GlycoPse is building the first scalable fermentative production platform for rare bacterial surface sugars, unlocking a new generation of glycoconjugate vaccines against drug-resistant pathogens.
The Challenge
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the defining health threats of our century. Drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria kill more than one million people each year. Glycoconjugate vaccines, which train the immune system using bacterial surface sugars, are the most promising path forward. But a fundamental manufacturing barrier has blocked progress for decades.
Rare nine-carbon bacterial surface sugars are potent, pathogen-specific antigens. The scientific literature confirms they trigger the immune responses needed for durable protection.
These sugars are extraordinarily difficult to synthesize. Existing chemical and enzymatic routes are expensive, low-yield, and wholly unsuited to vaccine-grade manufacturing volumes.
Without a scalable antigen source, even well-funded vaccine programs cannot advance to clinical trials. The supply bottleneck is the single constraint holding back an entire therapeutic class.
The Opportunity
GlycoPse is developing a proprietary fermentative production platform to make these rare bacterial surface sugars accessible, reproducible, and scalable for the first time. This opens a platform opportunity across multiple high-value markets.
Primary program. Supplying the rare antigen sugars that vaccine developers need to build glycoconjugate candidates against WHO-priority drug-resistant pathogens. First-mover in a field with zero approved vaccines and intense pharma interest.
The same platform chemistry opens access to related rare sugars with applications in cancer immunotherapy and next-generation biologics. Portfolio expansion via spin-out vehicles as the core platform matures.
Pharma and biotech vaccine developers require a reliable, qualified antigen supplier. GlycoPse is positioning itself as the essential upstream partner for vaccine developers, with a licensing and supply model designed to scale with industry adoption.
Technology
Our approach applies proven industrial fermentation principles to a class of molecules that conventional chemistry cannot reach at meaningful scale. We are building a production route designed to be reproducible, cost-competitive, and suited to vaccine-grade supply from the outset.
Proprietary strain engineering converts low-cost feedstocks into the target rare sugar molecules with high selectivity. Our team brings deep expertise in glycan production through metabolic engineering, applied here to a class of molecules conventional chemistry cannot reach at scale.
Purification and formulation are being developed in parallel with upstream work, drawing on deep experience in specialty glycan DSP. Purity and qualification requirements for vaccine-grade supply are central to the platform design from day one.
Our Mission
Antimicrobial resistance does not wait. Neither do we. GlycoPse exists to solve the one manufacturing problem that has kept a generation of life-saving vaccines off the market.
We believe access to rare antigen sugars should not be the limiting factor in fighting drug-resistant infection. We are building the platform to supply the world's vaccine developers with the molecules they need, at the scale and quality the job demands.
Team
GlycoPse was founded by specialists at the intersection of the disciplines this problem requires. Our team combines rare expertise across three domains.
Expert knowledge of carbohydrate chemistry, glycan structure-activity relationships, and the biochemistry of bacterial surface polysaccharides. The scientific foundation of our antigen design.
Industrial-grade strain development and metabolic pathway engineering, with hands-on experience in glycan production at commercially relevant fermentation scales. The core capability driving our platform.
Hands-on experience scaling specialty glycan processes from bench to industrial bioreactor, with a track record of bringing complex carbohydrate products to commercial-scale manufacture.
Based in Munich, Germany.
Get in Touch
We are currently raising our pre-seed round. Whether you are an investor, a vaccine developer, a scientific collaborator, or a potential team member, we want to hear from you.
contact@glycopse.comMunich, Germany