What are the core business lines of Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals?

Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals was founded in 2006 with a focus on biological enzymes used for animal healthcare. The company quickly expanded its portfolio for other industries and is currently working on the probiotics side. With probiotics, we work on natural isolates of bacteria to study their health benefits before running clinical trials and launching products to companies targeting a particular need-based therapy. Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals is also focusing on expanding its portfolio of synthetic alternatives to animal-derived biologicals. Alongside strong support from the government and other stakeholders, we invest much of our earnings back into our R&D efforts.

Can you provide an example of an innovative enzyme your company has brought to the market?

The enzyme portfolio for any company is dominated by animal-derived enzymes like pepsin and pancreatin that often come from pigs or cows. As the world is moving towards veganism, Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals developed a vegan alternative to pancreatin. This has been very popular in countries that do not consume pork for religious reasons. Additionally, the science supports our product because it is completely virus and antibiotic free. When extracting a product from an animal, there is always room for variation based on which part of the world the animal lives in and what health conditions it has. Our products overcome these challenges.

In what other product categories is your company innovating?

We are working on the prebiotic side, exploring Indian herbs and materials that could be excellent prebiotics. Besides helping the healthy bacteria metabolize well, we are looking into how to make these products more stable. When you isolate a prebiotic, there are risks that it cannot sustain industrial pressures and other conditions, so making these molecules suitable for handling is very important. Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals is also looking into the oral care sector of prebiotics because in addition to the gut, the mouth is an important part of the body for bacteria. This is an emerging field, and we have already conducted a tech transfer to a European company launching a product in this space.

How is the regulatory landscape for enzymes evolving?

We have always focused on highly regulated markets such as the US, Canada, Korea, and European countries including Germany, Poland, Belgium and Italy. In India, we have worked closely with domestic and international regulatory agencies for the manufacture of our ingredients. High standards of regulations are important not just for molecules that go into doctors' prescriptions, but nowadays many consumers self-educate. People want strong information and analyses on the uses of what they ingest. As the customer becomes increasingly more involved in their health and wellness plans and demands more information, we want to make them feel equipped to make informed decisions.

What are your goals for your company for the next year?

Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals will continue to increase its global footprint and improve its sustainability. We are looking into new ways to reap the benefits of artificial intelligence, particularly on the clinical side. We also continually educate our team members, so they can be best suited to collaborate with our clients. On the physical side, Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals will have a new factory and lab, up and running by the end of 2024 that will work on advanced fermentation processes.