The Hungarian Association of Innovation awarded CycloLab with this prestigious prize due to its meaningful and very profitable innovation concerning the scaled-up production of Dexolve™ (sulfobutyl beta-cyclodextrin, SBECD) as an excipient for remdesivir (Veklury, Gilead), for the only FDA-approved drug for SARS-Cov-2 infections.
A proprietary, patent-protected, and scaled-up synthetic procedure including a novel multi-step purification method was developed to obtain Dexolve™ of high purity ensuring its safe application even in high doses. With this invention Cyclolab became the second biggest manufacturer of this excipient after Cydex (USA). Addressing the highly enhanced demand due to the pandemic Covid-19 CycloLab enhanced its manufacturing capacity to 10–15 tons/year.
Owing to the enhanced production the yearly income of CycloLab was multiplied in 2020 and 2021. Although the Covid deaths and new infections are continuing to decline due to vaccination and the other restrictions resulting in lower demand for remdesivir (Veklury), there are over 10 other drugs having been or being developed with this excipient maintaining the demand for high-capacity production of Dexolve™.