BioValley Basel – Annual Event

Tuesday, 29 August 2023, 17.00

Claraspital Auditorium, Kleinriehenstrasse 30, CH-4058 Basel

Agenda

17.00 – 17.15 General Assembly

17.15 – 18.15 Roundtable

“Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs – a Fascinating Pharma Subset”

Many approved treatments for rare diseases have come to public awareness as they typically offer substantial therapeutic benefit; they can be life-saving and improve patients’ quality of life. Public discussions typically focus on pricing and reimbursement challenges and general access to such breakthrough therapies.

We try to look beyond this: Research and development process leading to such orphan drugs also provides valuable insights into the natural history of the disease investigated and may even offer insights into causes and possible therapeutic options of far more common diseases. Investors are attracted to the rare disease/orphan drug sector in part because it offers certain regulatory incentives and typically has exceptional revenue growth rates.

Our panel consists of entrepreneurs with vast experience in the rare diseases sector constantly trying to find the sweet spot between addressable patient needs, validated therapeutic targets and regulatory pathways and clinical data sets.

Moderators: Dr. Matthias Staehelin and Nicholas Benedict, Board BioValley

Panelists:

Dr. Roberto Iacone

Roberto is CEO of Alentis Therapeutics and a physician-scientist and biotech entrepreneur who has advanced several assets to early clinical development. He has strong translational medicine and strategic experience across rare diseases, fibrosis, immunology, and oncology. For several years, he headed the rare disease research department at Roche.

Dr. Thomas Meier

Thomas is an internationally recognized scientist with track record in clinical research of neuromuscular and neuro-ophthalmology orphan diseases and has hands-on experience in the regulatory process of orphan disease product registration. As a dynamic life-science entrepreneur he currently serves on the Board of three biotech companies with orphan disease product pipelines and is managing partner of Viopas Venture Consulting.

Dr. Stefano Portolano

Stefano is Chief Executive Officer at AZAFAROS B.V. He is an accomplished biopharma executive with over 20 years of experience and a string of successes in launch and growth of orphan medicines and specialty therapeutics.

Dr. Luca Santarelli

Luca is Founder and CEO of VectivBio AG. He is entrepreneurial pharmaceutical executive with a background in fundamental research, R&D, business development and a successful track record in delivering innovative NMEs to early and late stages of development in a diverse array of diseases.

Kim Stratton

Kim is Chief Executive Officer at CENTOGENE, the essential life science partner for data-driven answers in rare and neurodegenerative diseases. She has more than 30 years’ global commercial expertise in the biopharmaceutical space with significant experience across multiple geographies.  Previously, she served as CEO of Orphazyme, and was Head of International Commercial for Shire’s Specialty and Rare Disease portfolio.

18.15 Networking & Apéro

Please register for the event via the following button by Tuesday, 15 August 2023.

Event BioValley Basel – Business Angel Chapter

19 June 2023, 17:00

Hotel Victoria, Centralbahnplatz 3-4, CH-4002 Basel

Agenda

17:00: Welcome and Introduction

Welcome by Thomas Möller and introduction to 3 Presenting Companies by Sara Núñez-Garcia

17:05: Company Pitches

Pharmabiome – Dr. Tomas Wouters (CEO) – Schlieren/Allschwil

Innovative company in the microbiome space. PharmaBiome has developed unique technologies to access the entire range of intestinal bacteria for the design and production of function-based consortia at scale.

TheraPPI – Luc Otten (CEO) – Lyon/CH

Company develops a new class of protein interaction inhibitors to tackle drug resistance in cancer and to cure other rare diseases.

MachineMD – Dominic Senn (CEO) – Bern

Company developing medical device to radically improve early detection of brain disorders, with the goal to bring diagnostic quality of a highly trained specialist to every doctor, optometrist and optician anywhere.

17:50: Networking & Apéro

BioValley Basel – Subchapter BioBac

Early – Stage Company Presentations

Monday, 21 November 2022 at 17.00

We are happy to welcome you to the last BioValley Basel event of the year. We have prepared a nice agenda that includes three promising early-stage companies followed by a networking apero.

