Hyderabad-based life science startup Acubiosys aims to develop new drugs with no side effects

A fact known to most of the patients relying on Allopathy medicines is that a synthetic drug has side effects. To address this, startups in the Life Science sector have come forward to discover new drugs by combining molecules of medicinal plants with that of existing synthetic drugs. One of the few available Life Science startups in India is Acubiosys Private Limited. “Discovering new drugs/medicines related to serious ailments such as cancer and infectious diseases and making them available to the common man is what we are eyeing at in the near future,” said, Srinivas Maddi, Founder and CEO of Acubiosys in an interview with Bizz Buzz.

Founded in 2018, Acubiosys Private Limited is a Hyderabad-based startup that offers targeted Nano Phytopharmaceuticals, cost effective medicines. With forte in innovation and discovery, the startup has developed different kinds of Nano technology formulations by the usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) approach for different indication of diseases. During 17 years of industrial experience in the field of drug discovery and development, Srinivas Maddi held management positions of responsibility at various companies. He holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Friedrich Schiller University, Germany. He has authored several scientific publications and is also the inventor of many patents. He is serving as an editorial member of five journals and has authored more than 20 research articles. Acubiosys has received several recognitions such as Best Drug Discovery and Development Specialists

What was the vision behind founding Acubiosys?

In India, most of the pharmaceutical companies are into generic drug development. India is not an innovation hub while it comes to discovering new molecules and drug. Most of the related research takes place in the US and Europe. Few companies did initially venture into drug discovery but due to lack of human resource and PhD scientists, they had to shut down. Its only in the recent times, the government of India has taken up the initiative to support startups working in pharma, biotech and Life Science. Synthetic drugs come with side effects. So, we want to bring in new molecules and formulations which are organic, safer, and cost effective. We are following a method called drug repurposing or repositioning, which was successful during the Covid period, due to shortage of drugs. We use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning tools to understand existing drugs and then reposition for other diseases. Our focus is on developing molecules in combination of synthetic with Nano Phytopharmaceuticals, which drastically reduce side effects. We are using Nano technology called Nano suspension, emulsion, sponges, where we can put synthetic and Phytopharmaceuticals in Nano form. Here, the delivery and efficacy of the drug is improved for different kind of indications.

How was the initial phase of Acubiosys?

I founded the startup in 2018 with a humble team of four scientists. My aim is to make Acubiosys the most important company in India for innovation, discovery of new molecules for development of drugs treating cancer, autoimmune disorders and other lesser addressed infection/diseases. With my experience in the Western world, down the line, I want to prove that India has the capacity to develop new drugs. Starting a licensed company in this sector is difficult as it requires a huge amount. Hence, I set up base at an incubation centre with infrastructure available, in the city. After two years, I moved out of the centre and established own lab facility in Hyderabad. Here, drug discovery, formulation development and others are undertaken. Now, the team strength is that of 15 scientists.

What are the products developed by Acubiosys?

Currently, three patents are in the pipeline, one for Psoriasis and Eczema and the others for different cancer, mainly breast and lung cancer. There are few drugs available in the market and the existing one’s have side effects. Patients are dying because of side effects as most of the related drugs present in the pharmacy are steroids and large molecules. So, we have taken the existing molecule applied AI, ML approach and combine it with Nanophytopharmaceuticals to provide better efficacy and safety to patients. In the case of breast cancer, we are targeting primary tumour through application of gel. We are in the process of filing patent for cancer including other indications such as lung cancer in the US, Europe besides India, looking at the demand for a cure. Currently, we are at phase three trial stage for psoriasis. Going ahead, we will be looking at royalty based approach for marketing and commercialization.

Could you tell us about your second business vertical?

Running a startup in Life Science is money intensive. Though Indian government is supporting through different grants we need to generate revenue for which the other vertical, drug discovery service is in place. We develop platform technology for drug screening and provide service to big pharma companies. Adopting smart business technique, we are generating revenue here to pump into our discovery and innovation vertical. Till date, we have served 50 to 60 clients across the globe. During the Covid period we also launched wellness products and kits.

