SunRegen wins international biotech startup competition

Eight life sciences startups from Europe, the US and Asia pitched at this year’s Startup Slam competition, sponsored and co-hosted by Johnson & Johnson Innovation. Contestants had three minutes each to present their company and innovation to a panel of experienced investors and potential collaboration partners. The expert judging panel consisted of Guenter Huhle, Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JLABS, EMEA; Ingrid Teigland Akay, Managing Partner, Hadean Ventures; Claus Andersson, Partner, Sunstone Life Science Ventures; Dr. Stefan Luzi, Partner, Glide Healthcare; and Anna Gran, New Venture Lead, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Nordics.

SunRegen Healthcare was announced as the winner of the competition. Dr Yuhong Dong, Director and co-founder of SunRegen presented on how the company's therapeutic is a potentially transformative healthcare solution for neurodegenerative eye diseases.

Blockbuster potential
SunRegen’s lead molecule SBC003 is a synthetic molecule derived from a natural active ingredient found in a medicinal herb well established in traditional oriental medicine. SBC003 shows robust improvement of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in Rhesus monkey with optic atrophy. Primary Optic atrophy can be caused by various factors including inherited disorders. Focus of initial clinical studies will be disclosed at a later stage. SBC003 would be a novel effective disease-modifying therapy with market launch in 5 – 7 years and blockbuster potential.

From Retina to brain
SBC003 is in preclinical stage ready to enter CTA/IND enabling studies and clinical development in 2020 with initial focus on certain forms of Primary Optic Atrophy. SBC003 has already shown remarkable neuroprotective and neurorescuing effects, experimentally established across 20 in-vitro or in- vivo models challenged with various neurotoxins. SBC003 will also be further tested in models for other neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases including e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Sir Harpal Kumar, Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, EMEA, based in the London Innovation Centre, said: "Today's world presents new challenges and new diseases - which is why Johnson & Johnson Innovation is committed to accelerating healthcare innovation and supporting great ideas no matter where they come from. The Startup Slam at BIO-Europe reflects the high calibre of life sciences research going on worldwide, and we look forward to providing mentorship to SunRegen Therapeutics as they develop transformative healthcare solutions for neurodegenerative eye diseases."

Ingrid Teigland Akay, Managing Partner at Hadean Ventures and one of the judges said: "The life science industry is currently offering highly attractive investment opportunities based on unprecedented rapid progress in science and technology. Today's Startup Slam showcased a number of such emerging companies developing promising new healthcare products. I was very impressed by the high quality throughout and congratulate SunRegen Therapeutics as a very worthy winner amongst fierce competition. It was a great atmosphere during the event and it was a pleasure to contribute as a judge."

(SK)