Four Innovative Irish Medical Start-Ups Granted €18m In EU Funding (Business Plus | Ireland)
date: 20/06/2023
Irish companies have secured €129m through EIC competitions since the start of the Commission's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme in 2021, and Enterprise Ireland assists entrepreneurs with their submissions.
University of Galway healthcare technology spin-out Luminate Medical builds devices to prevent and control the side effects of cancer treatment, including its Lily device, which prevents chemotherapy-induced hair loss.
Aaron Hannon, co-founder and CEO of Luminate, said the funding was "clear recognition of the scale of the unmet clinical needs in the cancer care space, like hair loss, that have such an impact on the day-to-day lives of people living with cancer.
"Having been evaluated by expert panels at several stages, this is also a major endorsement of our team and our approach," he added.
UL spin-out Hooke Bio has developed an ultra-high-throughput screening microfluidic platform called Mera for improved drug screening in the early drug discovery phase, and NovaUCD's BioSimulytics is developing a platform for faster, more accurate and predictable drug development.
Mark Lyons, CEO of Hooke Bio said the EIC funding would enable the company to bring Mera to market sooner, with BioSimulytics CEO and co-founder Peter F Doyle commenting that it was "a game changer" for his company.
"For too long now, the process of getting from molecules to medicines in the pharmaceutical industry has been far too slow and expensive, with low success rates," he continued.
"The BioSimulytics platform, which combines AI neural networks, quantum physics and high-performance computing technologies to accurately simulate and predict the crystal structures of molecules, addresses a major headache and bottleneck in the drug development process and promises to dramatically improve the speed, cost and success of bringing new medicines to market to help save millions of lives worldwide."
Finally, Dublin's Celtic Biotech is developing novel drug therapies for the treatment of solid cancers and pain in humans, which could ultimately have the potential to increase survival, improve quality of life and reduce treatment costs for cancer patients.
"Our clinical programme is presently targeting the huge unmet need for patients suffering late-stage non-small cell lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer related deaths," said Dr Paul Reid, CEO of Celtic Biotech.
"The EIC Accelerator Funding will enable us to complete Phase I of the clinical trials."
EIC provides funding of up to €2.5m combined with equity ranging from €500,000 to €15m in a blended finance offer to high-potential, high-risk start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs.
Over 550 applications were submitted this year, with 139 companies subsequently selected for interview, and 51 funding awards of a combined €261m made to companies in 17 countries.
Overall, 15 of the 51 companies have a female CEO, chief technical officer, or chief scientific officer, but half of the successful Irish companies have a female co-founder or C-level executive.
“Today’s announcement is an endorsement of the wealth and depth of innovation arising out of the Irish research ecosystem," said Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland.
"The success of the four companies in this call reflects the direct support they receive at different stages of their journey from our research commercialisation, EIC, High Potential Start-Up and sector teams," he added.
"Furthermore, it is particularly welcome to see that half of the successful projects have a female inclusive leadership team which supports Enterprise Ireland’s strategic ambition to increase the participation of women in entrepreneurship and business leadership.”