Agenda

17:00: Early-Stage Company Presentations – 3 Show Cases

17.15 – 17.20: Welcome to Attendees by Sara Nunez-Garcia and Thomas Moeller

17.20 – 18.15: Company Pitches & Q&A

Aison Technologies

Aison is untapping the huge potential of the CHF 6.7B medical ultrasound market, a consistently performing and crisis-resistant market, with almost every doctor being a potential customer. Our products are IP protected, have a low entry barrier, enhance the products of the big ultrasound companies without directly competing with them, are simple to use and speed up and improve the quality of ultrasound examinations independent of the ultrasound system brand. The aiSon FOCUS, our first CE-marked product on the market, is a disposable that increases diagnostic confidence, increases patient comfort and makes invasive procedures faster and safer.

InCephalo

InCephalo is a preclinical stage biotech company (UZH Spin-off) that creates next generation drugs for local therapies of brain cancer. It’s proprietary Compartment Locked technology improves antibodies and cytokines by increasing their local retention at the injection site next to the brain cancer (for higher efficacy) and significantly reduces any systemic exposure (for lower toxicity). Its primary asset, a proprietary IL-12 immunity oncology drug, has received EMA ODD and is envisioned to enter the clinic by 2024.

Limula

Limula provides an innovative bioreactor solution for on demand and at scale production of the most personalised cancer treatments. Its unique proprietary platform can perform all steps of CAR T-cell therapy manufacturing in a single device, using end-to-end automation and integrated process analytics. The goal is to offer an enabling tool to an industry that is struggling to provide broad patient access to life-saving cell-based therapies.

18:15: Apéro

If you are interested, the please send an e-mail to either sara@biovalley.ch or tmoeller@biovalley.ch

BioValley Basel – Annual Event, Monday, 22 August 2022, 17.00

17.00 – 17.50: Roundtable “Repeat Entrepreneurs: How the Start-Up Industry Matures”, with Oscar Buset, Philippe Dro, Roger Meier and Sai Reddy. Our invited serial entrepreneurs will share their experience how they manage to climb the peak not only once but several times.

17:50 – 18:20: Company Presentations: Dimericon Therapeutics AG and PB&B SA. Dimericon Thera-peutics is developing first-in-class precision oncology medicines. PB&B is a Swiss specialty Life Sciences startup developing a novel injectable technology for aesthetic doctors to remodel face & body.

18:20: Networking & Apéro

Location: Novartis Pavillon, St. Johanns-Hafen-Weg, 5, Basel, 4056 Basel.

Event of BioValley Basel – BioBac Subchapter

12 May 2022, 17:00 in Basel close to train station SBB
If you are interested to receive an invitation, please contact sara@biovalley.ch or tmoeller@biovalley.ch, thank you.

Program

17:00: Welcome to Attendees by Thomas Moeller
17:05: Inspirational Keynote by Business Angel
17:15: Introduction to 3 Presenting Companies by Sara Nunez-Garcia
17:20: Company Pitches & Q&A

Onena Medicines – Dr. Neethan Lobo (CEO) – Basel/San Sebastian: Innovative company in the oncology space. Onena’s antibodies are specifically designed to block the activity of DSIP proteins; DSIPs are powerful secreted proteins by resistant cancer cells that allow them to maintain their growth.

Inura Medical – Vanja Ivancevic (CEO) – Liestal: Patient-friendly and local treatment method for overactive bladder (OAB) in women. Inura is developing a novel drug delivery approach by creating a urethral ovulum that can be used for OAB treatment and is expected to have fewer side effects.

Flowbone – Régis Gauderon (CEO) – Vaud: Revolutionary biomaterial for the minimal-invasive augmentation of fragile bones. The company follows a new treatment approach that allows fragilized bones to augment and repair themselves without impeding bone mechanics or blood flow within the bone.

18:15: Networking & Apéro

Merger of Basel BioBAC (Business Angels Club) and BioValley Basel to form new industry association

On January 10th, 2022 the merger of two of the longest-standing life science industry associations in Basel, the Basel BioBAC and BioValley Basel, was unanimously approved by both member meetings.  For many years, Basel BioBAC and Basel BioValley have shared members, participants and contributors, and have collaborated on regular industry events.  The two organisations will now be merged formally into a single organisation under the name BioValley Basel.

