Ten biotech startups head to Boston

A jury of investors and biotech experts has selected ten startups from over 70 applications for the Venture Leaders Biotech program, taking place from 12 -16 June in Boston, one of the world’s most important life science hubs. The roadshow provides a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to accelerate their startups’ expansion in the US while expanding their professional network and profiting from workshops with investors and industry leaders.

This year’s Venture Leaders Biotech will introduce themselves at a kick-off event at the Swiss Biotech Day in Basel on April 24, 2023.

Meet the ten startups heading to Boston

Affivant Sciences GmbH | Basel
Dedicated to developing novel approaches to activate and enable the innate immune system to fight cancer, the startup’s innovative bi-specific innate cell engager is designed to target specific patient populations as powerful monotherapy and in novel combinations.

Invasight AG | Zurich
Invasight develops novel protein-protein interaction antagonists (PPIAs) for the treatment of invasive cancers. The startup’s first-in-class PPIAs inhibit intracellular proteins that cause cancer cell invasion with high specificity and less off-target related side effects.

IsoSpec Analytics SA | Lausanne
Isospec develops and commercialises disruptive analytical technologies to enable biomarker discovery and accelerate pharmaceutical and biotech product development. Powered by the combination of infrared fingerprinting and machine learning, the EPFL spin-off provides invaluable molecular intelligence.

Limula SA | Epalinges
Limula provides a cell processing platform for the manufacture of cell and gene therapies (CGT). The startup’s mission is to help make the most personalised treatments available to patients in need, at reasonable cost, wherever they are.

metaLead Therapeutics | Zurich
metaLead revolutionises the way medicine treats toxic metals, starting with the systemic and neurotoxicant lead. The startup’s novel drug candidates bind and expel only poisonous lead while leaving the essential metals in our bodies intact.

Mosanna Therapeutics AG | Basel
Is committed to improving patient outcomes and quality of life in high-unmet-need diseases, applying a precision medicine approach. Its first goal is to bring an effective and well-tolerated medicinal nasal spray to Metabolic Obstructive Sleep Apnea patients.

Navignostics AG | Zurich
The UZH spin-off leverages spatial single-cell proteomic data to guide personalised cancer treatment decisions. Navignostics provides services to pharmaceutical companies to accelerate oncology drug development.

ND Biosciences SA | Epalinges
The EPFL spin-off is developing next-generation therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases based on unique protein-engineering technologies and cellular disease models that allow reproducing the biochemical, structural, and functional properties of pathological protein aggregates as observed in patient brains.

SURI Bio Tech GmbH | Schlieren
The startup develops health-promoting bacterial strains for the first 1000 days of life. SURI BioTech’s proprietary strains have demonstrated a mechanism of action and are included in food supplements, with a beneficial impact on early life and human health.

Tandem Therapeutics | Zurich
The preclinical-stage startup focused on precision targeting the extracellular matrix barrier in fibrotic cancers and organ fibrosis. Using evolutionarily optimised peptides drug conjugates, Tandem Therapeutics aims to destabilise the matrix to create breakthrough therapies for patients burdened with fibrotic diseases.

Venture Leaders Biotech is organised by Venturelab in partnership with Swissnex Boston and supported by Debiopharm, Novartis, EY - Ernst & Young, VISCHER, EPFL, ETH Zurich, Hansjörg Wyss, and the Swiss Biotech Association.

(Press release/RAN)