13 May 2015, Munich, Germany – This year’s BioVaria, held on 11 May in Munich, featured 58 commercially attractive life-science technologies originating from 50 academic institutions and universities in 10 European nations. Additional investment and partnering opportunities were presented by seven high-potential start-ups during the BioVaria Spin-off Panel. 16 European technology transfer organizations, more than in any previous year, teamed up to organize the event, attracting the highest ever number of participants.
The overwhelmingly positive response from industry and venture capitalists confirms BioVaria as Europe’s leading technology transfer marketplace, where decision makers can quickly get an overview of top-quality academic projects as licensing, partnering or investment opportunities.
‘BioVaria is a great place to discover a broad range of high-potential academic projects and meet innovative minds from all over Europe,’ said Dr Maria Flocco from Pfizer.
This year’s winner of the BioVaria Spin-off Award is CytoSwitch, a future Munich-based spin-off. Under the leadership of Dr Oliver Thorn-Seshold a novel, proprietary class of cytoskeleton inhibitors, called Photostatins, has been developed. Photostatins can be switched on and off using light, and can be appliedhave applications as a novel research tools and a potential anti-cancer drugs.
‘Participating in the Spin-off-Panel and the Investor-Speed-Dating was a wonderful opportunity to make contacts and get expert feedback from professionals, and it’s been a fantastic day here at BioVaria. Winning the award was a very welcome additional highlight,” said Oliver Thorn-Seshold from CytoSwitch. ‘
The prize, sponsored by Pinsent Masons, is worth EUR 1,000 plus a professional start-up consulting package. The second prize, a start-up consulting package, went to Cardior Pharmaceuticals, a spin-off project from Hannover Medical School headed by Prof. Thomas Thum. He is developing an innovative oligonucleotide inhibitor to improve heart function and prevent heart failure.
The next BioVaria will take place on 17 May 2016 in Munich. Register at www.biovaria.org to receive news about the upcoming event.
All technologies and spin-offs presented during BioVaria 2015 are available at www.biovaria.org. Oral presentations will be online soon.
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