ILYA PHARMA AB

Their core work

Ilya Pharma is a Swedish clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of biologic drugs for wound healing. Their core technology uses genetically modified lactic acid bacteria (probiotics) engineered to produce human chemokines and growth factors directly at the wound site, classified as Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP). The lead application targets chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers, a major unmet medical need where current therapies often fail. They operate at the intersection of synthetic biology, gene therapy and regulatory-heavy drug development, running their own clinical programs as the lead applicant.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the first project WHILYAS (2018-2019, EUR 3.0M) the focus was on taking the wound-healing probiotic concept through initial SME-2 validation without detailed ATMP/GMO terminology. In the follow-on WHILYAS-2 (2020-2023, EUR 1.4M) the vocabulary sharpens significantly — GMO, ATMP, gene therapy product and diabetic foot ulcer all appear explicitly, signalling a shift from broad wound-care positioning to a disciplined ATMP/GTP clinical and regulatory track. The trajectory is consistent deepening of one product line rather than diversification.

They are moving from early product validation into clinical and regulatory maturity for a GMO-based ATMP in diabetic foot ulcers, so collaborations are most relevant around clinical trials, GMP manufacturing of live biotherapeutics and regulatory affairs.

How they like to work

Ilya Pharma has coordinated both of its H2020 projects under the SME Instrument, which is a mono-beneficiary scheme — they run the project alone rather than inside a multi-partner consortium. This signals a company developing its own proprietary drug pipeline with tight IP control, not a typical network player. Partners should expect a bilateral service or co-development relationship (e.g. CRO, CDMO, clinical centre) rather than a broad research consortium.

No formal H2020 consortium partners are recorded because both grants are single-beneficiary SME-2 projects; the funding footprint is entirely Swedish, based in Uppsala. Real-world clinical and manufacturing partners exist outside the H2020 partner registry.

What sets them apart

Very few European SMEs are developing genetically modified live bacteria as an actual medicinal product rather than as a food supplement or research tool — Ilya Pharma sits in the rare overlap of synthetic biology, ATMP and wound care. Winning two consecutive SME-2 grants totalling over EUR 4.3M as sole beneficiary is a strong signal that the EU's evaluators saw both scientific and commercial credibility. For a partner, this means working with a focused, single-product biotech that has already passed two competitive SME Instrument stages on the same therapy.

Highlights from their portfolio

• WHILYAS
  EUR 2.99M SME-2 grant — the largest of their two projects and the one that launched their wound-healing platform into clinical validation.
• WHILYAS-2
  A rare follow-on SME-2 grant (2020-2023) that explicitly frames the product as an ATMP/GTP based on genetically modified probiotics for diabetic foot ulcers.