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james pearson
Australia has no shortage of world-class medical researchers. What the company has traditionally lacked is a seamless path to turn smart science into commercial drugs without sending promising discoveries overseas. That’s the gap Syngenis Labs is currently trying to fill.
The Perth-based biotechnology company has completed oversubscribed pre-float funding of $4 million, which will accelerate the development of a business aimed at capturing much more value from Australia’s rapidly expanding genetic medicine sector.
Rather than focusing on a single therapeutic candidate, Syngenis says it is building an entire ecosystem that can deliver RNA- and DNA-based medicines from computer-generated concept to clinical-grade manufacturing under one roof.
This financing attracted sophisticated investors through Euros Heartleys and appears well-timed as global demand for RNA therapeutics, diagnostics, and specialized manufacturing capabilities continues to increase following years of advances in genetic medicine.
“By the time we get to a public listing, the market will be looking at a diversified, integrated platform.”
By the time we get to listing, the market is looking at diversified integrated platforms rather than single bets.
The global success of mRNA vaccines during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has transformed RNA-based medicine from a promising technology to one of the fastest growing fields in medicine, sparking billions of dollars of investment worldwide. Since then, RNA and oligonucleotide therapies have emerged as highly targeted treatments for cancer, neurological disorders, cardiometabolic diseases, rare diseases, and genetic diseases.
Oligonucleotide therapeutics are short genetic sequences made in the lab that act directly at the cellular level, allowing scientists to turn off harmful genes or precisely target biological pathways that cause disease.
Perth-based Syngenis is positioned to take advantage of a rapidly expanding market and has built expertise in DNA and RNA assay design and oligonucleotide synthesis. The company currently supports researchers and biotechnology groups in Australia and overseas to develop the next generation of diagnostic tools and precision medicines that will increasingly shape the future of healthcare and rapid pathogen detection.
And while many biotech companies specialize in one part of the development chain, Syngenis believes that controlling the entire process provides a significant competitive advantage.
Thomas Hanley, Managing Director of Syngenis Labs, said:Completing this $4 million pre-IPO raise is an important validation of Syngenis’ strategy and the quality of the platform we are building. We are building all six related divisions in parallel, and by the time we go public, the market will be looking at a diversified integrated platform rather than a single bet. ”
Central to this strategy is the company’s proprietary artificial intelligence platform, known as Discovery AI. Rather than simply analyzing biological data, the system identifies potential therapeutic targets, designs RNA and DNA candidates, screens them in silico, and prepares them for laboratory validation through a single integrated workflow.
This capability is directly reflected in Syngenis’ existing research-grade manufacturing business, which has been in operation for more than six years and already generates commercial revenue from universities, biotechnology companies, diagnostic development companies, and contract research organizations.
Perhaps the most significant investment from this procurement will be the construction of the company’s Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility, which is expected to be operational next January.
When completed, the facility will position Syngenis as one of a very small number of laboratories capable of producing human-grade oligonucleotide products suitable for clinical trials, and is expected to expand into specialized chemical areas such as phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers, which are produced by only a few companies worldwide.
Notably, the company is simultaneously developing a second artificial intelligence engine designed to simulate clinical trials before patients are enrolled. This could potentially help developers identify risks, refine study designs, and reduce development costs long before expensive human trials begin.
Management says the Discovery AI platform has already designed its first therapeutic candidate, providing early demonstration that the technology is advancing beyond theory to practical drug development.
This new capital will also support expansion across five additional business units, increasing the company’s commercial reach as a whole.
These include specialized clinical research services for nucleic acid medicines, an affordable whole genome testing business, and two investment funds that will support promising RNA and DNA projects. This structure allows Syngenis to share in the profits of successful programs without shouldering all development costs and risks itself.
This multifaceted approach could be one of the company’s greatest strengths. Rather than pinning its future on a single drug candidate, a strategy that has ruined many biotech companies, Syngenis is building multiple revenue streams around the same underlying technology platform.
The company also appears well-positioned to benefit from structural changes that extend far beyond biotechnology. In response to the pandemic, governments around the world are increasing investment in sovereign biotechnology capabilities, recognizing the strategic importance of local manufacturing, biosecurity, and advanced medical research.
The company said the oversubscription funding strengthened its balance sheet ahead of the proposed ASX listing and provided the necessary capital to mature the divisions into scalable commercial businesses.
If things go according to plan, the market may end up seeing Syngenis less as a junior biotech with the potential to turn a profit quickly and more as a key piece of infrastructure supporting Australia’s next generation of genetic medicine. It can occupy a valuable position in areas where integrated capabilities remain rare.
Are ASX-listed companies doing anything interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au
Are ASX-listed companies doing anything interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
Are ASX-listed companies doing anything interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
