Read the Conversation
EF: What would you say to your staff during your 10th anniversary speech?
FB: First off, after nearly 10 years, I never would have imagined that we would be in this position. When we first launched the business in 2016, I was employed as a biotechnology researcher at a big local pharma company. From then on, I received training at a student program, with a goal of gaining self-awareness and understanding of what I wanted to add to the industry. After a pitching session where I explained I had a background working at a pharmaceutical company that creates recombinant proteins, I was approached during a coffee break by someone looking for help with material purification; I told him I could handle it, and that was the start of Biotimize.
My business partners (Guilherme Augusto Del Padre and Talison Chaves Lucas) and I launched Biotimize already having a client and identifying a need in the market. Since all the co-founders are biotechnological engineers by trade, we started as a biotech consulting firm. Early on my focus was on producing recombinant proteins from mammalian cells, working with single-use bioreactors, and it was only me and my co-founder Guilherme who were working on this type of project in Brazil. In 2017, I decided to leave my position at the pharma company where I worked and pursue a PhD. From 2016 to 2019, as we both had full-time jobs, we worked as a consulting company whenever we could in order to grow Biotimize.
We then took part in various start-up programs and boot camps, which led to several changes to Biotimize. In the beginning, we worked with a variety of biotechnology companies; some of these clients were in the food, agricultural, or biopharmaceutical sectors, but for us, it was crucial to try and work in the biopharmaceutical sector because, in Brazil, it was the more challenging, needed, and expensive sector, and one in which we could carve out a niche. As a result, we decided to take action and try to assist people by advancing technology.
In 2019, Guilherme was the first to quit his job to work full-time at Biotimize, where he assisted in the development of a biopharmaceutical facility in the north of Brazil for Architectus/Bio-Manguinhos. In October 2020, I finished my doctoral studies at UNICAMP and Harvard Medical School, and I began working full-time at Biotimize along with the third co-founder, Talison Chaves Lucas. Talison comes from a more business background, whereas Guilherme and I are more technical.
We heavily expanded Biotimize after 2021. In 2022, we just had three employees, made up of just the co-founders, and nowadays we employ 15 people, with the goal of increasing to 150 people within ten years. We currently operate a 300-square-meter wet lab in Piracicaba and we are the only service provider in Brazil operating under a GLP certification for third-party servicing.
Brazil and South America as a whole face numerous challenges, including a shortage of equipment, a lack of certified structures for research, and a lack of funding. Brazilian universities, startups, and even large pharmaceutical corporations share the same obstacles since they are accustomed to transferring data and do not have the structures in place to develop their own. A public university or a startup would have to pay a lot of money to test their findings outside of the country, and this is the gap we are filling with Biotimize.
The biotech industry in the Northern Hemisphere operates completely differently from those of the Southern Hemisphere, with large differences in value. For instance, if Pfizer were to purchase a start-up in America for $1 billion, that would be significantly more than the annual revenue generated by a large pharmaceutical company here in Brazil. We are working to change that in Brazil and throughout the Southern Hemisphere. In 2022, we made a press release announcing that we were accepting investment to build the first biological CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) in Brazil, and our investors share our dream of enacting this change in the South.
Since we are talking about an investment of 30 to 40 million dollars, and there aren't any investors in Brazil who could provide that sum, we concentrated our efforts on finding investors in the United States. We were able to secure three distinct minor investors in the United States. However, we discovered this investor, Pablo Lobo, also in Piracicaba, who is from Sthorm.io, and together we work to democratize access to science in a way that will have the most positive influence on society. He has an amazing perspective that is comparable to ours. We both think that the current capitalist paradigm is no longer sustainable and that those with an excess of resources should do something constructive with their wealth. We make an effort to consider sustainable capitalism, which takes into account both people and the environment. That is our mission and objective, not just for us at Biotimize but also for the Sthorm Group.
The Sthorm Group has multiple verticals, but two, in particular, are related to Planet and People. The first is environmental care, for which they have allocated hundreds of millions of euros to the development of a program that serves as an alternative to carbon credits. Regarding people and health, they have previously made investments in a number of biopharmaceutical firms that are devoted to the discovery of new molecules. They have already made investments in businesses conducting clinical trials, but they lacked a manufacturing team, which is where Biotimize comes in. We bridge the gap by leveraging investments in biotech to support pharmaceutical and drug development companies, as well as manufacturing and clinical trial companies. By working together, we were able to develop drugs and vaccinations against tropical diseases that do not exist in Northern countries. Climate change is making the planet hotter, so even though tropical illnesses such as dengue aren't prevalent in the US currently, they might be in the future.
EF: In what ways do you envision yourself evolving in the future? Are you considering expanding internationally?
FB: We plan to operate not only in Brazil but also across South America, primarily in the countries of the Southern Hemisphere, as we move in parallel to the countries of the Northern Hemisphere. Our first goal is to create an innovative facility in South America. Although we are not yet in a position to approach large corporations, we are steadily making progress in that direction. We are working on some developments now, and when they are finished in June, we will be able to compete globally and attract clients from all over the world. We want the expansion to accelerate in tandem with our capacity.
