A LIMERICK company born out of research at the University of Limerick – which has yet to make any sales – has been sold to Life Technologies in the US in a $44 million (€33.4 million) deal.
Stokes Bio had not sold any products before the announcement of a previous deal with US multinational Monsanto last January.
It was founded in 2005 by Prof Mark Davies and Dr Tara Dalton based on research they were carrying out at the Stokes Institute at the University of Limerick. The founders owned about one-third of the company and will share about €11 million from its sale.
Other major beneficiaries of the sale of Stokes Bio include Enterprise Ireland, which will receive about €8.3 million, venture capital firm Kernel Capital (€12.3 million) and the University of Limerick (€2 million).
The non-executive chairman of Stokes Bio, Dr Ed Walsh, is the former president of University of Limerick and also has a small shareholding in the company.
The company made breakthroughs in the area of microfluidics – the ability to analyse tiny droplets of fluids using automated machinery.
It was planned that its products would initially be used to discover markers of cancer, which could lead to new approaches to the diagnosis of the disease.
Stokes Bio has been purchased by Life Technologies, a US bio-technology firm with a staff of 9,000 that operates in 160 countries around the world.
Life Technologies told investors it aims to apply Stokes Bio’s technology to agricultural research.
Stokes Bio was backed by an initial investment of €300,000 from the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Equity Fund, which also includes Enterprise Ireland money. The fund subsequently invested an additional €2 million in Stokes Bio.
It is understood Life Technologies will retain all of the 25 staff at the company, which will now move to a larger premises in Limerick city where it will continue its research and development and also manufacture its products.
The sale is a significant boost for the Government policy of funding basic research at third-level institutes which can subsequently be sold commercially.
Science Foundation Ireland is investing €1.4 billion between 2007 and 2013 to support researches in the areas of bio-technology and information and communications technology.