Thursday, December 10, 2009
The winner of the NGI Venture Challenge Fall 2009 was announced on 9 December, during the annual Life Sciences Capitals event.
Yet to be formally established, Pluriomics intends to develop and commercialise predictive human cardiotoxicity screening platforms, based on human stem cell technology. This spin-off company will be housed at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC).
Key reasons for the jury to select Pluriomics as winner of the NGI Venture Challenge Fall 2009 are that Pluriomics addresses a clear market need with a unique solution, is building strong strategic technological and market alliances, and has a solid team, including an experienced CEO.
The prize money of € 25,000 will be used to start up the financing process.
More on the NGI Venture Challenge
The Venture Challenge is one of the Netherlands Genomics Initiative’s activities aimed at stimulating and supporting Life Sciences researchers in translating their inventions into viable business ideas.
The Venture Challenge is a ‘must-do’ opportunity for all aspiring Life Sciences entrepreneurs, it offers access to coaching and advice on various elements of setting up a business, thereby paving the way for their future success.
www.venturechallenge.nl
More on Pluriomics
Pluriomics intends to develop innovative stem cell-based human model systems for the pharmaceutical industry to screen drugs for toxic effects on the heart, and to discover drug targets for treating heart diseases. Toxic effects on the heart have frequently prompted the removal of drugs from the market, highlighting the need for better assays to reliably screen for these toxic effects at a preclinical stage. Human stem cell technology provides a reproducible source of functional human heart muscle cells. Based on a combination of these human heart cells and microfabrication technology, different platforms for drug toxicity screening, as well as heart disease models, are being developed in collaboration with Philips Research and Delft University of Technology.
A unique feature of the technology is the option to screen for drug induced cardiotoxicity during physical exercise.