We are working hard to improve our position in South America, so we are negotiating with suppliers there and providing lower prices to companies there than to those in the North Hemisphere. For instance, the price we can charge South American companies for the same project is lower than the price we would charge global companies. Biotech's foreign suppliers, like Thermo Fisher and Cytiva, are aware of this and continue supporting us. The purpose of doing this is to mitigate risks, which is something that we try to do across our entire business. We now have five projects with big biopharmaceutical companies here in Brazil, and these projects would not have moved forward if we were not here.
EF: How do you think the rest of the world has reacted to Brazil's innovations?
FB: Brazil is not seen as an innovative country by the outside world. Most people believe that Brazil mostly sells commodities, but as time goes on and new businesses emerge with creative solutions, this perception is shifting. ANVISA, for instance, is working on an innovative viral therapy from a Brazilian startup which deals with the Zika virus, which is Brazil's first innovative biotech treatment and has been entirely created here in Brazil. Biotimize will develop and manufacture phase zero, a Brazilian corporation will handle the clinical trials, and it will make use of Brazilian hospitals.
ANVISA created a phase zero program for palliative patients who have no other options, and it is being very well received. This is how they are handling the initial phase prior to phase one. I am aware that other nations are emulating Brazil's phase zero program. This is only feasible in this instance because ANVISA is analyzing innovative drugs and has structures in place to create these products. The way that people view Brazil is changing as a result of all these developments.
EF: How do you convince possible investors to fund your business and believe in Brazil?
FB: Brazil is a good place to invest. Because of its large population, this country is able to conduct clinical studies that leverage the size and diversity of the population. Furthermore, the market is big, and ANVISA is doing a really good job at simplifying procedures and facilitating business. They are an excellent regulating body. As a result, development initiatives are beginning to enter Brazil.
We would state that our mission is to "democratize drug development and access" in our pitch to possible investors. It is universally acknowledged that Brazil is the country of the future. Every day, we at Biotimize concentrate on our mission and make an effort to demonstrate to our staff that we are having an impact. We want technology to advance; it is not about money. The employees know that we want to make a difference. Our goal is to have an impact.
EF: Could you briefly describe the economics of Biotechnology as a service (BTaaS) and why it is profitable?
FB: Since we are a service provider, we must charge for our services in order to be profitable. Intellectual property belongs to our clients; we do not own any. We are a service provider that assists customers in advancing their research. But we go above and beyond, attempting to be as flexible as we can, with the goal of becoming a partner rather than a standard provider who only does what it wants.
I'm trying to say that while some other service providers are capable of doing certain tasks, they are not concerned with anything other than completing the task at hand the way that they see fit and charging the customer. In the event that you, the client, lack a specific piece of equipment, they will use theirs and won't worry about the regulations regarding the equipment. If your market is price-sensitive, such as Brazil, where the government mandates that prices be kept low, they might not assist you in streamlining your operations to meet your potentially costly goals. Here is where we differ from the competition—we strive to be partners and consider options beyond simply providing the service. The needs of the client are what come first at Biotimize.
EF: Was it challenging to make the switch from academia to the health business, and what guidance would you offer to other entrepreneurs wishing to make the same move?
FB: For me, it wasn't all that hard. I began working at a pharma company as soon as I graduated, and I spent almost three years there. While I was finishing my Ph.D., I was constantly reminded that I had a company that I needed to return to. Research papers are what concerns academics, not a business or a service. For this reason, I never intended to participate in a post-graduation program, but I did it for Biotimize because the company benefits from having a Ph.D. director. I also wanted to expand my knowledge and perspective on different areas of biotechnology. I gave it a deadline because, although research takes a lot of time or, if you want to, forever, you must set a deadline for yourself. I gave myself three years to finish, and immediately following my PhD defense, I returned to working at Biotimize full-time.
EF: Do you have any final message?
FB: You have to be very resilient to advance in Brazil because most businesses here are accustomed to things that are simple and less expensive. Before we founded Biotimize, we had the privilege of getting to know the majority of these biopharmaceutical companies. As such, we were aware of the industry's difficulties. Things are shifting; we are becoming a country that exists in the present more than just the future. In the biotech industry, new businesses and startups are beginning to emerge. Sail for Health, for example, attracts investments to develop translational capacity, leading end-to-end projects that impact the chain continuously and collectively and that enable LATAM to be a self-sufficient region in all phases of clinical development. ANVISA has launched an innovative initiative designed to assist startups, and as part of this program, three biotech businesses are involved in a pilot project wherein ANVISA will assist them with meeting regulatory requirements until they are established. I see the progression in the ecosystem. As the musician ‘Charlie Brown Jr’ once said, “For those who have a strong thought, the impossible is just a question of opinion.” If you have a strong desire and do it for love, you can make a difference.
