Versantis wins CHF130’000 at VENTURE KICK

Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and Heath Ledger, to name but a few, are celebrities who died of drug overdoses. Deaths from drug overdose have been rising over the past two decades to become the leading cause of accidental death in industrialized countries. Every day in Europe alone, 260 people die as a result of drug overdose. Until today, no simple and efficient methods are available for the detoxification. Just like drugs, the wastes your body produces can also become life-threatening in case of liver failure (affecting 450 million people worldwide).

The team around Dr. Vincent Forster from the ETH spin-off Versantis is developing a ground-breaking dialysis approach to remove these toxins from your organism. Versantis uses small hollow spheres (i.e. liposomes) to efficiently and rapidly extract the toxic compounds from the blood. Thanks to its technical simplicity, this new dialysis approach presents a great opportunity to save patients’ lives, even in developing countries, where expensive detoxification therapies are rarely available.

Dr. Vincent Forster expressed his enthusiasm about the program: “VENTURE KICK has been extremely kind at opening its large network within the biotech and pharma ecosystem. This bridge towards Switzerland-based advisors and investors is the most valuable support Versantis could profit from at a startup phase. In addition, the business acceleration programs, the online visibility, and obviously, the financial supports were very helpful.”