Toxys announces a €2 million funding round from KIKK Capital, InnovationQuarter, Zeeland Investment fund, Toxys management and Rabobank. This investment is being made to advance Toxys’ ambition to become the global leading supplier of expert mechanistic in vitro chemical safety testing services. These services provide animal-free safety testing of novel medicines, chemicals and consumer products. The patented ToxTracker® assay can identify toxic and carcinogenic properties of novel pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and fine chemicals already at an early stage of drug/product development. ToxTracker can prevent the unnecessary rejections of highly valuable drug candidates and products, reduce drug/product development time lines and can prevent unnecessary animal testing. ToxTracker has the unique ability to identify the mode-of-action of toxic compounds which significantly improves the ability to predict and reduce risks for human health. ToxTracker is currently under review by the international authorities for official acceptance and inclusion of the test systems within the standard regulatory safety test strategy. Furthermore, with its soon-to-be launched novel ReproTracker® test, Toxys aims to fill a large unmet meet for an in vitro embryo toxicity test. With this new financial investment, Toxys is enabled to accelerate the growth of the company by expanding its operations in Europe and the United States. Toxys will also further broaden its portfolio of unique in vitro toxicology assays, speed-up international growth and work in acceptance and implementation of its toxicology assays for regulatory applications. Giel Hendriks, CEO of Toxys, commented: “We have made important progress on development of innovative animal-free tests for drug and chemical safety testing. I am very proud of the strong and dedicated Toxys team to execute our plans to become a trusted expert in toxicological research. With this new investment, we are ready to further expand our business globally and continue to work on the development of novel solutions for toxicological research”. Johan Sebregts, Investment manager KIKK Capital: “As a board member I have seen Toxys grow to a successful and profitable biotech company with a growing global client base. Now the first product of Toxys, ToxTracker, has proven itself in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry it’s time for further international expansion and the market introduction of some exiting new products. KIKK Capital is looking forward to support the developments of Toxys and is convinced that with the investment Toxys will be able to realize its full international potential”. More information: www.toxys.com |
Mimetas has received a second Innovation Credit of 2 million euro during the visit of the State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK). Mimetas uses this support for the further development of personalized medicine: for example a tool that helps the oncologist in choosing the most effective treatment of different cancers. Such a tool will save the health care sector costs and the patient will have fewer side effects of ineffective treatment.
Partly thanks to the government support through the Eurostar program and the Innovation Credit, the company grew from 2 to over 50 employees. Mimetas also opened a branch in the US and the company entered into a new partnership with Japan. Co-director Jos Joore: “Medical innovations such as Mimetas are not possible without support of the government.” You can read the full press release (in Dutch) here. Click here for more information about Mimetas.
The Dutch government and the European Investment Bank have set up a new fund to help fast-growing young companies fulfill their enormous potential and provide them with the necessary capital.
Paul Vulto of Mimetas, which develops methods for testing medicine in microscopic human tissues in microfluidic chips, has been interviewed as Mimetas is a good example of such a company. You can see the interview below and/or read the full article (in Dutch) here.
More information about Mimetas.
