KEY POINTS:
An Auckland biotech company is hoping to cash in on the health benefits of Omega 3 by cutting out the middlemen - fish.
Fish are the most common commercial source of Omega 3, but with fish stocks in decline, Henderson-based Photonz is hoping its patented method of extracting the beneficial fatty acid from microalgae will enable it to capitalise on the growing demand for its use in pharmaceuticals.
The company has started pilot trials on producing Omega 3's active ingredient eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on a commercial scale from microalgae, a food source for fish that contributes to the accumulation of EPA in their bodies.
"We are actually cutting out the middleman here. What we're actually doing here is taking the algae, growing it up and producing the EPA," said Maxine Simmons, chief executive of Cure Kids Ventures.
Cure Kids Ventures, the new investment vehicle for charity Cure Kids, has invested $500,000 in the company - its first investment to date. The venture has been made in association with the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund's seed co-investment fund, of which Cure Kids Ventures is a fund manager.
Photonz chief executive and founder Karl Geiringer said the money would enable the company to proceed with human clinical trials of the microalgae extract later this year - the results of which should be available next year.
The move would represent the next phase for the company, which started in April 2002 in the garage of Geiringer's Waitakere City home. The company moved to its existing location, the site of a former Henderson brewery, two years ago.
Geiringer said much work had been done over the decades around the world on producing Omega 3 EPA from microalgae, but all had failed to develop a commercially viable process.
Microalgae need to grow in light, but the company has found a way to grow them on glucose and some light.
"It's not economical to produce them just on light, and it's also been problematic producing them on glucose. This employs both glucose and light in a new way which makes it more efficient."
High purity EPA is already being used to treat cardiovascular disease overseas, and there is growing interest in its uses for other illnesses.
There has already been "serious" interest from a number of pharmaceutical developers in the Northern Hemisphere, said Geiringer.
Said Simmons: "They've identified that there's going to be a growing demand and need for this material. And they know they're not going to be able to provide it from the existing resources. So we need to find new ways of getting it, and obviously the patent literature makes it apparent to them that Photonz has some very interesting technology."
THE GOOD OIL
* High purity eicosapentaenoic acid is already being used to treat cardiovascular disease overseas
* A British study found fatty acid supplementation may offer a safe treatment option for educational and behavioural problems among children with development co-ordination disorder
