AN Edinburgh-based biotechnology company which claims it has found the cure for diabetes is seeking £200,000 of first round funding investment to take it to the next important stage of its development.
GWHB Ltd was established in Edinburgh in 2002 by Ralph Quinlan-Ford and Suzanne Moran. They previously had a company in Cork, with two spray products but the market was difficult to access from Ireland so they decided to wind things up and set up a n
ew business in Edinburgh, operating from Hanover Street.
Mr Quinlan-Ford has a degree in biotechnology from the University of Reading and has worked for Anita Roddick’s Body Shop. He says he likes the entrepreneurial spirit and being involved in the marketing, design and public relations side of a business and not just being stuck in a lab.
Nonetheless, the lab work is what the company is all about and that is out-sourced to pharmaceutical organisations based on formulae devised and supplied by GWHB and the products under the brand name StarGate Nutrition are sold directly to pharmacists or to the public through the internet.
The company founders are drawing heavily on their skills and knowledge of nutrients to produce and market a ground-breaking range of vitamin, mineral and herbal food supplements with a highly specialised technology which enables products to be 16 times more effective than what is currently on the market.
In 2003 the initial set-up costs were matched by £5000 through the Business Gateway and last year they were awarded an investor-ready grant of £9000 from Scottish Enterprise to help with the business plan development to put the company on the road to attracting outside investment.
Mr Quinlan-Ford says: "We have now completed our application for the patent for the cure of type 2 diabetes and we are waiting to secure funding to complete a clinical trial. Scotland will have a diabetes epidemic by 2010, with 370,000 sufferers. We have the answer - by stopping the disease at the type 2 stage with our material the person does not develop into type 1. This saves the person from heart disease and surgery.
"We believe it will reverse certain cancers, many of which are due to nutrient deficiency. It is because of nutrient deficiencies that we have problems - we are what we eat."
The company is now seeking £100,000 from the Scottish Enterprise Business Growth Fund - a sum which it is hoped would be matched by private investors.
This would enable clinical trials to go ahead on the diabetes products - this would be done by a clinical research organisation over a period of three months and it would involve 15 people with type 2 diabetes.
Once successfully completed they would be able to officially lodge a patent for the product - and the world could be their oyster.
"Then we can go to New York and attract more capital," says Mr Quinlan-Ford. "Once the funding comes through, that is when the marketing will start. This is a huge market we are going for but we have to focus initially on the UK market - that alone is a £400 million market. Once we have that up and running we can look at Europe because by then the revenue will be coming in and we will have a reputation and track record."
Mr Quinlan-Ford, 32, is not short of ambition. "There are five major players in this market but they won’t have what we have and we want to become a major player."
While waiting for the revenue stream to start flowing he has been a busy man. He is doing a documentary on entrepreneurialism in Scotland, writes articles on health subjects for a number of publications and over the past two years has been treating clients who, he says, are at the end of the road with GPs.
"I can help them," he says. He uses homeopathy, concentrates on diets and provides the nutrients he believes are required.
Opening the gate to successJOHN HARKINS, a Business Gateway client manager with a background of running companies, has been an adviser to GWHB for a year and is helping the company to put together a business development plan as part of the funding package submission to the Business Growth Fund.
This fund can invest on a debt or equity basis and this level of support is essential to help companies start, grow and bring in private investment. Scottish Enterprise is now carrying out due diligence on the company ahead of that important decision on the £100,000 funding.
Mr Harkins is enthusiastic about GWHB and its prospects. He said: "The claims they make about the efficacy of their nutrient supplements are quite startling and very encouraging. It is a global market we are talking about.
"Ralph is a committed and dedicated person. He has a book and a documentary coming out and writes on health subjects - it all adds to his credibility."