The new organisation aims to continue the roles played by the two legacy organisations and to maintain its position as the leading, wholly independent, life science industry association in Basel.  The so-called “Basel cluster” is a dynamic life sciences industrial cluster operating within a rich local ecosystem.  The newly merged BioValley Basel Association strives to play a facilitative role within this ecosystem, aiming to:

• provide a platform to match its members’ investment interests with life science start-up companies from the region
• foster a local networking and integration platform across the many and varied stakeholders in the Basel life sciences community
• play a role in the tri-national BioValley cluster.

We are convinced that merging both organizations to a single one, expands the offering for members, such as start up support, business angel investments and partnering and collaboration opportunities across the trinational life-science ecosystem – and more.

The BioValley Basel Association will hold future events bringing life science companies to a wider local audience, and will continue to foster the relationships with Business Angels and other life science industry stakeholders, either remotely or in-person, as appropriate.

The Board of the newly merged BioValley Basel Association will consist of the following members:

Matthias Staehelin (Chair), Lead Partner Life Sciences, Vischer AG

Thomas Möller (Treasurer), venture investor and General Partner, BioMed Partners

Nicholas Benedict, biotechnology entrepreneur and CEO of Vaderis Therapeutics AG

Hans-Andreas Engel, serial entrepreneur and investor in biotechnology and IT sectors

Neil Goldsmith, serial entrepreneur in life sciences and sustainability sectors

Ruedi Gygax, Innosuisse expert, coach and angel investor

Trudi Hämmerli, investor and Partner SNGLR Group

Ariane Hegel Reynolds, Chapter Lead and Co-Lead Innovation Office, University of Basel, Business Angel

Sara Núñez-Garcia, venture investor, Partner and co-Founder Forty51 Ventures

Zaki Sellam, entrepreneur and CEO Avicenna Oncology GmbH

Georg Wiebecke, angel investor and consultant.

We look forward to your participation in the future activities and initiatives of the newly merged BioValley Association.

Firetalk:

“Entrepreneurs during the Pandemic“

with Ulf Grawunder, Martin Gertsch and Kobi Benenson plusm Two Start-Up Show Cases building up during the pandemic followed by Networking Apéro

Thursday, 26 August 2021, 5.15 p.m.

Restaurant Safran Zunft Basel,
Gerbergasse 11, 4051 Basel

Programme:              

17:15                 Entrepreneurs during the Pandemic, Ulf Grawunder, Martin Gertsch and Kobi Benenson

17:50                 Aukera: Start-Up Show Case 1, Dr. Stefan Imseng

18:10                 Asterivir: Start-Up Show Case 2, Oscar Buset, CEO

18:30                 Networking Apéro

For organizational purposes please pre-register for this event (including whether you have been vaccinated or otherwise have a COVID certificate) until 19 August 2021 either via the following button:

or by e-mail <bkuhn@vischer.com> or Fax: 058 211 33 10. Thank you.

Depending on the COVID development we may restrict access to persons with a valid COVID-certificate or limit access to 100 persons. You will not get a confirmation – if you do not receive a negative answer from us, your registration is accepted. There is no participation fee. The presentations will be held in English.

Ulf Grawunder is the scientific founder of NBE-Therapeutics and serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board member at NBE-Therapeutics, which, since January 2021, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Boehringer Ingelheim.  Ulf Grawunder is inventor of the proprietary ADC engineering technologies at NBE-Therapeutics which are the basis of NBE’s next-generation antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) for cancer therapy.

Martin Gertsch is Chairman of ARTIDIS, in Basel and a Board Member of the University Center of Dentistry, Basel (UZB).

Kobi Benenson is a Professor at the D-BSSE department of ETH Zürich in Basel, and a co-founder of the start-up Pattern BioSciences. The company is focused on developing the next generation of advanced gene therapies using biomolecular computing and synthetic biology approaches.

Aukera discovers and develops new pharmaceutical drugs with applications in mTOR-related disorders. The lead program selectively targets mTOR complex 1 with a novel mode of action. Aukera is incubated at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel and is supported by Prof. Timm Maier and Prof. Michael N. Hall.

Asterivir is a spin-out from the EPFL lab of Prof. Francesco Stellacci, licensing patents on broad-spectrum antivirals invented well before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2. Molecules employ a novel mechanism of action that renders circulating virions uninfective, showing superiority over oseltamivir (Tamiflu) in head-to-head comparisons in mice.  Besides H1N1, the technology has also proven to be effective in-vivo against RSV, HSV-2 and most recently SARS-CoV-2.

