Hycult opens U.S. base in Montco

"A Dutch life sciences company that provides antibodies and antibody-based products to researchers involved in immunology and cell biology, has opened a U.S. subsidiary in the Philadelphia region.

Hycult Biotechnology of Uden, Netherlands, has established Hycult Biotech Inc. in Plymouth Meeting.

Last week, the company named Dino DiCamillo as executive director of its new subsidiary.

DiCamillo is also president and CEO of Percorso Life Sciences. Percorso is a Plymouth Meeting consulting firm that works with early-stage technology companies and foreign companies looking to establish a U.S. presence. He previously served as vice president of Advanced Research Technologies, president of Alfa Wassermann Proteomics, vice president of environmental diagnostics at Invitrogen, and president of Dynal Biotech Inc.

DiCamillo said Hycult is starting out with a staff of six full- and part-time workers, but he expects that number to grow to “10 full-time equivalents” within two years.

“Hycult Biotech offers a broad and unique technology specific to researchers who focus on the innate immune system,” DiCamillo said. The human innate immune system is made up of the cells and other mechanisms that provide the body’s first response to combating foreign pathogens.

DiCamillo said Hycult was looking in the area between Boston and Washington, D.C., for offices to build its brand in the United States, and decided on the Philadelphia region because the company already had relationships with scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and the region has a strong supply of immunologists. He added the tax climate in Pennsylvania was favorable."