Presentation of the Last Four 2010 Finalists

Cell Therapy Limited (CTL) is a breakthrough biotech company founded in 2009 by Prof. Sir Martin Evans, Chief Scientific Officer, and Prof. Dr. Ajan Reginald, CEO, to develop an innovative new class of drugs based on the autologous adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) technology platform. It focuses on innovative biomedicine and development of personalized medicine. Dr. Reginald has great experience within the biomedical field with an extensive business network that will be of great importance for the development of CTL. Sir Martin Evans received the Nobel Prize for his stem cell research in 2007. His experience and competence within the field will be of great importance during the research and development process.

The company is located at Cardiff Medicentre, Heath Park in Wales, where it could take advantage of the well-developed research facilities of the area. It is also near universities and other important actors on the market, a positive note for future recruting and collaborations.

OPHTIMALIA provides innovative electronic solutions dedicated to the diagnostics and treatment of eye pathologies. The company currently focuses on portable systems measuring continuously the Intra-Ocular Pressure (IOP), to assist in the diagnostics and the treatment of glaucoma.

OPHTIMALIA was created in September 2009. The 4 initial founders come from NXP (a former Philips division), and totalize more than 75 years of international experience in micro-electronics for a wide range of applications, from research up to business management. Our offices are located in Caen, Campus EffiScience, France, and in the Vision Institute (Institut de la Vision) in Paris, France. OPHTIMALIA is strongly supported by the Institut de la Vision and was one of the first two companies to take offices in the newly created incubator. In June 2010 the French Ministry of Research and OSEO rewarded OPHTIMALIA as Laureate in the 2010 national contest supporting the creation and the development of innovative technology companies.

Mellitech SAS, a biopharmaceutical and drug discovery company, engages in the discovery and development of anti-diabetics, diagnostic methods, and a functional imaging technology for the pancreas.
The company’s two lead projects are:
• The development of 1st-in-class ZnT8 agonists for type 2 diabetes through to phase I, at which point it will be licensed out. Mellitech’s lead compound will enter regulatory pre-clinicals in February. ZnT8 is a major new T2D target (Science, Nature, Nature Genetics, Diabetes, Diabetologia, Diabetes Care, PNAS 2007-2010) that is expected to revolutionize diabetes treatment and follow-up.
• The development of a functioning beta cell imaging technology based on Mellitech’s IP protected anti-body. Management’s current target is to licence-out the technology in late 2011, once the proof of concept in animal has been achieved (mid 2011).

XL Protéin is a privately owned German biopharmaceutical company utilizing its proprietary PASylation® technology to develop second generation biopharma¬ceuticals with prolonged plasma half-life. PASylation® of therapeutic proteins allows less frequent and lower dosing combined with better tolerability, also opening perspectives for follow-on products of approved biopharmaceuticals. PASylation®, the genetic fusion with conformationally disordered polypeptide sequences composed of the amino acids Pro, Ala, and Ser, provides a superior way to attach a solvated random chain with large hydrodynamic volume to a biologically active protein. Thus, its typically rapid clearance via kidney filtration can be retarded by a factor 10 to 100. In contrast to established strategies to extend plasma half-life such as chemical conjugation with polyethylene glycol (PEG), the biological PAS moiety is fully biodegradable, biochemically inert, and does not require in vitro coupling.