Collaborative success: Terapet's partnership with Yonsei University and Oncosoft Inc. secures multi-million funding from Innosuisse and KIAT

16.10.2023 08:24, Rita Longobardi

Terapet, in conjunction with their Korean collaborators, Yonsei University (Heavy Ion Therapy Center) and Oncosoft Inc., has received CHF 1,835,000 and KRW 1,500,000,000, respectively. The pooled funds are committed to developing a personalized quality assurance device for Heavy Ion Therapy (HIT) at South Korea's first carbon ion therapy center, located in the Yonsei Cancer Center.

A Collaboration Agreement Signing ceremony was held at this year’s FARO-KOSRO 2023 congress, in Seoul, Korea. FARO-KOSRO is the largest radiation oncology congress in the Asia-Pacific region. The collaboration will officially start on November 1st, 2023 and will run for the coming three years. All the partners in the consortium are fully funded.

Carbon ion therapy is an advanced treatment method for cancer and other tumour diseases. Compared to conventional X-ray radiotherapy, ion therapy has the advantage that healthy tissue surrounding the tumour receives less dose. This is because ions stop at a certain depth inside the patient, delivering a very high dose just before they stop (the Bragg peak). The dose beyond the tumour is close to zero. The lowered dose to healthy tissue is essential when treating children since they have a long life expectancy after treatment. Ion therapy is also superior for treating critical cancer types (e.g., brain tumours, prostate cancers) in which tumours are very close to critical organs, e.g., the brain, spine, and optic nerves.

The bilateral Innosuisse-KIAT funding program aims to promote bilateral innovation projects between Switzerland and South Korea. Innosuisse has been cooperating with the South Korean innovation agency since 2013 intending to promote bilateral innovation projects. Innosuisse and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) work together within the framework of the cooperation agreement signed in 2022.

This agreement aims to encourage collaboration between Swiss and South Korean companies and research organizations to promote the exchange of knowledge and expertise, establish sustainable partnerships and increase business development opportunities. This enables companies to expand their competitive advantage by developing new products, improving technical processes or devising solutions. These innovations must offer added value for the economy, society or the environment.

"I'm incredibly happy, proud and grateful to be here for this collaboration kickoff ceremony where Yonsei Cancer Center, Oncosoft and Terapet join forces to pioneer a new era in healthcare innovation: enabling patient-specific Quality Assurance in heavy ion therapy," said Christina Vallgren, CEO and Co-Founder of Terapet.

Terapet was part of the TOP 100 Swiss Startups from 2021 to 2023, was selected as a participant of Venture Leaders Life Sciences in 2020, and won Venture Kick Stage 3 in 2020.

"Venture Kick and the Venturelab programs have been playing an essential role in the growth of Terapet since its very start. The financing from Venture Kick has helped cover the expenses of critical activities during Terapet’s pre-seed round. The visibility and recognition from Venturelab have been important in establishing contacts within the Swiss startup and investor eco-system. In addition, the training and feedback provided by Venture Kick has boosted our business development and helped transform the company from the research to the real commercial level," said Christina.

Swiss-Korean October 13, 2023, Collaboration Signing Ceremony. 

Left to right: Prof. Jin Sung Kim (Chief Medical Physicist of Yonsei Cancer Center & CEO of Oncosoft), Laura Acosta (Swiss Embassy Representative), Dr. Christina Vallgren (CEO of Terapet), Prof. Ik Jae Lee (Director of Heavy Ion Therapy, Yonsei Cancer Center), Dong Wook Kim (Clinical Professor, Yonsei Cancer Center)

Source: Terapet press release