With an intention to address a therapeutic gap by introducing novel drug in the market, a group comprising Mr David Picard, who was then a member of the worldwide healthcare practice area at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Prof Marc Vasseur, Mr Bounmy Rattanavan and Prof Daniel Cohen formed Moleac in Singapore in 2003.

The group decided to focus on medical innovation to develop new therapeutics drugs within few years of its inception. In 2004, Moleac started the screening of traditional Chinese medicines in development at leading institutes in China, and evaluated about 250 promising opportunities at different stages of maturity.

The company was honored with the BioSpectrum Asia Pacific Bioscience Industry Emerging Company of the Year 2010.

The group then selected and optioned 10 drugs, including what became later Neuroaid, the first medicine that brings faster and complete recovery for stroke patients during rehabilitation. There was a clear gap in treatment whereas about 10-million stroke survivors worldwide were merely left to live with their disabilities, with no pharmacological modality to help them recover their neurological functions.

Track record

From 2004 to 2008, Moleac worked on concurrent products and devices development including a promising device for the treatment of addiction and smoking cessation. In 2009, recognizing that Neuroaid was fully-validated scientifically, commercially and clinically, Moleac decided to focus all its effort on Neuroaid and its derivatives and is now looking at candidate partners to out-license Revive, its smoking cessation device.

Neuroaid is developed from natural ingredients that are carefully selected, purified and concentrated using the latest Western medical technology and standards. Chinese clinical trials of Neuroaid, involving 800 stroke patients, demonstrated its efficacy in relieving physical and neurological disabilities caused by stroke, as well as enabling patients to ultimately achieve greater independence. These trials, performed in China from 1999 to 2001, showed that patients receiving Neuroaid are 2.4 times more likely than control patients to recover independence and achieve on an average 25 percent more recovery in their motor functions.

The approach of adopting Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) by Moleac to fill therapeutic gap in Western treatment is not only innovative but is also highly efficient in terms of product commercialization. As the efficacy of Neuroaid is proven, Moleac has been able to develop the drug with relatively low investments and commercialize it in a relatively shorter span of time. Similarly, Moleac has its base in Asia where understanding of traditional medicine was more established and is now developing towards Western Europe where its French subsidiary, Moleac Europe, is preparing the launch of Neuroaid derivatives and the implementation of clinical trials.