Axelyf starting the process of developing anti-inflammatory drugs in Iceland

The new pharmaceutical development company Axelyf ehf. , founded by the couple Örn Almarsson and Brynja Einarsdóttir and entrepreneur John Lucas, has set up its headquarters in Lækjargata in Hafnarfjörður. The main focus of the company will be on developing a drug made from astaxanthin produced by Algalíf Iceland in Ásbrú.

Almarsson welcomes the reporter to a café on the north bank of Hafnarfjörður, close to the company’s headquarters.

“Brynja’s dad, Einar, lives here in the next apartment building. He was a swimming instructor, who taught me how to swim. The reason I got to be his daughter’s boyfriend is that I’m a supporter of FH sports club (a sports club in Hafnarfjörður). Had I been in Haukar (another sports club in Hafnarfjörður), it wouldn’t have worked. At least he would have done a few things to get rid of me,” Almarsson says, laughing.

Arnar Sigurðsson was hired as the first employee at Axelyf in January, having returned home after receiving a doctoral degree in biochemistry from the Technical University of Berlin before last Christmas. In the near future, more employees will be hired by the company.

Provided venture capital

“I and my wife Brynja (Einarsdóttir), who is the founder and put the first funds into the company, and John Lucas are the main owners of the company. We have a staff member in Iceland and are about to hire more staff, because we got venture capital to develop the concept and even take take it further. Brynja and I are residents of Boston, but we have our roots here in Hafnarfjörður,” says Almarsson, revealing that Brunnur Ventures in Reykjavík was the first to provide venture capital to the company.

“Our work at this stage is done in an international context – in Argentina, Denmark and the Netherlands – but more and more in Iceland in the future. We are using contract research organizations, which is a good start when it comes to researching how to best reduce risk without building infrastructure ourselves.”

Named after the grandson

– Where does the name Axelyf come from?

“The name comes from the fact that our grandson’s first name is Axel, and he is our first grandchild. Brynja has been a great support and support to me over the years, and we wanted to make it a little personal. We came up with this name to put Axel’s name and the Icelandic word for drugs, lyf, together for fun. We thought it sounded good and Brynja also designed the logo, but she’s an artist among other things. She brings a unique perspective to the issues that John and I don ’t always see but we’re both from the pharmaceutical industry. We worked for a period of time together in Boston, but he has also worked in Europe and mostly in England, where he now resides. “Now he’s fully into the new company,” says Almarsson, who himself has a distinguished scientific career.

After studying at the University of Iceland and the University of California, in Santa Barbara, Almarsson worked in research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, and at the pharmaceutical giant Moderna until 2020, when it launched a vaccine against the coronavirus. Almarsson was among the researchers involved in the development of the vaccine, which used a new method using mRNA, or so-called gene vaccine, as has been reported. Almarsson informs us that the vaccine has had much more efficacy than general flu vaccines, or 95% effectiveness compared to the 40 -45% effectiveness of conventional flu vaccines.

Professor’s tip

Asked how the collaboration with Algalíf came about, Almarsson says that his former teacher of chemistry at the University of Iceland, Professor Guðmundur Haraldsson, introduced him to the operation at Ásbrú four years ago. But it was Haraldsson who led him to the biochemistry and research of Omega-3 fatty acids.

“As a native of Hafnarfjörður I was familiar with Orri [Björnsson, director of Algalíf] from the past, but Algalíf was doing cool things with astaxanthin and has grown a lot. Then I realized that there is a certain analogy between astaxanthin and Omega-3 fatty acids, as there is a kind of pharmaceutical activity that no one has pinned down in order to design as a drug. Astaxanthin is used as a food supplement, but we are looking to use it to develop a drug. Algalíf has proved to be a vital link in that process. We are extremely happy with our cooperation,” says Almarsson.

Astaxanthin is extracted from the microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis, which is grown by Algalíf in several tube systems at the factory at Ásbrú. Astaxanthin is a fat soluble antioxidant and it is considered to have many health benefits.

Unsolved riddles

– What medicines do you envision being able to develop with astaxanthin?

“Essentially we are focusing on anti-inflammatory drugs. In that process the details are of the utmost importance and what illnesses will respond positively to the drug. We are really addressing real problems that have not been solved yet. We are, for example, talking about the inflammation and scarring associated with liver disease.”

– Will the medicines be tailored to patients or generic?

“They will be more general and designed based on disease indications that we learn about in pharmaceutical experiments. Arnar Sigurðsson, a brilliant and promising new doctor from the Technical University of Berlin, is our first employee. We are going to use data and artificial intelligence and fully utilize his biochemistry skills.”

– What are your expectations?

“It’s hard to say. Drug development is hard work. It is complex, risky, time-consuming and costly,” says Almarsson, explaining that it is beneficial that astaxanthin is a natural substance with a known safety profile for common use. Thus, it is not in the same risk category as newly synthesized substances with possibly unknown toxic side effects. The market for such drugs is growing rapidly. Not least because of the rising proportion of older people and also increasing obesity.

“Both of these require multiple solutions. When we figure out where astaxanthin works best, we can tell more about the market for such drugs. I am convinced that the need is there and will continue to be,” concludes Almarsson.