Inno4Life, machine building company in the life science industries, will receive an investment from the Brabant Development Agency (BOM), Holland Venture, TIIN Capital and ZIF. Inno4Life uses the investment for the development of serialization equipment solutions in packaging machines for medicines and to accelerate the international growth of the company. Inno4Life provides integrated tailor-made solutions and machines that meet the ever changing needs within the Life Sciences sector, especially in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. The machines and automation solutions from Inno4Life include packaging processes for track & tracing of medicines. Inno4Life develops and builds machines for the top ten pharmaceutical companies worldwide. The organization offers solutions to companies in various areas e.g. automated filling systems, loading systems and fits robot and vision technology. The pharmaceutical industry is continuously changing as a result of mergers or reorganizations. The level of automation intensifies, prices are under pressure and legislation is getting stricter. Johan Klootwijk, CEO Inno4Life: "Innovations in production processes are necessary for pharmaceutical companies. Companies have to comply with increasingly strict legislation and at the same time produce more efficiently and more effectively than competitors. Partly because of these developments, it is essential that specialist suppliers innovate continuously." Innovation by new legislation In 2019 all packages of prescription medicines need to be provided with a unique code. Pharmaceutical manufacturers print these unique codes on the packaging. Pharmacists scan this unique code to determine the authenticity of the medicine before they give it to patients. Inno4Life provides expertise and solutions for pharmaceutical companies to meet this new legislation. "Our ambition is to increase our reputation as an international supplier of automated production equipment," continues Klootwijk. "By leading the way in providing customer specific, innovative solutions with exceptional customer service, we offer our customers the best possible service. With the knowledge and the capital of these investors we can pursue our international growth ambitions. " More information about Inno4Life Merijn of Bright TV visits Soteria Medical, a company that focuses on the development of medical equipment. With the MRI-compatible manipulator prostate cancer can already be accurately discovered at an early stage. Partly thanks to the investment of PPM Oost, Deventer company is able to save on healthcare expenses in hospitals worldwide by means of ScopeControl and GuideControl DOVIDEQ medical can now make keyhole surgeries with rigid endoscopes even safer for patients and save on healthcare expenses. In addition to the ScopeControl to inspect endoscopes, the Deventer company has now developed the GuideControl to test the accompanying light cables for possible flaws. Together with the Zeeuwse InvesteringsFonds, participation company PPM Oost invests in DOVIDEQ to sell both innovations internationally to more hospitals. Both test devices can be used by hospitals in the central sterile services department (CSSD). Here, all the instruments are cleaned, inspected and sterilised after surgery before the next use. The ScopeControl is the only test device in the world that inspects the optical quality of endoscopes for image clarity, colouration, light transmittance and viewing angles. The ScopeControl also tests for flaws, residual moisture and broken lenses. The GuideControl quickly and easily checks whether the light cables for the endoscopes still function properly. Without the ScopeControl and GuideControl, surgeons often only discover during surgery that the endoscope doesn't function properly. Stopping surgeries Failure of endoscopes leads to surgeries having to be stopped. 'Surgeons and hospitals would like to prevent that,' Bert Dommerholt, director'/owner of Dovideq, says. 'If an endoscope or light cable needs to be replaced, this results in extra costs on the one hand. Additionally, this brings risks for the patient. In acute situations, a surgeon is sometimes forced to decide to open up a patient after all, because there is simply no time to wait for a new endoscope. Thanks to the ScopeControl, we can guarantee with a high degree of certainty that the endoscope functions properly. By adding the GuideControl to this, surgeons also know that the light cables are in order.' Dommerholt, who has previously worked at Philips Medical, started the development of the ScopeControl in 2009 together with Menno de Braak, after he'd been approached by hospital St Jansdal in Harderwijk to develop a device that could test endoscopes. Worldwide scale The ScopeControl has now been available for a few years and is already used in hospitals from the United States to Australia, in small numbers. The GuideControl has only recently been launched, but the interest of hospitals from all over the world is extensive. With the investment of PPM Oost and the Zeeuws InvesteringsFonds, DOVIDEQ can continue the further development of the GuideControl on the one hand. Additionally, the marketing and sales team is expanded to sell both the light cable tester and the ScopeControl. Dommerholt: 'We receive many glowing reviews from surgeons all over the world. However, the sales processes often take long due to the complicated decision-making at hospitals. We also use the financing to get our devices into operating rooms more quickly via rental, for instance. This allows us to truly make a difference for more patients and demonstrably lower the expenses of more hospitals.' Standard endoscopes DOVIDEQ has expanded its service by gathering the measurement