Genetic Design and Manufacturing Corporation (GDMC), a design and manufacturing organisation that focuses on next generation advanced genetic therapies, have announced a Series A funding of $21 million. The funding round is led by Celadon Partners, an Asia private equity firm focused on investments in industries ready to adopt transformative technology and new business models. The round also included premier investors such as WI Harper Group, a leading cross-border venture capital firm, and SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of government agency Enterprise Singapore, alongside global biotech venture capital firms like NSG Ventures. The funds will be used to accelerate novel technology and process efficiency improvements to drive greater manufacturing cost reductions for partners who aim to advance medicines through clinical trials and towards commercialisation.

“The process of manufacturing a genetic medicine is extremely intricate and demands a specialised and highly knowledgeable team to successfully bring it to fruition. We are grateful to our investors for their support in realising our vision of democratising the manufacturing of advanced genetic medicines while levelling the playing field for innovative companies and leaders in advanced therapies,” said Michael Koeris, CEO and Co-Founder of GDMC. “With our recent funding, we aspire to cultivate stronger collaborations with more partners in the US and APAC region, working hand in hand to improve the state of healthcare and treatment for patients.”

GDMC was established in 2021 by CEO and Co-Founder Michael Koeris, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in the biotech and healthcare sectors. The team comprises experienced drug makers and Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) commercialisation experts including Eric Blair, GDMC’s Chief Business Officer, who brings 25 years of experience in commercialising products and CDMO services through partnerships. The Company’s headquarters is in Singapore, where GDMC has initiated construction on a 155,000 sq ft pre-clinical, clinical, and commercial facility supporting Cell, Gene, and Nucleic Acid Therapies (CGNT). GDMC’s partnership approach is centered on improving genetic medicine design and development through synthetic biology, as well as focusing on three market-relevant pillars: success-based partnerships with sponsors, technical innovation, and significantly lower cost of goods. The team has already signed their first clients and are taking reservations for the clinical and commercial facilities expected to open in a staggered format from 2024 to 2027. 

The founders established GDMC to initiate a new partnership approach centred on better upfront genetic medicine development by design and using synthetic biology, as well as focusing on three pillars that the market is demanding: success-based partnership with the sponsor, technical innovation, and significantly lower cost of goods.

“Celadon Partners has made a number of investments in the biomanufacturing supply chain. We are big investors in supply chain transformation and specifically see an opportunity to transform the way the global supply chain serves the biotech industry. I am very excited about GDMC, especially given the increased manufacturing demand in Singapore from global biotech companies,” said Donald Tang, Managing Partner at Celadon Partners.

To date, GDMC has developed a unique Partnership for Drug Manufacturing Organization (PDMO) model, offering support to companies, including startups, from drug design to being the one-stop shop for innovators from design, manufacturing through to quality assurance and regulatory support for eventual market entry. The company’s tech-driven design house with manufacturing is also able to help generate purpose-developed technologies to accelerate next generation medicine design tools, while at the same time leverage Machine Learning to generate novel toolkits to overcome current challenges in manufacturing. GDMC’s focus is to manufacture advanced therapy modalities including customised mRNA, plasmid DNA, AAV and Lentiviral Vectors. GDMC’s collaborative partnership approach based on design can help clients reduce manufacturing time by up to three-fold.