Next Phase Newsletter

By Claire Jeong, Director of Research, Asia BD, LSN

On Monday, March 25^th, companies from North America, Western Europe, Israel, etc. showcased their technologies in the Vienna Marriott Hotel exhibition hall, where LSN organized the first ever (and quite successful!) RESI Europe conference. As usual, conference attendees were provided with 5 pieces of “RESI Cash” which they could use to “invest” in the companies of their choice. Again, congratulations to all finalists who were selected to present, and we hope RESI was able to serve as a great venue for creating valuable connections. But most importantly, we are excited to announce the Top 3 winners of this Innovation Challenge – please check their details below!

First Place: Rx Bandz

Rx Bandz provides a game-changing, cost-effective solution for millions of people globally who need to carry emergency injectable medication. Nearly 60% of them do not carry their prescribed auto-injectors with them. MiniJect,™ our miniaturized auto-injector, delivers a wide range of injectable drugs. Its small size and intuitive design make it easy to carry and simple to use. The first drug delivery platform for epinephrine will allow active patients to take it with them, thus increasing compliance and saving lives. Our world-class team has designed and tested a medical device that is also an attractive accessory. We have been deemed eligible for FDA- 505(B)2, the expedited pathway to market.  We have the options of either licensing the device for multiple medications, or taking it to market. Accessory attachments to the MiniJect,™ offer yet another revenue stream.

Jessica Walsh, Founder & CEO, Rx Bandz

Second Place: PhotoPill Medical

PhotoPill Medical develops a revolutionary state-of-the-art disposable swallow-able capsule for treating Crohn’s disease flare-ups and as a preventive treatment in-between flares, by implementing Photo-Bio-Modulation treatment (PBMt) and gut microbiota modulation light-protocols as it travels through the intestine. The PhotoPill capsule is personalized for each patient based on disease location and individual peristaltic rate. Photopill’s unique disruptive technology would be a first of its kind for intestinal tissue treatment and gut bacteria related disorders. This would be a safe, easy to use, cost effective solution for a huge market and a painful problem. PhotoPill has demonstrated excellent pre-clinical results, and preliminary data in IBD Proctitis patients, using Photopill’s dedicated rectal device. PhotoPill has strong IP portfolio and strong and experienced team.

Sharon Ben Yehuda, Co-Founder, PhotoPill Medical

Third Place: Pathfinder Medical

Pathfinder Medical is developing a novel electronic catheter guidance system that will enable clinicians to connect blood vessels in a minimally invasive way. This platform technology has a variety of clinical applications in peripheral vascular and dialysis procedures, together representing a €4.5 billion yearly market. Open surgery is the current standard for preparing patients for dialysis and bypassing blocked peripheral arteries. High failure rates (approximately 50%) in both cases present a serious danger to life and require repeat procedures, for US dialysis patients alone this adds up to $4.6 billion per year. The ePATH catheter platform aims to eliminate need for open surgery in several vascular procedures, improving outcomes and reducing the burden on patients and healthcare systems.

Sorin Popa, Founder & CEO, Pathfinder Medical

If you missed out on the opportunity to compete in the RESI Europe Innovation Challenge, we would be happy to take your applications for our upcoming RESI Philadelphia on Monday, June 3rd. Please visit our online application portal at http://innovchlg.lifesciencenation.com/RESIlogin.php to get your application started!

Now Offering RESI Philadelphia Early Bird Rates

By Gregory Mannix, Vice President International Business Development, LSN

Once again, Life Science Nation is making a call for global life science companies to compete in the Innovation Challenge at RESI Philadelphia. We encourage companies from around the globe to complete the application to compete in this year’s edition. As is always the case, there is no cost to apply or to participate in the Challenge, and finalists will have the opportunity to present a poster at RESI designating their country of origin in the corresponding section of the Exhibition Hall. Finalists will gain excellent visibility in front of hundreds of global investors and strategics who will be attending RESI, so be sure to apply using the following link: http://innovchlg.lifesciencenation.com/RESIlogin.php

By Claire Jeong, Director of Research, Asia BD, LSN

Our next RESI will be landing in Vienna in just 4 days, and we are excited to announce the 5 Europe Innovators’ Pitch Challenge finalists for our inaugural Europe conference! These early-stage companies have been selected to present a short pitch to a panel of investor judges, who will provide these companies with constructive feedback.

