Nanologica is a Swedish nanotechnology company, world-leading in the development of nanoporous silica particles for purification by chromatography. The company’s mission is to increase the availability of cost-effective drugs, enabling more patients around the world getting access to vital treatments for diabetes and obesity.
Chromatography is a widely used technique for separating components in a mixture. Nanologica is active mainly within preparative HPLC, used by pharmaceutical manufacturers in production for purification of drugs, e.g. insulin.
Through a proprietary production method, Nanologica creates silica-based products that can purify more effectively and that last longer. This can reduce production costs and increase productivity for pharmaceutical manufacturers, improving their production economy.
Interview with Johanna Johansson, Director IR, Communications & Marketing at Nanologica AB.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Johanna Johansson: Nanologica focuses on chromatography, especially preparative HPLC which is a purification method used in the manufacturing of several drugs, e.g. insulin and other diabetes drugs.
The company’s silica media NLAB Saga® has been specifically developed to meet the strict requirements of industrial scale purification by chromatography. Due to the company’s proprietary production method, Nanologica’s silica-based purification media has excellent separation power and is both chemically and mechanically stable, giving it a longer lifetime than competitors. NLAB Saga® is an excellent choice for the purification of peptides such as insulin, insulin analogues and GLP-1 analogues.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
J.J: Nanologica has been scaling up production of the NLAB Saga® silica media, and after successfully implementing fine-tuning in the production process, the product now meets the company’s own requirements for quality in all evaluated parameters. This means we are now able to make the first product deliveries to our customers. Several customers have successfully evaluated the silica in smaller scale. Now we will be able to deliver silica for full production scale.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
J.J: Nanologica’s silica-based purification media NLAB Saga® comes in various particle sizes and phases (surface structures) to suit the purification needs of various peptide-based drugs.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active? What can you tell us about market trends?
J.J: The market for preparative silica is mainly driven by the markets for insulin, insulin analogues, GLP-1 analogues, and other peptide drugs. These drugs are used in the treatment of diabetes and obesity, two huge indications which are also rapidly increasing worldwide, driving a large demand of drugs. To produce these drugs, silica is needed in the final purification step, why the market for high-quality silica for preparative HPLC is expected to grow.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2023?
J.J: With large-scale production of silica media in place, we are committed to achieving a commercial breakthrough in 2023.