SparingVision Wins First Prize at EIT European Health Catapult Competition

SparingVision awarded First Prize in the Biotech category during the European EIT Health Summit held in Paris from 2 to 3 December

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SparingVision, a biotechnology company specializing in the research and development of innovative therapies for treatment of hereditary retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, announced today that the Company wins First Prize at EIT Health Catapult Award in the biotech category, one of the top competitions for biotech start-ups in Europe, during the EIT Health Summit held on 2 and 3 December 2019 at Palais Brongniart, Paris.

More than 1000 multi-disciplinary stakeholders, representing the entire healthcare innovation landscape, are coming to Paris for the EIT Health Summit, to hear from and interact with experts and opinion leaders, decision makers and cutting-edge innovations on the topics most relevant in healthcare today. For the European final, SparingVision pitched to selected partners and external stakeholders, then to all the attendees at EIT Health Summit and was awarded First Prize. Biotech Jury members were 7 leading experts as René Reijtenbach, Founder of business angels connect, Emmanuelle Deponge, Venture Partner in Life Sciences at Go Capital, Paola Pozzi, Partner at Sofinnova, Tony Segwick, Founder the thought distributor, Morten Jensen, Founder and CEO of Copenhagen Bio Science Park (Cobis), Raul Martin-Ruiz, Partner at Ysios Capital and Benedikt Luhmann, Healthcare Investor, Early Stage Life Sciences.

SparingVision is developing SPVN06, a breakthrough treatment of Retinitis Pigmentosa, an orphan, blinding inherited retinal disease leads to blindness and affects nearly 2 million worldwide. SPVN06 is a gene therapy-based approach, independent of mutated genes. By a single subretinal injection, SPVN06 stops and prevents the degeneration of cones photoreceptors leading to blindness.

“We would like to thank the Jury members for selecting SparingVision and EIT Health for their unique program of support. Winning the European EIT Health Catapult Award gives us the opportunity to join a unique community for innovators and will help us to accelerate the response by SparingVision of an unmet public health need in Europe and worldwide. The first clinical trials in Europe and in the US will begin in 2020. The PHENOROD (NCT03975543) retrospective natural history study of the disease is completed. The PHENOROD 2 prospective study just getting underway.” explains Florence Allouche, SparingVision President. “The EIT Summit focused on value-based delivery of new therapies and patients empowerment, consistent with the drivers of SparingVision to deliver outcomes from our product that truly matter to patients”.

About European Health Catapult program
European Health Catapult (EHC) is a training and competition program that boosts the development of top-notch European health start-ups through exposure to leading experts and international investors.
Organized by EIT Health and Health Axis Europe, the best regional startups in each of the categories, Medtech, Biotech and Digital Health, were identified in May 2019. After a round of regional selections, 7 European startups were selected in each category. 3 winners of the Grande Finale were announced during the EIT Health Summit in Paris. EHC nominees also get access to the EIT Health Accelerator and to services for clinical validation and market preparation.

About SparingVision
SparingVision is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative therapies for the treatment of blinding inherited retinal diseases. SparingVision is developing SPVN06, a gene-independent treatment for retinitis pigmentosa, the most common inherited retinal degeneration. There is currently no treatment to treat all genetic forms of this rare retinal disease that leads to blindness and affects nearly 2 million worldwide. SparingVision is a spin-off of the Paris Vision Institute. Bpifrance, Foundation Fighting Blindness (US) and Fondation Voir & Entendre invested €15.5 million in the company. SparingVision was laureate and Grand Prize of i-Lab 2017, the French Competition for Innovative Companies. SparingVision has been awarded from the EIC Accelerator program (H2020 SME instrument Phase 2), securing non-dilutive funding of €2.5 million.
Florence Allouche, President of SparingVision is PharmD, MBA, Associate Professor at University of Paris. She has been honored by the Mercures Entrepreneurs Prize and the Women Trajectory’s Award from HEC Paris and was elected “Woman of the Year 2017” by the financial magazine “La Tribune”.
www.sparingvision.com

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