Limerick-based Ryan Group Holdings, which is headed by pharmacist Gerard Ryan, has taken a significant stake in Vienna-based Austrianova Biomanufacturing.

This is the first step in a series of fundraisings for Austrianova that is expected to net the biotech company more than €35 million in the coming months.

The size of Mr Ryan's investment was not revealed, but was described as "multimillion euros".

The money will be used to complete phase three trials of a drug that is being developed for use in the treatment of cancer, diabetes and brain tumours.

Dublin-based IBI Corporate Finance advised the Ryan Group on the transaction and will lead the fundraising programme for the company.

In late 2001, Mr Ryan (46) sold a chain of eight pharmacies in Limerick, Cork and Tipperary to Celesio, a German multinational that traded at that time as Gehe.

The pharmacy group employed about 100 staff at the time of the sale.

This was shortly after Celesio had entered the Irish market through its acquisition of Crowley's Pharmacies.

It subsequently acquired the Unicare chain of chemists for €110 million.

The sum paid by Celesio to Mr Ryan was never disclosed by the group, but reports at the time suggested it was sold for about €19 million.

The deal was completed only a short time before the pharmacy market was opened up by the Government.

The Ryan Group is a major shareholder in Firecrest Clinical, a Limerick-based company providing information technology-based clinical trial solutions to the pharma industry.

Founded four years ago, Firecrest has contracts with six of the world's 10 biggest pharma groups.

It employs 47 staff here and plans to recruit an additional 40 workers before the end of 2007.

Austrianova employs 32 full-time staff and another 60 in co-operation with the Christian Doppler Laboratory in Vienna. The company also has a laboratory in Singapore.

To date, Austrianova has raised more than €30 million from domestic and international investors.

Other investors in the company include Omni Technology Invest and AT Treuhand.

The biotech company was founded in 2001 as a spin off from the university of veterinary medicine in Vienna, where it is still based.

In 2003, it received orphan drug designation from the European Medicines Agency.

It was the first company in Austria to receive this important status.

Its lead drug is NovaCaps, a cell-based therapy for use in chemotherapy treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Phase three trials of the drug are due to begin early next year.

The company will also commence trials for additional applications of NovaCaps, including for liver, head and neck, and ovarian cancer in 2008.

Austrianova is commissioning a manufacturing facility for NovaCaps in anticipation of obtaining authorisation to market the product some time next year.