BioTech R&D company develops game-changing gastrointestinal inflammation treatment

A Bristol-based R&D company has commercialised its unique gastrointestinal treatment drug with funding and finance, digital marketing and sales support from Innovate UK EDGE.

Ferryx has developed a new live bacterial product – branded Ferrocalm – which can be used for the prevention and/or treatment of gastrointestinal inflammation, reducing symptoms of disease progression.

Gastrointestinal inflammation drives several diseases affecting millions of people and animals, but patients are faced with a lack of alternative treatment options.

“Most treatments come with really negative side effects,” says Jenny Bailey, CEO & Co-Founder, Ferryx. “Patients will frequently look for alternatives such as probiotics.”

“However, there’s no probiotic on the market that's demonstrated efficacy in treating active disease. And we hypothesised that’s because it can’t survive in guts with high iron levels – which is typical for people living with chronic inflammation.” ?

Ferryx has identified a specific strain of live bacteria which is able to increase its growth rate in response to iron and has anti-inflammatory properties against active gastrointestinal inflammation – an effect no other probiotic on the market currently offers.?

Since developing its first-of its-kind iron-responsive bacterial product, Ferryx has plans to move into environmental and agricultural uses – with early trials indicating a 50% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from farm chickens treated with the product.

The next stage of the company’s product development is trials of the new Ferrocalm Food Supplement capsule, which Ferryx hopes will achieve pharmaceutical grade in the near future.

In 2023, Ferryx began working with Innovation and Growth Specialist, Sinclair Brown, who produced a detailed growth plan focused on funding and finance, digital marketing and sales.

“I had that initial call with Sinclair. He knew exactly the people to speak to, and found just the right people to work with,” says Jenny.

“That was so helpful, because I didn't come with an idea of what help we wanted, just ‘these are our challenges’, and he came back with ‘these are the people who can help you.’”

Funding and finance support

Funding and Finance Specialist, Susie Williams, was introduced to help Ferryx identify suitable grant schemes.

After initial triage support, Susie recommended applying for Innovate UK’s Biomedical Catalyst grant and helped Ferryx to navigate the eligibility criteria.

“I’d been looking at the Biomedical Catalyst grant for a couple of years, but didn’t think that we could meet the eligibility criteria,” says Jenny.

“Susie made the case for why we should apply, and helped alleviate a concern we had about whether a potential partnership with a Belgium company would disqualify us. Her encouragement and insight was really important.”

Funding Specialist, Alan McLeod, next worked with Ferryx to provide critical appraisal of their application.

“Alan was fantastic. He was able to work within tight deadlines, and the feedback was great,” says Jenny.

“We missed the funding threshold mark by less than 1%, but would never have got anywhere near without Alan’s help. It’s given us the confidence that we can get funded in the future.”

Digital marketing and sales support

Digital Marketing Specialist, Angus Ogilvy-Stuart, was next introduced to review Ferryx’s website traffic, leads and analytical data with a focus on keyword research and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

“Angus taught me a huge amount about SEO. He provided some eye opening insights – like how to build a continually evolving, non-static website that will boost our SEO potential long-term.”

Ferryx also received a detailed audit of their current website functioning, with recommendations made on specific areas of content and design.

“We refined our website off the back of that feedback – putting our reviews front and centre on the homepage, so that people immediately saw our work.

“It meant we could begin to build a solid customer retention strategy.”

Innovate UK EDGE will continue to support this BioTech innovator as it commercialises its pioneering gastrointestinal inflammation treatment for the long-term welfare of humans, animals and the environment.