firm’s mission which inspires staff to do their best for clients, but staff also work exceptionally hard to differentiate BioLingus from its competitors. Yves refers to what he believes helps the company to stand out in the industry. “While several of our competitors are focusing on peptides only to develop new products, BioLingus’ unique Technology allows for development of different types of molecules, including; small (hydrophobic) molecules, peptides, cytokines and oral immunotherapies and oral vaccines.” Although operating with a long- term vision, Yves and his team still possess goals that they want to achieve in the meantime. Yves alludes to what medium term goals the company possesses, both in terms of as a business and from a pharmaceutical development point of view. 1804CV09 “Internally, we all work together, and our medium-term goal is to develop as a Swiss based and independent European Biotech company, by developing several cutting-edge products based on our proprietary Technology Platform. “Moreover, our medium-term goal from a pharmaceutical development perspective is to build a small and diverse pipeline of specific products. We want to mitigate risks by having products in the pipeline with different risk/ reward profile.” Ultimately, Yves is keen to predict what the future holds for BioLingus, as he describes what future plans and projects the team has lined up, and how these are going to affect the company in the times ahead. “Excitingly, we are working on various types of Social Innovation projects, including developing low-cost products for the third world markets, and our technology allows not only to develop oral products, but at the same time eliminate some key disadvantages of the typically injected products. “Examples of this include a project with no need for a cold chain due to the high stability of our product, and this is increasingly important in third world countries, and also reducing the risk of infections related to injections and handling of needles, both for patients and care-givers. Lastly, we want to provide high tech products at a low cost and thus reduce the overall cost of treatment, something which again would be important for third world countries.” Essentially, BioLingus wants to broaden access and the availability of its products, which are not always affordable in third world countries. Yves signs off by talking about the firm’s incremental innovation projects, as well as the disruptive innovation projects, which will see his company further establish itself as a leader in the healthcare industry. “Lastly, the team at BioLingus are looking at introducing oral GLP-1 for the treatment of type I diabetes and pre-diabetes symptoms, as well as the combination of low dose insulin and GLP-1 as a base treatment for type II diabetes. “Regarding our Disruptive Innovation projects, we are looking to develop an oral immunotherapy product for early onset of type I diabetes in young children. Ultimately, what entices and impresses clients the most is the broad applicability of our technology platform, and this allows us to combine these different types of innovation. “Moving forward, aside from being a ‘technology innovator’, our strategy also allows a kind of innovation of the typical biotech business model, and can be considered as a ‘Business Model Innovation’ in the biotech world. Company: BioLingus Contact: Yves Decadt Website: www.biolingus.ch
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