And the winners of the BioFIT 2021 Pitch Sessions are…

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Vésale Bioscience, awarded the most innovative start-up

21 start-ups were selected to pitch during the Start-up Slams at BioFIT in different categories such as infectious, 3D-cell culture tools, therapeutics, cancerology/oncology, AI/big data and diagnostics. Vésale Bioscience, a Belgium start-up represented by Philippe Ghem, Chief Commercial Officer, is the winner of the BioFIT 2021 Start-up Slams:

“We are very proud to receive this award. It recognises the great work performed by the Vésale Bioscience team and further motivates us to pursue our research into solutions to multidrug-resistant infections, which constitute a major global public health challenge. We are in the middle of a Series A funding round; this prize serves to validate our development choices and our credibility.”

Vésale Bioscience, a biotech company specialising in phage therapy, with a particular focus on research into alternative solutions to antibiotics and the development of treatments for multidrug-resistant infections. The Belgian start-up is developing an effective and reproducible phage therapy approach that offers a personalised solution to the major issue of AntiMicrobial Resistance (AMR).

VALANX Biotech, awarded the most promising technology

19 TTOs, universities, research institutes and companies have been selected to pitch during the BioFIT Collaborative and Licensing Opportunity Presentations in different categories: infectious, inflammation, CNS, research tools and cancerology/oncology. VALANX Biotech, an Austrian project represented by Michael Lukesch, CEO, received the “Most Promising Technology” award:

“We are incredibly honoured to receive the BioFIT price. The award is very helpful in communicating to our collaboration partners, customers and investors the quality of the work we do which would not be possible without our gifted and dedicated team.”

VALANX Biotech develops a site-specific protein conjugation platform with the goal to make the struggle of precise, reproducible protein conjugation a thing of the past, for the benefit of our partners, customers, and patients. Our goal is to be the first company to offer up to 10 freely selectable conjugation sites on any expressible protein in excellent yield to give superior product quality. With our conjugation platform in place we have started to develop VLX101 a novel cytokine conjugate with applications in the treatment of autoimmune disease.

An Anses project, awarded as the most innovative in animal health

5 innovative animal health projects have been selected to present for the Animal Health Presentations and showcased their project in front of potential partners and investors. The French organisation Anses, represented by Olivier Bourry, Deputy Head of NRL African Swine Fever, submitted a project which was awarded during the Animal Health Presentations and won the 2021 competition:

“This was our first participation in BioFIT and we are honoured that our project was awarded as the most innovative animal health project. BioFIT was a very good opportunity to present our vaccine candidate against African Swine Fever to potential industrial partners. We hope the exchanges initiated during BioFIT will lead to the development of our vaccine and give the pig sector an indispensable tool to fight against this devastating disease that is currently spreading all around the world.”

ANSES (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety) has a network of nine laboratories, located throughout the country, near the related production sectors. The Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort (PPN) laboratory works more specifically on the health and welfare of production animals including pigs. Within the PPN Laboratory, the Swine Virology and Immunology Unit is interested in various viral infections, including African Swine Fever, for which it is National Reference Lab and as such develops reference and research activities, particularly in the field of vaccinology.