The new BioNtech could be born Bologna by three Italian startups choices from Golinelli Foundation e Criff to grow up and on which the two partners have decided to invest one million euros, time and training. The three selected projects are called Drug Discovery Clinics srl, InSimilar and NovaVido,
The first is a drug that could defeat the disease induced by the new coronavirus, but also a terrible enemy like acute myeloid leukemia. The second is a device that makes the process of selecting drugs faster and more effective through the creation of tissues similar to those of the human body. The third works up polymer retinal prostheses for the recovery of vision following degeneration of the eye. They look like science fiction projects, instead they are the embryo of real products, capable of multiplying well-being and wealth in a world where the future is always lurking, as the pandemic has negatively shown us. And if one lesson we can draw from the Covid experience, it is that life sciences are the beating heart of human enterprise.
The selection of the three projects took place by the Golinelli and Criff Foundation as part of the programme I-Tech Innovation 2021, after the final screening of the call launched in three strategic sectors: Life Sciences/Digital Health, Fintech/Insurtech and FoodTech/Agritech. The investment, as mentioned, is one million euros and the three projects were chosen, among many applications received from Italy and abroad, on the basis of research background, level of technological and scientific know-how, entrepreneurial mentality and attitude, real growth potential as a business. “All projects – reads a note – have a highly innovative content and ample chances of success, are based on important scientific discoveries that could improve the lives of many people”.
Going into even more detail, we learn that Drug Discovery Clinics srl is a spin-off from the University of Turin and wants to bring a new compound called DDC#1 to human trials for the treatment of "Acute Myeloid Leukemia and COVID-19". The drug candidate is the result of a process that lasted more than ten years and is positioned in a highly innovative market for both pathologies. In the treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, of which in Italy there are about two thousand new diagnoses every year (19000 in the USA), DDC#1 selectively induces the death of leukemia cells saving healthy cells. Compared to cells infected with viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 or its variants, in the presence of DDC#1 the virus loses the ability to replicate. Basically, the fact that the molecule can act as a broad-spectrum antiviral, its high potency associated with its low toxicity makes the drug candidate very competitive on the market.
InSimilar is a spin-off of the University of Bologna and brings to the market a device that makes the drug selection process faster and more effective through the creation, in the laboratory plastic, of an environment similar to the tissues of the human body and therefore close to where the drug will act. The startup's project, which uses a patented technology and which won the Emilia Romagna Start Cup competition in 2019, makes it possible to overcome some limitations of the preclinical phase of experimentation with new drugs, as it proposes the use of mimetic environments of human tissues instead of the models currently used in vitro. The goal is to improve the drug selection process, reduce the time and costs of the entire process, limit the use of animal models in the preclinical phase and the testing of ineffective drugs on humans in the clinical phase
Nova Vido is an independent startup and was born from a research project developed over the course of 10 years by the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa with the collaboration of the Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital in Negrar (Verona). The project is based on the use of polymer retinal prostheses for the recovery of vision following retinal degeneration induced by diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. The idea was born from the work of two research groups, one from the Center for Nanoscience and Technology in Milan and one from the Center for Synaptic Neuroscience and Technology in Genoa, who transferred organic technology for the production of solar energy to the field of biostimulation and have demonstrated how the implantation of semiconductor polymers inside the eye of blind rats to replace the photoreceptors allows the almost complete recovery of vision. The aim of the startup is to further develop the product, test it in humans and finally commercialize it. The technology, innovative and revolutionary in its field, could improve the living conditions of thousands of people around the world.
The president of the Golinelli Foundation, Andrea Zanotti, says that, with this step, the two promoters wanted to “help fill Italy's serious evolutionary gap in the technological field compared to the European average. For the life sciences sector, we had planned investments for five startups, but we had to come up against some cultural aspects endemic to our country. The final selection produced a small circle of only three innovative, very valid and convincing companies. The impression, still today, in the third year of activity and the third consecutive tender, is that entrepreneurship training is more necessary than ever, even before the financial investment, as some brilliant ideas risk remaining in the laboratory drawers, if there is not an overall leap forward in the mentality of all the protagonists of the technology transfer and innovation system. Uninvested resources will certainly be reinvested in 2022, but we believe our country needs to step on the accelerator pedal if we want to compete internationally".
Startups will now be involved in G-Force, G-Factor's acceleration program, the incubator-accelerator of the Golinelli Foundation. The teams will enjoy support for the development of their business models, conceived and built on the specificities and concrete needs of each individual project, lasting 7 months, from 12 April to the end of November, with an intensive first phase until July, and a second phase of remote follow-up.
"In the beginning, the scientific technological validation of the product/service will go hand in hand with the entrepreneurial and managerial start-up of the team, in the context of a process aimed at formulating the most correct value proposition to present to investors".
Replicating the success of the brilliant German spouses of Turkish origin who gave life to BioNtech and produced a revolutionary anti-Covid vaccine will not be easy. But the premises are valid and what makes the difference, to bring the ship to port, are the support elements: "Who helps you and how they help you - says Antonio Danieli, general manager and vice president of the Golinelli Foundation – we, for startups, want to be this”.
G-Factor in the thirty months since its inception it has evaluated over 350 projects in the life sciences sector alone, invested in 18 startups, becoming a partner and providing thousands of hours of acceleration. “G-Factor – underlines Danieli – is transforming the high potential of scientists and innovators into entrepreneurial realities capable of successfully establishing themselves on the market. Even for I-Tech Innovation it will be a matter of months of work that sees a close partnership with the startups themselves of which the promoters of the program, Crif and the Golinelli Foundation, have already become members. So there won't be one we and an their but a unique team with a common goal”.
