Biovision, the annual life sciences forum organised by the Fondation pour l’Universite de Lyon in France, has announced the winners of the Catalyzer and Investor Conference awards.
The ‘Immunotherapy and vaccines’ Catalyzer award was won by the Myasterix project led by Nicolas Havelange, scientific coordinator. Myasterix is developing a therapeutic vaccine for myasthenia gravis.
The ‘Healthy ageing’ Catalyzer award went to the Silicomics project led by Francois Berger, Director of Clinatec. This project involves an innovative theranostic platform for neurodegenerative diseases.
GenSight Biologics won the Biotech Investor Conference award. This biopharmaceutical company is pioneering the development of gene therapy treatments for degenerative retinal disease.
The Medtech Investor Conference award went to CellNovo, a company developing an insulin micro-pump for insulin-dependent (type I) diabetics. The device is based on mobile remote connection technology.
Biovision focuses squarely on providing support for innovation with networking and multiple opportunities for partnership
GeNeuro a biotechnology company developing first-class therapies for diseases associated with endogenous retrovirus expression won the Special Award.
The winners received their awards at the Biovision closing ceremony, which was attended by Alain Merieux.
The chairs of the judging panels, Marc Bonneville of the Institut Merieux and Holm Keller from Leuphana University in Luneburg, Germany, presented the Catalyzer winners with their awards, while the Investor Conference winners received theirs from Tim Haines of Abingworth and Alexia Perouse of Omnes Capital.
Convened jointly with France Biotech and Lyonbiopole, the Biovision Investor Conference brought together start-ups, growth companies and mid-sized businesses with financial and industry partners for a series of discussions, workshops and meetings. Of 63 candidate companies looking for funding, 24 were selected to present their development projects. The businesses which took part sought more than €230m in funding.
'The 2014 edition of Biovision confirms the success of our new annual format, focusing squarely on providing support for innovation with networking and multiple opportunities for partnership,' said Didier Hoch, Chairman of Biovision.
'The numerous opportunities for collaboration discussed by various stakeholders bode well for the success of future partnerships and the launch of initiatives in the field of life sciences, particularly with China.'
