Celtarys Research is a spin-off of the University of Santiago de Compostela, launched in 2021 as part of the Ignicia Programme, an initiative of the Xunta de Galicia in partnership with the Barrié Foundation.

Its core value proposition in the market is based on a proprietary and patented chemical assembly technology that allows fluorescent molecular architectures to be developed with a wide range of applications in the early phase of drug discovery, thus helping to improve the efficiency of the initial stages of research and helping to accelerate the process.

It typically takes between 10 and 15 years from identifying a target involved in a disease to a drug available on the market that can be administered to a patient. As María Majellaro, co-founder and chief scientific officer of the company, explains, "at Celtarys we develop tools for this early stage of drug discovery. Once we have the right target, we must identify molecules that can bind to it and act in a therapeutic way. Until now, this type of performance screening has been done with radioactive compounds. Our fluorescent tools are a more versatile, efficient, environmentally friendly and faster alternative.

Moreover, their use is not limited to this type of test. They could also be used, among others, in the field of personalised medicine "to study the expression of these targets in different tissues. For example, in the case of a pathological cancer tissue, it would help us to know which drug will be the most effective," continues María Majellaro.

The Ignicia programme's momentum

Celtarys Research is based on research by the group led by Dr. Eddy Sotelo, professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy and principal investigator at the University of Santiago's Singular Centre for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CIQUS). In 2019, they joined the Ignicia programme, promoted by the Xunta de Galicia, through the Galician Innovation Agency, and the Barrié Foundation. The objective was to finish validating the technology and transform it into a technology-based company.

"Participating in Ignicia has been an extraordinary experience," says María Majellaro. "The programme supports you in matters that we, as scientists, do not control, receiving advice and personalised follow-up on issues such as the commercial area, the business model, the patenting process, the market strategy, etc. In short, everything that needs to be taken into account when setting up a company," she says.

In addition, throughout their time on the programme, they focused on developing a portfolio of fluorescent tools, which served as a letter of introduction to their value proposition and opened the doors to the market. Subsequently, they have been generating new projects for customised developments, both with pharmaceutical companies and research groups. In addition, in 2021 they closed a seed capital investment round of 650,000 euros, in which XesGalicia and VigoActivo participated.

Recently, they have received support from the Neotec programme, linked to the Centre for Technological Development and Innovation, to consolidate their project.

Looking to the future, "we want to continue growing and expanding the framework of application of our technology, consolidating Celtarys as a global company and increasing the range of clients", concludes María Majellaro.