Queen Mary launches new spinout Elcella to provide natural alternative to weight-loss drugs

An exciting discovery

Elcella’s scientifically proven approach comes from over ten years of research by gut-health experts at Queen Mary University of London – ranked in the top twenty-five globally for research. 

Dr Madusha Peiris, Elcella’s founder, explains:

“We made a surprising discovery that led us to find out that a specific combination of nutrients will trigger the hormones that make you feel full – so you eat less and lose weight. It was exciting because this is an important pathway that goes wrong in obesity.”

“Our bodies use hormones activated by nutrients to tell our brains when to stop eating. The tragedy of obesity is this mechanism stops working – you lose much of your ability to tell when you’re full. Our discovery meant we had a new way to help people get back to a healthy weight.”

“We differ from weight-loss drugs in that Elcella releases your own naturally occurring appetite-reducing hormones rather than replacing them with synthetic hormones.”

“Because it releases a natural process, we’ve not seen any side effects in three clinical trials, unlike weight-loss drugs, which can cause nausea, insomnia and high blood pressure – among other unpleasant side effects. Also we can give it to you via a twice-daily pill, whereas most weight-loss drugs are injected.”

“People often talk about weight-loss as a fight against their own body – we’re getting your body back on your side.”

 

An entrepreneurial university

Elcella is built on over a decade of scientific research – the journey from bench to business was led by Queen Mary Innovation, our Technology Transfer Office.

Dr Deborah Carter, Associate Commercialisation Director, comments:

“Dr Peiris’s discovery could bring major public health benefits. Turning her discovery into a viable product and business is one of the best ways to make this happen.”

“Our team at Queen Mary Innovation help researchers like Dr Peiris to assess the market for their innovation, protect the intellectual property, create a business plan, and secure the investment they need to get to market.”

“We’re investing £250k into Elcella to launch their nutraceutical, and we’ve helped them secure a further £500k from other investors. Our returns will fund further research and innovation at Queen Mary – thereby supporting future academic entrepreneurs.”

Dr Madusha Peiris comments:

“I didn’t think entrepreneurship was possible at all. I didn’t set out to have a business, but I always wanted our research to be useful for people who need help.”

“Queen Mary is becoming an increasingly entrepreneurial university, including by backing me to take a year sabbatical to focus on growing Elcella before I return to my academic research and teaching.”

“There are many aspects of research that offer potential sources of commercialisation – all of which come from understanding the key pathways and processes of a given area of interest. Often, these are unexpected findings, as was the case for us – so you need an open mind that does not dismiss unusual data.”

 

A Queen Mary journey

As well as being built on Queen Mary research, Queen Mary has been a big part of the journey for co-founder and product development lead Dr Rubina Aktar.

Dr Aktar comments:

“I studied Biomedical Sciences here at Queen Mary from 2006 to 2009. After graduating I joined the Wingate Institute of Neurogastroenterology at Queen Mary’s Blizard Institute as a research assistant, working alongside Barts Medical School and the Royal London Hospital on gut health before pursuing my PhD and post-doc training here as well.”

“I then started collaborating with Dr Peiris on appetite regulation, before joining in her work to create Elcella.”

“Going from Queen Mary student, to Queen Mary researcher, to Queen Mary spinout co-founder is a journey I’m incredibly proud of – and one that I hope more of our students will be supported to take”.

 

Find out more

Elcella will be available across the UK in February and worldwide in August. Until then, people can sign up to a limited number of free trial subscriptions via elcella.com.

Queen Mary researchers, including PhDs and Post-Docs, can learn more about innovation and commercialisation as a route to impact from Queen Mary Innovation.

Queen Mary students can discover more about entrepreneurship from Careers and Enterprise.