UCC Campus Company Alimentary Health Ltd, a speciality biotechnology company founded in 1999 by academics from departments within the Colleges of Medicine & Health and Science, Engineering & Food Science with the support of Enterprise Ireland has generated its first royalty payment for the University.

The company, which focuses on the isolation, characterisation, clinical evaluation and commercialisation of probiotic bacteria for inflammation and infectious conditions, continues to invest in basic and applied research in Ireland.

The company is one of the foundation partners in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC), a UCC/Teagasc Research Centre focusing on gastrointestinal health and development of new therapies for debilitating disorders such as Crohn's disease, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome and food poisoning. Alimentary Health CEO, Dr Barry Kiely said, "The establishment of the university-based campus company was the bridge to enable Irish scientists to translate their ideas to products in a global marketplace". In this case, the early work of the Company attracted the interest of the global giant Procter and Gamble Co, which ultimately partnered with Alimentary Health to launch the product AlignTM in the United States. AlignTM is a probiotic product for intestinal symptoms and is based on original research by scientists in Cork.

The royalty payment is testimony to the success and value of investment in university campus spin-out companies such as Alimentary Health. Brendan Cremen, Director of Technology Transfer at UCC said, "While the royalty income is welcome, the true value of the research is not in royalties per se but rather in the market/business expansion of indigenous industry".

Professors Fergus Shanahan and Gerald Fitzgerald concurred. "The principal value to Ireland of SFI-funded research centres, such as the APC, is development of human capital, but royalty income and indigenous industry expansion represent tangible evidence of the wisdom of Government's investment in a knowledge economy."

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