BioValley Basel Association
Elisabethenstr. 15
4051 Basel
Switzerland
www.biovalley.ch

BioValley Business Angels Club
c/o JFG Life Sciences Stiftung
Elisabethenstr. 44
4051 Basel
Switzerland
www.biobac.ch

Webinar on Monday 7 June 2021, 17:00 pm – 18:15 pm

mRNA – an unexpected breakthrough in biomedical R&D

The pandemic has accelerated the breakthrough of mRNA technology and allowed to develop in record time, allowed the development of a completely new class of vaccines, which are currently rolled out every day in the thousands to protect the global population from the dangerous new virus.

Our panelist discuss:

• How three decades of tireless basic research laid the foundation for a completely new class of vaccines ready in time to address the pandemic urgency.
• Which key scientific questions concerning mRNA drive basic research today?
• How the mRNA vaccination works to activate the immune system effectively and selectively.
• What we can learn from the rapid development and regulatory process to get a new product on the market within 1 year from design to approval
• How the agility of the technology could be used to quickly address further pandemic needs (e.g. SARS CoV2 mutants) and other infectious diseases (e.g. influenza)
• What is the potential of mRNA technology byond the treatment of viral diseases (e.g., cancer, autoimmune diseases and even allergies.
• What impact this technology could have on the life-sciences start-up scene.

Panelists

Anne Spang is Professor at the Biozentrum in Basel since 2005 and heads a Research Group on principles of intracellular organization, in particular how RNA localization, translation and metabolism contribute to cellular asymmetry and defense against stress. From 1999 – 2006 she was a group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society in Tübingen and before that researcher at HHMI, University of Califor-nia at Berkeley. She was graduate student at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemis-try in Martinsried and studied Biochemistry at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, and Chemical Engineering at the University of Applied Science Darmstadt.

Friedrich Metzger Prof. Dr. Friedrich Metzger, a scientist and co-founder of Versameb, a Basel based privately held company focusing on discovering and developing innovative mRNA-based drugs for modulation of protein expression and cellular targeting. He has an over 18 years’ experience in R&D both in pharma and biotech. Previously, Friedrich was Head of Discovery, Rare Diseases at Roche, Basel, where he was responsible for a portfolio of highly innovative development programs. He led preclinical activities for Evrysdi™ (risdiplam), a groundbreaking oral therapy for spinal muscular atrophy which was very recently approved. Friedrich is also Professor in Neurobiology at the University of Freiburg i.B.and holds a PhD degree in pharmacology from the University of Tübingen.

Andreas Wallnoefer is General Partner at BioMedPartners, Basel, Switzerland and board member of several European biotech companies. He is a senior executive leader with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including 12 years as a member of the F. Hoffmann-La Roche Pharma R&D Leadership and Portfolio Committee. He was Head of Roche Clinical Research & Exploratory Development and later of the Pharma Cardiovascular & Metabolism Disease Area. He left Roche in 2015 after the company strategically decided to exit these research areas. He subsequently has been involved in the foundation and development of several successful start-ups. He holds a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Basel and was trained as a fellow in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Leiden, Netherlands. He also holds an Executive MBA from IMD Lausanne.

Chair:

Trudi Haemmerli, Board BioValley Basel & Matthias Staehelin, President BioValley Basel

Before the webinar you can submit your questions to the experts by e-mail to webinar@vischer.com.

This webinar will be held in English.

Organisers:

BioValley Basel Association
Elisabethenstr. 15
4051 Basel
Switzerland
www.biovalley.ch

BioValley Business Angels Club
c/o JFG Life Sciences Stiftung
Elisabethenstr. 44
4051 Basel
Switzerland
www.biobac.ch

Support:
VISCHER is supporting BioValley for this event.
www.vischer.com

Innosuisse & Basel-Stadt present new funding schemes stimulating science-based innovation mitigating the impact of Covid-19

Webinar on Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Agenda:

• Welcome
• Impact of Covid pandemic on Swiss biotech companies, Michael Altorfer, CEO, Swiss Biotech Association
• Basel-Stadt subordinated loan guarantee program:
  • Purpose, objectives, and design, Samuel Hess, Department of Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs, Basel-Stadt
  • Target companies and application process, Felix Kohlermann, Department of Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs, Basel-Stadt
• Legal aspects (loan & warrant agreements), Matthias Staehelin, President BioValley, VISCHER Anwälte
• Federal innovation impulse program “Swiss Innovation Power”, Stéphanie Lecaudé, Scientific Officer Life Sciences, Innosuisse
• Value of Basel-Stadt and Innosuisse innovation programs from the perspectiveof other regions, René Hausammann, President, Swissparks.ch
• Q&A

See presentation:

Presentations 3 Feb 2021 Innovation Innosuisse & BS

Watch the recording here:

Organisers:
Swiss Biotech Association Stauffacherstrasse 16
8004 Zürich
www.swissbiotech.org

BioValley Basel
Elisabethenstr. 15
4051 Basel
www.biovalley.ch

Swissparks.ch
Spitalgasse 28
3011 Bern
www.swissparks.ch

Support:
VISCHER is supporting the organisers for this event.
www.vischer.com

Financing and Business Development in the times of COVID-19

Webinar on Thursday, 24 September, 2020

Organizers: BioValley Basel Association and BioValley Business Angels Club

The coronavirus is changing our society, our economy and our lifestyle. In this second webinar, CEOs and Board members from the BioValley cluster share their experience how to build companies in this new environment.

Panelists:

– Alexander Bausch, CEO Kinarus

– Derek Brandt, Board member Resistell, LiVET and Chairman ender diagnostics

– Martin Gertsch, Chairman of ARTIDIS, Board member Santhera

– Werner Tschollar, Chairman and/or CEO of Amyra, CanVirex and EsoCap

– Marina Udier, CEO Nouscom

Alexander Bausch serves as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Kinarus Board of Directors. Kinarus has licensed Pamapimod, a clinical stage P38 inhibitor from Hoffmann-La Roche and is ready to star a Phase 2 clinical trial as oral treatment in wet AMD. Alexander Bausch has extensive business, development and executive leadership expertise from a 20 year career in the pharmaceutical industry. While at Hoffmann-La Roche, he led Research and Development teams across seven therapeutic areas, most recently as Life Cycle Leader for a global phase 3 program where he developed the strategic roadmap for commercialization up to product launch. He has entered more than ten drugs into clinical development including four molecules successfully into phase 2 and one into phase 3. Alexander Bausch is a pharmacist by training and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Basel.

Derek Brandt is a Board member of Resistell in Muttenz, Board member of LiVET in Bern as well as Chairman of the Board of ender diagnostics in Bern. He is Senior Global Vice President Advanced Technologies at Gerresheimer and Stiftungsrat of Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW). From 2007 to 2018, Derek Brandt was CEO of Sensile Medical (sold to Gerresheimer). He studied at the UCB (Pharmacokinetics), University of Berne (Applied Statistics) and University of Applied Sciences Basel (Chemistry).

Martin Gertsch is Chairman of ARTIDIS, in Basel, a Board member of Santhera and a Board Member of the University Center of Dentistry, Basel (UZB). Up to 2014, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Acino Holding. Prior to this he was Vice President Head of Finance EMEA at Synthes and held Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer positions at Delenex Therapeutics and ESBATech, two biotech companies. From 2002 to the beginning of 2006, he was Chief Financial Officer of Straumann, which he had joined in 1997 as Head of Group Controlling and Reporting. Between 1986 and 1997, Martin was an Audit Engagement Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Basel, Switzerland. Martin is a Swiss-certified fiduciary and Swiss-certified public accountant.

Werner Tschollar is Chairman and/or CEO of Amyra, CanVirex and EsoCap, all in Basel. He has extensive industry experience in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. He held senior executive positions at BMS, Schering-Plough and Novartis and founded several biotech companies. Werner studied medicine and pharmacy, is trained in internal medicine and is a board certified clinical pharmacologist. He also holds an MBA degree and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology.