data from the ScopeControl and the GuideControl in the cloud and making this available to the hospitals. No standards apply to endoscopes and the optical values are kept secret by the endoscope manufacturers. By gathering the data of new and used endoscopes worldwide, DOVIDEQ expects to be able to set a standard for endoscopes. More information about DOVIDEQ. At 21 september Toxys was awarded a €50.000 grant for a head-start project to further develop the ReproTracker. Toxys is dedicated to develop innovative in vitro toxicity assays that provide insight into the mechanisms of toxicity. Toxys’ lead product ToxTracker is a genotoxicity assay that provides mechanistic insight into genotoxicity and is available on the market. Toxys has now applied their knowledge and expertise to validate a novel assay, ReproTracker, which provides mechanistic insight into reproductive toxicity. About ReproTracker ReproTracker is an in vitro assay to visualise the key events during early embryonic development and thereby reliably assess the potential developmental toxicity hazards of new drugs and products. ReproTracker meets the strong demand from industry for better in vitro tests to predict human health hazards of their products during the early phases of product development. The assay is build on the technical and scientific background that has been developed by Toxys. We will combine our expertise on stem cell differentiation with the reporter technology that was applied in our ToxTracker assay and generate the ReproTracker reporter system that can identify developmental toxicity upon exposure to novel drugs, chemicals and materials. About EIT Health Toxys was awarded the head-start project from EIT Health, which is one of the largest healthcare initiatives worldwide. Its goal is to sustainably advance the foundations of healthcare and thus promote the future conditions for healthier living and wellbeing of people across Europe. EIT Health is leveraging the expertise of more than 130 leading organisations spanning key areas of healthcare such as Pharma, MedTech, Payers, Research Institutions and Universities. Chosen by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to form EIT Health, the consortium offers best-in-class research capabilities, higher education and business expertise. With a budget of 2 billion EUR over the next decade, it will purposefully invest in Europe’s best entrepreneurial talents and creative minds to foster the development and commercialisation of smart product and service solutions in the health sector, addressing the challenges imposed by demographic change and ageing societies. More information about Toxys. On the 17th of March, at the ‘Health Valley Event 2016’, the finale of the ‘Health Innovation Award 2016’ was held. From the 100 entries the 1000 attendees have chosen DOVIDEQ Medical as the winner. The price of € 15,000 was received by Bert Dommerholt of DOVIDEQ Medical. Health Valley Event The ‘Health Valley Event’ is a big annual conference in the field of healthcare innovation where over 60 e-health innovations can be seen. More information about 'Health Valley'. More information about DOVIDEQ Medical. To strengthen the commercial team and for financing further international growth, Eaglet Eye launched a crowdfunding campaign on February 1st at ‘Collin Crowd Fund'. Successfully! Within 8 hours they raised the required capital of € 300.000. More information about 'Collin Crowdfund'. More information about Eaglet Eye. Inno4Life will now offer UniSolve serialization software as an integrated turnkey solution to the Pharma and Life Science markets. Systech International, a global leader in brand protection technologies, announces the addition of Inno4Life, an internationally recognized Original Equipment Manufacturer in Life Science equipment solutions, to its UnisolveTM partner program. As such, Inno4Life will now offer UniSolve serialization software as an integrated turnkey solution to the Pharma and Life Science markets. The companies have a history of success working together to support the packaging and serialization needs of a variety of clients in the global biotech and pharmaceutical spaces. To assist these clients to rapidly respond to new regulatory deadlines, Inno4Life serialization and aggregation equipment is now available with pre-configured Systech’s UniSolve serialization software. Inno4Life will also be a ‘resident partner’ in Systech’s training and demonstration facility at its European headquarters in Brussels. This allows Systech’s regional clientele to participate in live training and active demonstrations showcasing UniSolve’s seamless integration with Inno4Life’s packaging hardware. "We're very pleased with this partnership. Inno4Life’s in-depth knowledge of automated integration equipment in the pharmaceutical industry complements the position of Systech as a global market leader in serialization software systems," says Johan Klootwijk, managing director, Inno4Life. More information about Inno4Life. Industries are continuously developing new types of substances that are used in the manufacturing of new products, such as medicines, cosmetics and food. These substances should be thoroughly tested for safety before they can be marketed. Industry, however, is experiencing limitations with the tests that are required in the legislation, and it happens far too frequently that a substance is wrongly classified as being either safe or harmful. As a result of these erroneous tests, unnecessary investments are made in harmful substances, and the development of valuable drug candidates is terminated improperly. The innovative biotech company Toxys from Leiden has solved this problem by developing a much better test, the ToxTracker assay. ToxTracker