First introduced in RESI Boston last year (September 2018), the Pitch Challenge has become a unique opportunity for the earliest stage companies, especially those who have had minimal experience in pitching and getting in front of investors. By hearing from investors and key industry partners who actively source and evaluate early-stage technologies, companies are able to improve on their pitches and work on areas of improvement more efficiently.

The Europe Innovators’ Pitch Challenge will run from 1:00 – 2:30 pm on the day of RESI and all attendees are welcome to participate as part of the audience. We look forward to seeing you there!

Moderated by Greg Mannix, VP of International Business Development at Life Science Nation, the investor panelists are:

• Iris Öhrn, Investment Advisor – Life Sciences & Healthcare, Business Region Göteborg AB
• Benedikt Luhmann, Principal, VI Partners
• Andreas Jurgeit, Partner, Lundbeckfonden Emerge
• Evan Castiglia, Principal, Philips Health Technology Ventures

And last but not least, the finalists are:

Revax

Revax is delivering revolutionary new vaccines for respiratory infections.
2019 scientific publications show that vaccines delivered to the lungs are highly effective being more effective than traditional injection vaccines and provide broader cross-reactive and long-lasting protection. Bringing together key players in aerosol delivery, academic excellence in vaccines, industrial support and clinical research organisation expertise, Revax promises to deliver a revolution in vaccination.
Advantages
* More amenable to use in children and the elderly
* Cross protective, valuable for seasonal changes in influenza and valuable for pandemics
* More effective vaccines, for example for TB
* More boostable immune responses
* Lower dose is required, reducing costs and time of manufacture, and facilitating storage and logistics issues, etc

Verde Biopharma

Medicinal cannabis is efficient – but hard to administrate – due to the challenges of THC. Verde biopharma is developing a unique set of products for pharmacies, healthcare and personal use that levels the playing field for therapeutic applications of medicinal cannabis, in a safe manner within the guidelines of the newly presented WHO recommendation for a legal rescheduling of cannabis. Our platform allows for greater individualization of medicinal cannabis products for the global market – and a practical solution to many of the challenges of the new market.

PlatOD

Platelets are blood cells which stop bleeding. The only source of platelets for transfusion is from blood donors, but there are issues of shortage, safety and efficacy. PlatOD provides an alternative to platelet transfusion from blood donors, by manufacturing platelets from stem cells using fluidic devices. With its 3 patents and know-how combining physics and biology, PlatOD has a key asset, the short duration of platelet production in its fluidic device. With its must-have technology, addressing the issue of large-scale production, PlatOD will provide the means to produce at a reasonable cost, the large volumes requested for clinical studies. The plan is to develop a pilot in 2 years, with a 4M€-fundraising.

Sumondo

We are developing a device that can help workplaces reduce costs regarding stress-related sick-leave. They can cut sick-leave expenses with 60% and increase work productivity. From our device, the employees get biofeedback and learn what their stress-level is. The management can collect the data and show it on a common dashboard. Interventions should be made and their effect can be measured before and after. We measure 24/7, also during sleep and can give early warnings about emerging toxic, chronic stress, which woul lead to severe illness, long-time absence and inability to work. Our main target are workplaces. A secondary target are hospitals which we can help reduce stress and provide early warnings about severe developments in the patients with cardio-vascular diseases.

Iluria Health

Iluria is a digital health company focusing on ADHD. In a nutshell, we aim to solve the current trial and error ongoing treatment in ADHD patients. We are doing so through an ML based solution which provides on-going, personalized & passive ADHD monitoring, using biomarkers data (wearable agnostic) and AI analysis.