BioVaria Spin-off Awards go to Charité spin-off and Braingineering Technologies
19 May 2016, Munich, Germany – Dealmakers and investors from the international biopharmaceutical industry gathered in Munich on 17 May 2016 to meet some of the most innovative minds from academic life-science research in Europe. Their aim: to initiate partnerships for the development of high-potential projects, including innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, as well as platform technologies.
‘BioVaria has become Europe’s leading marketplace for medically and commercially attractive technologies emanating from publicly funded life-science research. Almost all the ‘big names’ in the sector were present – big pharma, small and medium-sized biotechs and venture capitalists,’ says Esther Lange, Ascenion’s industry liaison manager who coordinated the event together with 12 further technology transfer organizations.
A total of 170 participants engaged in numerous talks and one-on-ones, discussing the 40 technologies from 32 research institutes and universities in 8 European nations that had been selected for this year’s BioVaria.
A particular highlight was the interactive Spin-off Panel sponsored by Sachs Associates, featuring 8 promising start-ups. A jury of seasoned life-science investors and executives selected a spin-off project from the Charité as the winner, based on its technology, business concept and performance during the panel. The BioVaria Jury Prize is worth EUR 1,000 plus one conference pass to the 16th Annual Biotech in Europe Forum for Global Partnering & Investment. The spin-off team, presented by Dr Heiko Funke-Kaiser, has pioneered a new approach for the treatment of cancer targeting the renin/prorenin pathway. They have generated a new class of small-molecule inhibitors with excellent MedChem properties and impressive in vivo efficacy as demonstrated in multiple relevant in vivo cancer models.
The BioVaria Audience Prize, another ticket to the Annual Biotech in Europe Forum, went to Braingineering Technologies (BTech), a designated spin-off from the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) developing a ground-breaking Brain-on-a-Chip technology. It enables the cost-efficient and meaningful assessment of new potential anti-CNS candidates, and may help reduce animal testing.
'The Spin-off Panel is an exciting format which enables investors to gain a very good overview about high-potential investment opportunities. The technologies presented during the Spin-off Panel could change lives, and start-ups are vital for advancing them from the lab into medical application. We wish them all the best and great success for the future,' says Mathias Falcenberg, Analyst at Forbion Capital Partners and member of the Jury.
The next BioVaria will take place on 23 May 2017 in Munich. Register at www.biovaria.org to receive news about the upcoming event.
All technologies and spin-offs presented during BioVaria 2016 are available online at www.biovaria.org.
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Contact
Esther Lange
E: info@biovaria.org
Ascenion GmbH, Herzogstraße 64, 80803 Munich, GERMANY
About BioVaria
BioVaria brings together Europe’s top scientists and technology transfer professionals with potential licensees and investors from the international biopharmaceutical industry.
Key features of BioVaria 2016:
- Unique gathering of Europe's top scientists, technology transfer professionals, investors and industry representatives.
- Presentation of around 50 licensable technologies and spin-offs originating from public research institutions and universities across Europe.
- Focus on patent-protected, commercially attractive opportunities covering therapeutics, diagnostics and research tools in the fields of cancer, infectious diseases, metabolism, autoimmune and neurodegenerative disorders, and in other disease areas.
- Interactive, efficient one-day format combining 10-min oral presentations with an all-day poster exhibition.
- Spin-off Panel presenting promising European life-science start-ups.
- Ample space to discuss scientific details face-to-face with the inventors.
- Jointly organized by Ascenion and a selected group of leading European technology transfer organizations.
Patron: Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology
Sponsors: BioM, Life Science Inkubator / Photonik Inkubator, Abbvie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, HERTIN & Partner, LSP, Vossius & Partner, Sachs Associates
Technology transfer partners: Ascenion, Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft, Bayerische Patentallianz, BTO Bergen Teknologioverføring, Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Canarias, EMBLEM Technology Transfer, FIST, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology – University of Gdansk and Medical University of Gdansk (IFB), IOCB TTO, Lead Discovery Center, Max Planck Innovation, MRC Technology, PROvendis
Network partners: ASTP-Proton, BIO Deutschland, TechnologieAllianz
Communication sponsors: B3C Newswire, Current Partnering, Going Public, transkript
About Ascenion
Ascenion GmbH is an IP asset management company with particular expertise in the life sciences. Ascenion advises and supports public research institutions with regard to the protection and exploitation of their intellectual property (patents, know-how, materials), and initiates and mediates license agreements between research institutions and industry. The company places particular emphasis on coaching company founders and on active equity management. Ascenion was founded in 2001 as a 100% subsidiary of the LifeScience Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Research and is exclusive technology transfer partner of 19 research institutes in the Helmholtz and Leibniz Associations, as well as of the Charité, the Hannover Medical School and the research institute TWINCORE. Ascenion currently markets over 750 technologies on behalf of these institutes, and closes an average of about 80 revenue-generating agreements between research and industry per year. The team has also coached numerous spin-offs through their foundation and early growth and Ascenion holds equity in 21 of these companies. Ascenion’s headquarters are in Munich, with further offices in Berlin, Braunschweig, Hamburg, Hanover and Neuherberg.
Further information at www.ascenion.de