20 September 2013 -- UK companies dominate the shortlist for this year’s EuropaBio Most Innovative EU Biotech SME Award. Entering its fourth year, the award has grown rapidly, with applications coming from all three sectors of biotechnology - healthcare, industrial and agricultural, all providing solutions to major societal unmet needs. This year, two out of the five shortlisted firms come from the UK:
- e-Therapeutics, a UK biotech SME based in Oxford and Newcastle has pioneered ‘network pharmacology,’ a new approach to drug discovery based on advances in network science and chemical biology, with which it seeks novel treatments for complex diseases, principally cancer and disorders of the nervous system.
- PsiOxus Therapeutics, based in Oxfordshire, is developing a new approach to cancer therapy by using the processes of directed evolution to develop a virus that is a potent killer of cancer cells but with minimal effects on normal healthy cells.
Steve Bates, BIA Chief Executive Officer, said:
“Having two out of the five shortlisted companies shows the strength of the UK biotech sector in Europe. It is great to see BIA member companies getting the recognition they deserve in this prestigious European competition.”
The award will be presented during the first ever European Biotechnology Week, at an event in Brussels on 2 October. The shortlisted companies have received two year’s free membership of EuropaBio, and the over-all winner will receive €10,000.
For further information, please contact Robert Winder, Head of Communications, rwinder@bioindustry.org, 020 7630 2191; mobile 07825 942 934.
EuropaBio Most Innovative EU Biotech SME Award
The EuropaBio Most Innovative EU Biotech SME Award aims to showcase European biotech SMEs that have developed an innovative solution to technical, social and environmental problems. http://bia.me/EBSME2013
Key speakers at the Award ceremony will include Jean-Paul Kress, CEO of Sanofi Pasteur MSD; US venture capitalist, G. Steven Burrill, founder and CEO of Burrill & Company; Jim Philp, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry at the OECD and MEPs Kay Swinburne and Philippe de Backer.
EuropaBio is the European Association for Bioindustries and was created in 1996 to provide a voice for the biotech industry in Europe. EuropaBio’s mission is to promote an innovative and dynamic biotechnology-based industry in Europe. www.europabio.org
European Biotech Week
In the European Biotech Week, events across Europe will celebrate biotechnology, an innovative and vibrant sector launched by the 1953 discovery of the DNA molecule, sixty years ago. For more information and for materials to download, please go to www.biotechweek.org
e-Therapeutics
e-Therapeutics has pioneered ‘network pharmacology,’ a new approach to drug discovery based on advances in network science and chemical biology, with which it seeks novel treatments for complex diseases, principally cancer and disorders of the nervous system. www.etherapeutics.co.uk
PsiOxus Therapeutics
PsiOxus Therapeutics is developing a new approach to cancer therapy by using the processes of directed evolution to develop a virus that is a potent killer of cancer cells but with minimal effects on normal healthy cells. www.psioxus.com
BioIndustry Association
Founded over 20 years ago at the infancy of biotechnology, the BioIndustry Association (BIA) is the trade association for innovative enterprises involved in UK bioscience. Members include emerging and more established bioscience companies; pharmaceutical companies; academic, research and philanthropic organisations; and service providers to the bioscience sector. The BIA represents the interests of its members to a broad section of stakeholders, from government and regulators to patient groups and the media. Our goal is to secure the UK’s position as a global hub and as the best location for innovative research and commercialisation, enabling our world-leading research base to deliver healthcare solutions that can truly make a difference to people’s lives. For further information, please go to www.bioindustry.org
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