is a unique test, based on stem cell technology, which is able to very quickly and reliably identify the main cancer-causing properties of new materials. The substance to be tested is dripped onto the test plate (assay), developed by Toxys. Following this, there is a reaction, and data is collected and interpreted. The test is more sensitive and specific than the tests that are currently available. The Toxys test reduces the percentage of current in vitro false test results from 30% to 3%. "We obviously see to what extent they are toxic, but what is really unique is that we provide mechanistic insight into the various harmful properties of materials," says Dr. Giel Hendriks, the founder of Toxys. "By understanding how substances react in our cells, we can determine much more reliably if they are possibly carcinogenic or not." Great benefits for industry It is of great importance for companies that the materials and ingredients they use have no harmful effects on human health. If new substances or ingredients are to be put into the products, companies want to know as soon as possible whether it is worthwhile to invest further in the development of a substance, or if for health reasons it is not suitable. Significant adverse effects may result if the toxicity only emerges once the product is being used, which may lead to health problems, damage claims, and loss of reputation. Another advantage of the ToxTracker technique is that fewer test animals are needed. Pharmaceutical and chemical substances with the strongest carcinogenic properties are eliminated, and therefore do not need to be tested on animals. Investment ZIF & InnovationQuarter Toxys is using the investment to bring the existing products to the markets, to accelerate the development of new tests, and to move to a private laboratory. "With this investment Toxys can work on new innovative tests and services, and thereby contribute to the development of better drugs and safer products," says Giel Hendriks. Johan Sebregts, Fund Manager of ZIF: "From the first meeting on, we were impressed with the performance of Toxys. The validated test, the involvement of LUMC and Leiden University, and the fact that there are various reputable clients gave us immediate confidence. This, coupled with new product developments and the growing market for early stage testing, ensures that we have great confidence in the potential of Toxys. Through the investment of ZIF and InnovationQuarter, and the contribution of our knowledge and experience, we want to contribute to the realization of Toxys’s growth." Toxys is a spin-off from the Department of Human Genetics at Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) and was founded in 2014 by scientist Giel Hendriks. More information about Toxys. MIMETAS has received 1.6 million USD funding for development of an organ-on-a-chip model for neurotoxicity. The aim of the project is to improve existing neurotoxicity tests and to reduce experimentation on animals. A panel of experts from BASF, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Abbvie, NC3Rs and renowned academic institutions has selected the MIMETAS solution from a lineup of strong competitors. MIMETAS will lead the consortium, which also includes the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (Utrecht, The Netherlands) and Cellular Dynamics International (Wisconsin, USA). “It is extremely rewarding for the MIMETAS team and our partners to win this prestigious project under strong competition”, says MIMETAS Managing Director Jos Joore, “It offers yet another stage to showcase the versatility of our organ-on-a-chip platform in this field with large unmet needs”. The funding is awarded in the context of the Neuratect CRACK IT Challenge to support development of better predictive, high-throughput, animal-free models for neurotoxicity of medicines and chemicals. The consortium will use the funds to develop, analyze and validate high-throughput neurotoxicity models using MIMETAS OrganoPlate™ technology with CDI’s iPS neurons. The resulting models will be applied to predict neurotoxicity and seizure induction, helping to reduce animal experimentation. The CRACK IT Challenge is organized by the UK-based National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs). In 2014, MIMETAS secured a 1.6-million-dollar NC3Rs project targeting kidney toxicity. More information about MIMETAS. On Thursday December the 3rd, MIMETAS has won the annual contest for the GameChanger of the Year award. Magazine Management Team organized the contest for the third time in a row with former winners 2theloo and Coolblue. A GameChanger is a visionary strategist in a leading position in mid-sized to large companies with ideas and power to change the game in his market and with proven success in revenues and results. More information about 'GameChanger' More information about MIMETAS. ‘Ideas from Europe 'is a Dutch competition with the search for potentially successful companies in Europe, in partnership with governments, private partners and TEDx communities from the 28 EU Member States. The initiative from TedxBinnenhof aims to show that Europe’s future is in the hands of today’s innovative entrepreneurs. By sharing their ideas they will inspire and encourage people to use their entrepreneurial spirit and, in turn, become the lifeblood of Europe’s economy. The ten most inspiring Ideas from Europe with the potential to change the world have been selected by an International jury. These will be presented in full on March 31 2016 at the Knights Hall in The Hague. Jos Joore from Mimetas will represent the Netherlands. More information about 'Ideas from Europe. More information about MIMETAS. |
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