WA biotech duo takes aim at diabetes beyond Ozempic
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Matt Birney
GLP-1 receptor agonists, the science behind Ozempic and its cousins, have become one of the most talked about medical breakthroughs of the past decade and have reshaped how the world thinks about diabetes and obesity. The numbers are extraordinary, the headlines are brutal, and the share prices of the companies making them reflect both.
But a West Australian biotech collaboration thinks the GLP-1 story, no matter how fascinating, is just one piece of the type 2 diabetes puzzle.
ProGenis Pharmaceuticals, a drug development company backed by Perth-based Syngenis Labs, is working on a new class of RNA-based therapies designed to go where GLP-1 drugs cannot by targeting insulin resistance, a key molecular factor in diabetes. The distinction is more important than it seems at first glance.
‘For companies like ProGenis, having local access to production at both a research level and GMP level is a transformative experience.’
Thomas Hanly, general manager of Syngenis Laboratories
GLP-1 therapies work by affecting the body’s metabolic signaling system and reducing excess weight. Patients who stop taking them often see their condition return. Side effects such as nausea and gastrointestinal upset are common. Clinicians have been clear on this for years. Medicines are good. However, these are not the complete answer.
“GLP-1 therapies have provided strong clinical benefits, but they are not a complete solution.” Dr Vinod Vathipadiekal, chief scientific officer at ProGenis, said: “Instead of correcting the underlying molecular dysfunctions that trigger the disease, they primarily act downstream by affecting metabolic signaling pathways. Our approach is to intervene early by improving insulin signaling and glucose metabolism using RNA therapeutics.”
“A therapy that directly targets insulin resistance at the cellular level would be an important treatment option for many people living with type 2 diabetes,” said Prof Bu Yeap, Clinical Lead at ProGenis.
The platform created by ProGenis focuses on antisense oligonucleotide technology. In short, chemically engineered RNA strands are designed to bind to specific messenger RNA sequences, effectively reducing or altering the production of disease-associated proteins.
For those unfamiliar with space, think of it as a molecular dimmer switch for faulty genetic instructions. Rather than preventing the consequences of a misregulated gene, the therapy intervenes before those consequences occur.
Potential is important. By acting at the RNA level, it is theoretically possible to influence multiple disease pathways simultaneously, thereby increasing insulin sensitivity; It’s an effect that current treatments leave largely untouched.
However, what distinguishes RNA therapeutics from conventional drugs is the significant technical sophistication required to produce them reliably. They require precise chemical synthesis, careful modification to survive degradation in the body, and a level of quality control that goes far beyond standard pharmaceutical production. This is where Syngenis Laboratories comes into play.
Syngenis, based in Perth, is Australia’s only commercial manufacturer of proprietary synthetic DNA and RNA oligonucleotides and currently serves researchers and biotechnology companies in the Asia-Pacific region. Under the ProGenis collaboration, the company is responsible for the production of high-quality RNA molecules that support the therapeutic platform.
Syngenis Laboratories general manager Thomas Hanly said: “Next-generation RNA therapies require molecular engineering at a level far beyond standard synthesis. “Our role is to ensure that these molecules are not only biologically effective, but also highly reproducible, scalable and suitable for use in regulated clinical settings.”
The company is currently a research-grade manufacturer, but this is changing. It is building a “good manufacturing practice” facility in Perth that is expected to be operational in 2026, making it the only commercial, human-grade short synthetic DNA and RNA production operation of its kind in Australia. For a company like ProGenis, this is a structural advantage.
Historically, Australian biotech companies developing RNA-based therapies have had little choice but to ship their most sensitive and valuable work overseas to laboratories in the US, Europe and China. This causes delays, introduces supply chain risk and sits in a gray area under the Australian Government’s R&D Tax Incentive scheme, given the program’s preference for work carried out domestically.
Syngenis estimates that $130 million worth of GMP-grade oligonucleotide work leaves Australia each year; much of this is now being claimed back through the same R&D deduction. A compatible domestic facility changes this equation.
“For companies like ProGenis, having domestic access to both research-grade and GMP-level manufacturing is transformative.” said Hanly. “It enables faster iteration, tighter control over quality and significantly reduces the friction associated with offshore sourcing. More importantly, it keeps Australia’s innovation onshore.”
The collaboration between the two companies is a practical example of how onshore talent translates into a competitive advantage in drug development. ProGenis can rapidly iterate, test molecules, refine sequences, and scale production without the delays and compliance complexity that comes with offshoring. In a field where access to clinical data is everything, this type of presentation is golden.
As global diabetes rates continue to rise, the limitations of current treatment options become increasingly clear. GLP-1 drugs will almost certainly continue to be a central part of the treatment landscape for years to come.
But the real question is what happens next, and is it possible to create treatments that do more than manage the disease and instead change its course? This is a question the industry is increasingly preparing to ask, and it points directly to the superior manufacturing capability Syngenis is trying to build.
Syngenis is not just a supplier to a single drug development program. It is building physical and regulatory infrastructure that Australian researchers, universities, biotech companies and diagnostic developers have previously been unable to access domestically.
Academic institutions sequencing disease pathways, diagnostic companies developing point-of-care tests, and research organizations mapping the molecular signatures of conditions that have resisted treatment across generations all need what Syngenis Labs is building. So far they’ve all had to look overseas to find it.
This is changing, and the timing is not coincidental.
Syngenis Labs is at the center of this ambition. Once completed, the GMP facility will represent a key piece of national scientific infrastructure, the kind that determines whether a country will participate in the next era of medicine as a customer or a contributor.
The history of medicine has always been written in moments of incremental change, from antibiotics to vaccines to the mapping of the human genome. The RNA revolution is shaping up to be the next entry on this list, and the ability to produce the molecular tools that make this possible is not a supporting role. It is a central one.
Syngenis Labs looks poised to play this role and, in doing so, helps ensure that Australia will not be a footnote when the history of this special chapter in medicine is written.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
