10.10.2019 11:30, Guillaume Tinsel
The TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award ranking features young companies from a range of different sectors. Meet the 5 Swiss startups which took the top spots in the biotech sector in this year's ranking.
Each year
100 investors and experts choose their ten favourite young companies with the most promising business idea. The result is the
TOP 100 Swiss Startup ranking. These experts rely on their instinct to propose
startups with the best success potential. Year after year, the ranking provides an instant picture of the most innovative and promising young companies in Switzerland. This 5 Swiss startups took the top spots in the biotech sector in this year's ranking.
Cutiss, Zurich, #6
MACHINE-MADE SKIN
Hundreds of thousands of burn victims have been given hope, thanks to Daniela Marino and her team. Brussels seems to understand what Daniela Marino has to offer. The EU supported the young biotechnologist’s research at the University of Zurich in 2011 with EUR 9 million, and now another subsidy of EUR 2.5 million has been added. With this money – and about CHF 8 million from investors – Marino is working on a project that promises a better life for countless burn victims: her intention is to grow palm-sized pieces of skin from a few skin cells.At the moment, running phase II clinical trials supported by Wyss Zurich are underway at four hospitals, with the aim of proving that the artificial skin from Cutiss really relieves suffering. The medical need is high. “Burn victims,” says CEO Marino, “suffer not only physically, but also emotionally.” Facial disfiguration often causes more suffering than just chronic pain and endless operations.In parallel to the clinical trials, preparation of automation of the production process is also underway. In November, Cutiss’ R&D centre will open in the Bio-Technopark Schlieren. “We have found the right partners in the field of mechanical engineering and now know what the requirements are,” says Marino. If everything goes to plan, denovoSkin™ should receive marketing approval by 2022.
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Versantis, Zurich, #11
Liver cirrhosis not only affects liver function, but at an advanced stage it can also affect the brain and kidneys, ultimately threatening the lives of patients. Versantis wants to solve this problem with its active ingredient VS-01. The start-up reached its most important milestone in 2019 as planned: VS-01 is now being tested on people in the clinical phase.
Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals, Basel, #14
The start-up develops substances to neutralise harmful antibodies that play a role in autoimmune diseases. Thanks to a financing round of more than CHF 22 million from Sofinnova Partners and New Enterprise Associates, Polyneuron will now be able to test the first drug candidate for a rare nerve disease on people. CEO Ruben Herrendorff (right) plans to hire five new employees by the end of the year. With the completion of a Series A financing round of CHF 22.5 million this spring, Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals, a spin-off from the University of Basel, has the boost it needs. Now the product portfolio of its Antibody-Catch platform is being expanded and the first product, an orphan drug for the treatment of a rare autoimmune disease of the nervous system, will be tested directly on patients in a clinical trial.
The two new investors that participated in the financing round, in addition to the existing donors, have helped decisively. Sofinnova Partners and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) are both leading venture capital firms in Europe and the US. “Both contribute their expertise and network. That’s true smart money,” says a delighted Herrendorff, who co-founded the start-up five years ago after finishing his doctorate together with Pascal Hänggi and two university professors Beat Ernst and Andreas J. Steck.
Volumina Medical, Vaud, #15
The restoration of soft tissue after an operation or accident poses a challenge. Existing solutions often require extensive surgery or repeated treatment. The carrier structure, the technical term is ‘scaffold’, developed by Volumina Medical can be injected in a minimally invasive procedure and helps to restore the natural shape of the soft tissue. The start-up has impressed both Venture Kick and Venture Leaders.
TOLREMO therapeutics, Zurich, #16
Cancer therapies are often unsuccessful because patients develop resistance in much the same way as for bacterial infections. Tolremo’s drugs target the specific tumour sites responsible for this resistance. Stefanie Flückiger’s founding team includes two ETH Zurich professors and Actelion’s former Chief Medical Officer. Tolremo raised CHF 9 million in a Series A financing round last year.
CUTISS AG:
Personalized skin
CUTISS grows human skin in the lab for patients that suffer from skin defects (e.g. burns). CUTISS bio-engineers individually customized human skin starting off from a very small piece of
patient’s ... Read more
TOLREMO therapeutics AG:
Development of resistance-breaking cancer therapies
TOLREMO therapeutics' mission is to prevent non-genetic cancer drug resistance by dismantling the earliest defense to targeted therapies. Led by phenotypic insights, we discovered a pivotal mechanism ... Read more
Versantis AG:
Conquer liver diseases and saves lives
Versantis is a global, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company addressing the growing, un-met medical need in liver diseases. Our lead program VS-01 leverages our proprietary scavenging liposomes techno... Read more
Volumina Medical SA:
Dynamic biomaterials for reconstructive and plastic surgery
Volumina is a clinical stage medtech start-up, spin off of EPFL.
We are active in the field of tissue engineering and develops Adipearl, an injectable biomaterial for the reconstruction of volumes o... Read more
