[Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Eclipse Ingredients]
Australian precision fermentation startup Eclipse Ingredients is gearing up for commercial launch of its human lactoferrin next year, starting in cosmetics before moving into adult nutrition and, longer term, infant formula.
The company has already signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with five distributors and begun tech transfer to pilot scale, says cofounder and CEO Siobhan Coster.
“We’ve got two platform technologies and we’re executing at a speed that is unheard of in this space.”
AgFunderNews (AFN) caught up with Coster (SC) at the Future Food-Tech summit in London to discuss the case for human versus bovine lactoferrin and Eclipse’s asset-light approach to scale-up.
AFN: Why human vs bovine lactoferrin?
SC: Human and bovine lactoferrin are essentially different proteins, so there’s a 30% difference in amino acid structure between the cow version and the human version. The cow version is designed for calves, and the human version is designed for humans. And we can see that from our own testing, where we have superior results of the human version on human cells, which makes sense.
AFN: Lactoferrin is in breast milk, which is consumed by infants, but most startups are initially targeting adult nutrition. Is there any evidence that lactoferrin actually benefits adults?
SC: Lactoferrin is naturally produced by the human body, and it’s found throughout the human body. So it’s in immune cells, in tears, and saliva. The highest concentrations are in breast milk, as you say, but its benefits are really diverse.
There is a lot of clinical data to support its efficacy in a number of different applications from helping to support iron regulation, to reducing inflammation, and supporting longevity. So there are a lot of different applications that make human lactoferrin really interesting across women’s health, sports nutrition, and healthy aging. We can really help to increase our health span alongside our lifespan.
AFN: Human lactoferrin isn’t currently on the market, whereas bovine lactoferrin is. How do you know there’s a market for it, or is it a case of build it and they will come?
SC: For us it was the opposite. We spent years validating the market opportunity and making sure that there were customers that wanted this first and foremost. And that’s been fundamental to everything that we do at Eclipse Ingredients: making sure that it’s about the consumer and that there is demand.
It’s definitely not build it and they will come! We know that there’s demand. Our first market is in the cosmetics space. We’ve got really strong demand there and we’re really excited about what we’re building there.
AFN: Many precision fermentation startups have struggled to get over the valley of death. How are you navigating manufacturing and scale-up?
SC: We’re leveraging four partnerships with research organizations that gives us access to infrastructure, equipment, and skills that go from micro-liter plate scale all the way up to 2,000-liter pilot scale. We’re leveraging existing infrastructure rather than building our own.
Beyond that, we’re also scaling up really smart. We’re starting with a market that has a smaller volume requirement, which means that we can scale up in stages, and we can prove everything that we’re doing in those stages towards our end goal of getting into infant formula, where we’ll be generating tons and tons of material.
AFN: Can you talk about advances you’ve made over the last year or two to improve the efficiency of your bioprocess, optimize your strains or improve your downstream process?
SC: We’ve achieved a lot in the last 18 months. We’ve built our first proprietary technology platform and we’ve got a second in development. We are using applied AI across everything that we are doing, and that’s been built in from day one. We’ve started our tech transfer to pilot scale, and we’re gearing up for tech transfer to our commercial manufacturer.
AFN: What is your business model and go-to-market strategy?
SC: We’re a B2B ingredients provider; that’s our core strategy. Bur we’re open to partnerships and exploring different models. At the moment, we’re building towards distribution partnerships. We’ve already signed MOUs with five distributors, and we’ve got a few more in development. We’ve got a global launch in our plans next year.
AFN: There are a few players now in the lactoferrin space. How do you see companies differentiating themselves?
SC: First and foremost, these are massive markets, and we need multiple suppliers of human lactoferrin to support a healthy industry. For Eclipse, we are built to lead in this space. We’ve got two platform technologies and we’re executing at a speed that is unheard of in this space. We have gone from our first raise to [approaching] commercial launch in two years.
AFN: Which geographical markets are you targeting, and what’s the regulatory pathway for those markets?
SC: We have a global regulatory strategy, and we are targeting all of our key jurisdictions at once across all of our markets. APAC and the US will be our first markets, followed by the EU, where we know it takes a bit longer to get regulatory approval.
AFN: Where are you seeing the most commercial interest?
SC: For our first market, which is cosmetics, we have local [regulatory] compliance already, and we have really strong customer traction, so we’re super excited about that market.
The next market is in the adult nutrition space. That’s a growing and emerging market where we’re seeing an increased interest in the nutrition, precision nutrition, and food-as-medicine areas.
And then finally we’re targeting infant formula. Here, different regulations will require a more precise or a more focused dossier and it [regulatory approval] will take a little bit longer.
Further reading:
Nestlé taps Helaina to explore bioactive proteins in infant nutrition
All G makes US debut with low-iron lactoferrin made via precision fermentation
TurtleTree, Novonesis strike partnership to scale up precision-fermented lactoferrin
Alpine Bio debuts ‘insanely soluble’ soy protein isolate and iron-rich lactoferrin made in soybeans