Marina Udier is CEO of Nouscom in Basel, an immuno-oncology company developing off-the-shelf and personalized cancer neoantigen vaccines. She joined Nouscom in 2016 as the Chief Operating Officer from Versant Ventures where she was an Operating Principal. Prior to Versant, Marina was at Novartis Pharma in Basel in various senior development and commercial roles. As the Global Commercial Head, Near Patient Testing Unit, she developed the global strategy for a point of care diagnostics platform. Her experience in molecular diagnostics includes In Vitro Diagnostics development; she led development of a Companion Diagnostics for RYDAPT™, the first approved AML drug in over 3 decades. Marina managed the Global Neurodegeneration portfolio for Novartis driving her Brands to a blockbuster status. Marina spent 5 years with McKinsey & Company in Chicago, working with Healthcare Fortune 500 companies in areas of marketing, strategy and pricing. Marina received her PhD in Chemistry from Yale University. She authored peer reviewed publications covering HIV/AIDS research.

Chair: Matthias Staehelin; President BioValley Basel

Tackling Corona – Experts report on activities in and from the BioValley

Webinar Wednesday, 17 June, 2020, organized by BioValley BioValley Basel Association, BioValley Deutschland e.V. and BioValley France.

Experts from the BioValley cluster (and close by) reported on efforts to diagnose the virus, manufacture the vaccine and find a cure.

 Speakers include:

·       Tim Pfister, CEO ender diagnostic, Bern,  

·       Thierry Paper, Founder and Deputy Managing Director Biosynex, Strasbourg

·       Dr. Dirk Redlich, Vice-President, Head CMC Development and Clinical Trial Material (CTM) Production & Dr. Claudio Thomasin, Director R&D, Janssen Vaccines, Bern

·       Dr. Hubertus Schleer and Dr Iwona Budnicki, Aldevron Freiburg i.B.

·       Dr. Karsten Fischer, CEO Memo Therapeutics, Schlieren

·       Sai Reddy, Professor of Systems and Synthetic Immunology at ETHZ in Basel

The coronavirus is changing our society, our economy and our lifestyle. Experts from the BioValley cluster (and close by) reported on efforts to diagnose the virus, manufacture the vaccine and find a cure.

Introduction: Matthias Staehelin, President BioValley

Diagnose SARS-CoV-2 by a molecular biological rapid test in 30 minutes: Tim Pfister, CEO ender diagnostic, Bern

Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) made in France: Challenge of Scale-up and Self-testing: Thierry Paper, Founder and Deputy Managing Director Biosynex, Strasbourg

The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine program: Dr. Dirk Redlich, Vice-President, Head CMC Development and Clinical Trial Material (CTM) Production & Dr. Claudio Thomasin, Director R&D, Janssen Vaccines, Bern

Rapid discovery of humanized antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 targets utilizing the OmniRat® platform and Berkeley Lights’ Beacon® instrument: Dr. Hubertus Schleer and Dr Iwona Budnicki, Aldevron Freiburg i.B.

The HACK CORONA INITIATIVE to identify therapeutic monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2: Dr. Karsten Fischer, CEO Memo Therapeutics, Schlieren

Antibody discovery against SARS-CoV-2 by deep sequencing, machine learning and genome editing: Sai Reddy, Professor of Systems and Synthetic Immunology at ETHZ in Basel

Annual Event of BioValley Basel and BioBAC 2019

BioValley Business Angels Club BioBAC and BioValley Basel Association have hold their annual event on Thursday, 26th of September 2019

Topic: University & Start-ups – a love affair?

University Vice-Rector Torsten Schwede talked at the annual event with more than 100 participants. He introduced the new entrepreneurial innovation initiative of the University of Basel, which seeks to support innovation to increase societal impact.

T3 Pharmaceuticals CEO Simon Ittig reported on the positive experiences of the start-up: In his view, key success factors are the will of society, politicians and university to support emerging companies, infrastructure and access to non-dilutive financial support. As an example of an early-stage company, Aukera, a project developing an mTOR drug discovery platform, sought further support and managed to get first contacts with experienced professionals at the event. Thereafter the CEOs of three Start- Up show-cases (Resistell, Inthera Bioscience and AOT – Advanced Osteotomy Tools) presented their companies.

One participant commented: “..extremely interesting and excellent presentations where one could feel the personal engagement behind the individual projects”

Immediately prior to the event Trudi Haemmerli (PerioC and TruStep Consulting, Board member Innosuisse) and Christian Elias Schneider (Head of Innovation & Entrepreneurship University of Basel) were elected to the Board of BioValley Basel. A very warm welcome to both of them!