Vanarix: The Venture Leader Biotech regenerating tissue to treat cartilage damage

07.09.2022 09:00, Tracy Woodley

This fall, the Venture Leaders Biotech will represent Swiss innovation in the United States. To select the 10 featured startups, a jury of professional investors and medtech experts reviewed 90 applications. These startups improve diagnostics, treatments, and well-being with innovative solutions that cover artificial intelligence, sensors, smart devices, and robotics. Allow us to introduce you to each of the Venture Leaders Biotech 2022 ahead of the September 2022 roadshow in Boston and Cambridge: Meet Vannary Tieng, the CEO of Vanarix.

Name: Vannary Tieng
Location: Lausanne
Nationality: French
Graduated from: Paris, Ph.D. (2002); Paris-Sorbonne, MBA (2008)
Job title: CEO
Number of employees: 2
Money raised: CHF 3.5 million
First touchpoint with Venturelab: A Google search in 2022

Explain in one or two short sentences what your startup does and why. 
We have developed a new generation of cell therapy to produce hyaline cartilage microtissues, called Cartibeads dedicated to treating articular cartilage damage found in the knee. By regenerating the tissue, we hope to relieve the pain of millions of people, and improve their quality of life by allowing them to resume normal activity. 
 
How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
I was working at the HUG and the University of Geneva on cell therapy with stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease. One day, an orthopedic surgeon asked us if we could produce cartilage in the laboratory since we knew how to produce neurons. And since it was difficult to raise funds and have support in academia for this kind of topic that did not involve a life-threatening disease, the idea of the startup came up.
 
What do you expect from the Venture Leaders roadshow, and how will it help you achieve your vision? 
We would like to promote our product during this roadshow and perhaps establish partnerships for its development in the US.
 
Who does your product or solution help, and how?
Cartilage damage causes pain and disability and affects people with repetitive trauma, elderly and overweight people. There is no solution to regenerate the hyaline quality of the articular cartilage. If left untreated, the cartilage damage can progress to osteoarthritis. Implantation of Cartibeads through minimally invasive surgery can regenerate damaged cartilage, limit further degeneration and avoid total knee replacement for advanced osteoarthritis.
 
What are you most excited about at work right now? 
What is exciting is to see, as the inventor of Cartibeads, CEO, and co-founder of Vanarix, that this product is already in clinical trials only 3 years after the start-up was founded and that we will soon have the first results this year. Everyone around us thinks that it is quite exceptional to have reached this stage with so few people in the startup and so little money in the field of cell therapies.
 
How did you build your team?
We are only 2 people in the startup and we chose to outsource the manufacture of Cartibeads with a team (Lugano Cell factory) who had the skills to work in a clean room immediately.
 
Which market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup?
The product we would like to bring to the drug market rapidly is allogeneic Cartibeads, engineered from a cell bank. The therapeutic indications are the treatment of articular cartilage defects found in focal cartilage lesions but also in early osteoarthritis. Indeed, more than 80% of orthopedic surgeons are unsatisfied with currently available options.  In the US, 750 000 knee arthroscopy is performed yearly to treat focal cartilage damage. The market opportunity is evaluated to be more than $2 billion. But the market for the treatment of early osteoarthritis is much larger and is estimated at 3.6 M people in the US/per year. 
 
What are your key achievements to date?
The first generation of our product, autologous Cartibeads (made from the patient’s own cells) have demonstrated the safety and efficacy in large animal models (minipigs), based on these results, a first-in-man study has been approved by Swissmedic and has started in 2022. Autologous Cartibeads will be used as an additional proof of concept in this first-in-man study while waiting for the implementation of allogeneic Cartibeads (2nd generation of our product) which requires more time due to the implementation of the bank of allogeneic chondrocytes (cartilage cells).  In June 2022, Cartibeads again demonstrated the safety and efficacy of minipigs in allogeneic conditions. We hope to start a new first-in-man study in 2023.

What is one thing not many people know about you?
Before being a biologist, I wanted to be an astrophysicist when I was very young or a doctor. Astrophysicist because I was already convinced at the time that we are not alone in the universe and I wanted to be able to establish contacts with extraterrestrials! Probably influenced by the movie ET!

What is your favorite podcast and why?
Everything about the creation of the universe, the big bang, the black holes, etc. is a fascinating mystery.

What is your favorite book and why?
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskin because the character is so horrible and scary but the story is so captivating.
 
How did you come up with the name of your startup?
It was a proposal from my business angel who found it very funny to use a part of my first name which is not classical here in Switzerland.

Who inspires you and why?  
The most outstanding researchers and discoverers, for instance, Louis Pasteur.

Which startup do you wish you had founded and why?
CRISPR therapeutics, it is a revolution that has earned two female researchers a Nobel Prize in medicine.

What is the most challenging aspect of being a founder?
Making the right strategic decisions to make it work, getting the right partnerships, to have an eye on everything.

What is the most rewarding aspect of being a founder?
That people are enthusiastic and enjoy working with you.

What is something you wish you had known about being a founder?
That the road would really be long!

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder?
You must be passionate and not count your time and communicate your passion to others.

What is the best advice you have ever received and from whom?
“Never give up!” from one of my colleagues and friend.

What is your greatest professional failure, and what did you learn from it?
After 3 years of training, I didn't pass my degree in laboratory medicine in hematology and immunology, but I learned a lot and I knew that my future was at the head of a startup and that motivated me more. You have to do what you love and not be afraid of failure which is a hindrance to moving forward.

How do you stay on top of industry trends?
I read a lot, I learn about new therapies and I listen to surgeons and their expectations.

How do you foster creative thinking among your team members?
You have to be interested in everything, even in things that are far from your field.

Who do you look to for guidance and mentorship?
I currently have an Innosuisse coach who serves as a mentor.

The Venture Leaders Biotech program is co-organized by Venturelab and Swissnex Boston and supported by Debiopharm, EPFL Lausanne, ETH Zurich, EY - Ernst & Young, Swiss Biotech Association, VISCHER, Hansjörg Wyss, and Venture Leaders alum Ulf Grawunder.