How has the growth been for the startup till now, and growth foresee for the next one-year?

In the last two years Acubiosys has reached its business target. Now we are expanding infrastructure and business verticals so as to provide more employment to scientists. Initially we had raised Rs 70 – 80 lakh, we also received grants of around Rs 1 crore. Our revenue turnover is Rs 2 – 3 crore per annum. We are in the process of raising around Rs 30 – 40 crore from venture capitalists and looking to pull in investments from foreign companies too. With the clinical trials in the pipeline, we expect the company valuation to surge further. The new funds will be utilised for the expansion, infrastructure and new laboratories. Going forward, I will also be employing 30 – 40 PhD scientists into our team. The expansion plan is related to opening of a new office in the US for collaborations over patents, marketing and investments for our formulations, drugs and clinical trials.

Is there any new technology that Acubiosys is working on?

We are developing two novel platform technologies for patient derived Xenograft model. These technologies will be useful to screen their molecules for different cancers. This technology is useful to provide better understanding on cancer behaviour in patients, thereby reducing maximum failure in clinical trials. But to develop a good screening model a lot of money is required, along with collaboration with hospitals and proper bio banking which will not affect the tissues physiology. We have another lab in CCMB and here, we are working with scientists closely for developing these technologies.

Are scientists from here taking the US path for jobs with the current ecosystem in place in India?

When I was in Germany and the US, the pharma sector there was very advanced. These countries were attractive for their pay and opportunities. Now, with the current government’s initiative of pumping money into research, India will soon be reaching that level of expertise. In India, we have good Universities and Institutions churning out PhD’s, on par with other developed nations. Infrastructure being pumped into these institutions has drastically increased. This has led to increase in skill set in this particular field. Now it’s a golden period for science and biotech pursuers with new opportunities arising. Our country might reach the international level of understanding science in the next 10 years. Compared to IT, the pace of growth of pharma, biotech and Life Science is slow.

How is the investment appetite of investors for startups in these sectors?

Earlier Venture Capitalists were not interested in investing into drug discovery domain as the gestation period here is nearly seven years, but the returns here is more than 50 per cent. VCs prefer to see returns as early as possible. Only after the success of a startup will VCs get to see returns. Indian VCs always look at revenue not wanting to take risks due to the lack of knowledge on royalty, patents etc. Pharma and biotech sector is time consuming for investors as against real estate, medtech, diagnostics and others that have immediate revenue generation. In India, now we are able to see the shift with VCs showing interest in investing into these time consuming sectors. VCs abroad never see revenue they look at innovation, technology and the team.

What is your take on the regulations/policies present here for startups in Science?

If we open base in the US the government supports us but that isn’t the case in India. For this to happen the GDP on Science related fields need to be increased by our government. The numbers and value of patents filed in India compared to that in the US, Europe and China is different due to their advanced, innovative expertise and government support being ahead of ours. Indian regulation system under that of DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India) lacks far behind compared to that of USFDA, in terms of quality, processing regulation system. In USFDA the workforce and system is top notch. Once USFDA approves a product, we can launch it in any country of the world. With the current developments happening in this sector, Indian regulatory system has to grow bigger and faster so as to make startups able to launch their innovations in other countries. Anyway, DCGI and our government is continuously working on upgrading the regulatory system. DCGI is sending their human resource to other countries to understand their regulations and undergo training. DCGI is now recognised by third world countries, yet not by the US or European nations, but we have to reach that level. In the research domain we have been collaborating and exchanging knowledge with international institutes and their governments. But the government here needs to pump more money into infrastructure and startups. We have been waiting from few months to receive our grant from BIRAC.

(This is the third article of WTC Shamshabad-FABA Startup Series, a collaborative effort of World Trade Center - Shamshabad and Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA), a global platform for the development of biotechnology, to highlight the achievements and accelerate growth in the Life Sciences industry)