Sydney firm Apollo aims for sweet lift-off

Do you want sugars with that? Sydney protein specialist Apollo is planning an IPO next month to raise funds to develop its extensive portfolio of glycosylated proteins as research agents and therapeutics.

Based in Beaconsfield, Apollo was founded by accountant-entrepreneur John Priest, who is the company's largest shareholder. It hopes to raise AUD$12 million from its IPO.

The company, established several years ago, specialises in human-expressed proteins, as an alternative to proteins produced in hamster ovary cells or E. coli culture.

Priest said there was increasing evidence from research that glycosylation patterns resulting from post-translational modification of proteins is important to cell function. In addition to protecting proteins against immune-system attack, glycosylation also influences a protein's half-life in the body, and in targeting proteins to their correct cellular location.

Priest's company has 35 researchers on its payroll -- predominantly PhDs, masters and honours postgraduates, supervised by senior researchers, and it does all of its research in-house.

It is currently working on about 50 different proteins with potential as research reagents or therapeutics, including human-expressed variants of interferon beta for multiple sclerosis, and interferon alpha for chronic Hepatitis C infection.

"At the moment we're doing pre-clinical trials a topical cream for psoriasis containing TNF-alpha receptors, which could also be useful for rheumatoid arthritis," Priest said. "We're also doing some work on Alzheimer's disease and the aging process.

"Human-expressed proteins are a long-neglected field, and they're increasingly believed to be very important."