Start-Ups in Brief (4/03)
Executive Summary
In Vivo Europe Rx briefly summarizes the technologies of four recent European start-ups: Belgium's 4 AZA Bioscience NV, Germany's responsif GMBH, the UK's Sphere Medical Ltd., and Switzerland's Xigen SA.
4 AZA Bioscience NV
Kapucijnenvoer 33
3000 Leuven
Belgium
Phone: +32 16 29 29 23
Fax: +32 16 29 06 92
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.4aza.com
Management: Benoît Verjans, CEO; Valery Libert, PhD, CSO; Mark Waer, PhD, Piet Herdewijn, PhD, Wolfgang Pfleiderer, PhD, Scientific Founders
Company Founded: April 2002
Financing to Date: $ 4.7 million (€4.5 million)
Investors: Capricorn Venture Fund II; Fortis Private Equity; Fagus; KBC Investco; Gemma Frisius Fund, University of Leuven.
Employees: Undisclosed
Partners/Alliances: University of Leuven
Industry Segment: Pharmaceuticals
Business: Spun-off from the University of Leuven with a library of 1500 heterocyclic compounds and proprietary discovery tools, 4 AZA Bioscience will develop novel T-cell inhibitors for immune diseases and related compounds for neurodegenerative disease and cancer.
responsif GMBH
Ulrich-Schalk-Strasse 3
91056 Erlangen
Germany
Phone: +49 9131 75088 400
Fax: +49 9131 75088 439
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.responsif.de
Management: Christian Reiser, PhD, Managing Director
Company Founded: December 2002
Financing to Date: Undisclosed
Investors: Undisclosed
Employees: 15
Partners/Alliances: november AG
Industry Segment: Biotechnology
Business: responsif was spun-out of november AG to commercialize therapeutic vaccines for cancer. The company's technology involves ex vivo treatment of cells from a patient's tumor, then reinjection of those cells to trigger an immune response and destroy any remaining metastasized cells.
Sphere Medical Ltd.
Harston Mill
Harston, Cambridge CB2 5GG
UK
Phone: +44 1223 875225
Fax: +44 1223 875201
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.spheremedical.com
Management: Stuart Hendry, PhD, CEO; Gavin Troughton, PhD, VP Business
Development
Company Founded: September 2002
Financing to Date: $567,000 (€525,000); $7.5 million round in progress.
Investors: Siemens Technology Accelerator; Generics Group AG
Employees: 8
Partners/Alliances: Siemens AG
Industry Segment: Molecular and Clinical Diagnostics
Business: Sphere Medical was formed around microelectrochemical systems (MEMS) silicon sensing technology acquired from Siemens, and has also in-licensed molecular imprinting technology. The company will use its platform, which combines numerous chemical sensors on a single silicon chip along with integrated electronic drive circuitry, to build low-cost, real-time diagnostic and analytical
products.
Xigen SA
Chemin des Falaises 1
CH-1005 Lausanne
Switzerland
Phone: +41 21 314 33 96
Fax: +41 21 314 33 85
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.xigen.ch
Management: Peter Harboe-Schmidt, CEO; Christophe Bonny, PhD, CSO
Company Founded: January 2002
Financing to Date: Undisclosed
Investors: Private
Employees: 4
Partners/Alliances: University Hospital of Lausanne
Industry Segment: Biotechnology
Business: Xigen is developing novel anti-apoptotic small peptide drugs designed to block undesired intracellular protein-protein interactions that underlie a variety of diseases and disorders including Type 1 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and hearing loss.
Send information on your start-up to [email protected]