BioInnovation Institute Creation House program announces intake of four innovative early stage start-up companies

Selected companies all have a solid, initial business plan and proof of concept in place for a novel idea in the therapeutic, health tech and bioindustrial areas for the benefit of society and patients.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Sept. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BioInnovation Institute (BII), an international commercial foundation with a non-profit objective incubating and accelerating world-class life science research, today announces that four companies have joined its Creation House program. Creation House consists of a founder-friendly convertible loan of DKK 10M and 18 months incubation at BII with access to labs and office space, business development support, and BII partners. The program allows participants to meet and interact with BII's network of investors, industry partners, alumni and fellow entrepreneurs across its other programs, and is specifically designed to guide companies to a competitive international level and prepare teams for discussions with investors ahead of series A financing rounds.

In collaboration with the BII team and their network of experts, companies will make a gap-analysis to find weak spots and roll out a development plan with every step needed to reach the milestones on drug development, good manufacturing practice and regulatory strategy.

Bobby Soni, Chief Business Officer, at BioInnovation Institute, commented:

"BII's Creation House program is designed to support start-ups in their journey, and essentially increase the likelihood of success. Through developing the three key pillars: science, team and business, we help each venture to overcome hurdles and position them to attract top quality international investment.  We are delighted to have selected this cohort of initiatives, all of which offer the potential to positively impact the lives of patients suffering from conditions of high unmet medical need."

Creation House is for companies with a solid, initial business plan. In the therapeutic area, a cellular proof of concept with chemical or biological tool compounds is required. In bioindustrials, a proof of concept or MVP (minimal viable product) is required and in health tech, a scale-up ready MVP is required. The new companies BII has accepted into the Creation House program are the following:

Orbit Health: Harnessing sensor and AI technologies, Orbit provides doctors with continuous and objective insights to enable effective personalized treatment and continuous management of chronic patients at home.

iNotify: Focuses on the initial ovarian follicle development to help infertile women who are not benefitting from today's standard hormone treatment.

Embark Biotech: A spin-out from the University of Copenhagen with the aim of pioneering novel drugs for metabolic diseases.

Pephexia Therapeutics: A biotechnology company working with the discovery and development of innovative peptide-based pharmacotherapies for the effective and convenient treatment of cachexia and related diseases.

Since inception in 2018, BII has supported 79 start-ups and projects with EUR 44 million in funding.  BII's start-ups have in total raised more than EUR 112 million from local and international investors. Its diverse team brings venture capital, pharma and business expertise together to help early stage companies accelerate to the next level. Recent portfolio / incubated company successes include Adcendo, Stipe Therapeutics, Twelve Bio, Octarine Bio and Chromologics. 

Details on the companies accepted can be found below:

Orbit Health:

Harnessing sensor and AI technologies, Orbit Health provides doctors with continuous and objective insights to enable effective personalized treatment and continuous management of chronic patients at home.

The Company's first solution, Neptune, is an AI solution that uses only a smartwatch to enable treatment optimization to help people with Parkinson's attain optimal symptom control and restore quality of life. In addition, Orbit Digital Health Lab enables the orchestration of an array of relevant digital health solutions to be applied to a single patient. Orbit brings these solutions from their siloed environment and integrates them into the routine clinical workflow to achieve holistic patient care and real impact.

Our vision is to truly enable early intervention and cost-effective management of chronic conditions by offering breakthrough digital health solutions to enable physicians to tailor and optimize care and empower patients to live their best possible life.

Webpage link: Orbit

iNotify:

iNotify focuses on the initial ovarian follicle development to help infertile women who are not benefitting from today's standard hormone treatment. The Company uses first-in-class drug-inducing factors that regulated the intracellular AKT pathway; a major driver of follicle activation and a signal transductive pathway that promotes survival and growth in response to extracellular signals. The Company has identified and validated a compound that activates the AKT pathway in a controlled manner, and thus supports the activation of dormant follicles, a pre-request for fertility.

Embark Biotech:

Embark Biotech is a spin-out from the University of Copenhagen with the aim of pioneering novel drugs for metabolic diseases. Embark's first program focuses on proprietary agonists to a novel receptor (EMB1), identified by our in-house discovery platform. EMB1 agonists act on adipose cells to absorb and burn sugar and fat, and centrally to reduce food intake. EMB1 has potential in several metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, obesity and genetic forms of obesity such as Prader-Willi Syndrome. The main objective in Embark is to advance the development of an EMB1 agonist within Prader-Willi Syndrome.

The largest unmet need for nearly all genetic forms of obesity is the uncontrolled desire to eat (i.e. hyperphagia). Embark seeks to make a breakthrough in this area by introducing a first-in-class drug countering hyperphagia in the most common form of genetic obesity, Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS).

PWS is an orphan disease characterized by intense hyperphagia, decreased metabolic rate and progressive weight gain accompanied by an increased risk of severe obesity, diabetes and related complications. Currently, no treatment for PWS hyperphagia exists. Embark has developed agonists for a novel receptor, EMB1, which profoundly decreases food intake and improves metabolic health in hyperphagic mouse models and obese, diabetic non-human primates. We expect that further preclinical development in PWS models will specifically reveal its potential for PWS.

Pephexia Therapeutics:

Pephexia Therapeutics is a biotechnology company working with the discovery and development of innovative peptide-based pharmacotherapies for the effective and convenient treatment of cachexia and related diseases. Cachexia is defined as un-intended weight loss of at least 5% in 12 months or less. A range of underlying diseases can cause cachexia, most commonly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cancer, cognitive heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. In cancer, cachexia accounts for 20% of the deaths, and in COPD cachexia is associated with 50% reduction in median survival.

Link webpage: Perphexia Therapeutics 

About the BioInnovation Institute Foundation

The BioInnovation Institute Foundation (BII) is an international commercial foundation with a nonprofit objective supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. BII operates an incubator to accelerate world-class life science innovation that drives the development of new solutions by early life science start-ups for the benefit of people and society.

BII, located in Copenhagen, Denmark, offers start-ups and early-stage projects within health tech, therapeutics, and bioindustrials state-of-the-art labs, vibrant office facilities, business development, start-up business incubation, access to high-level mentoring and international networks, plus unique funding opportunities of up to 1.3 million euro per start-up and 2.4 million euro per project.

Since the inauguration of BII in November 2018, BII has awarded 44 million euros to 79 high-growth start-up companies. Read more on www.bioinnovationinstitute.com