Elsevier chooses 4 biotech start-up firms for R+D project “The Hive”
Posted: 21 October 2016 | Niamh Louise Marriott, Digital Content Producer | 1 comment
All four firms will receive training and access to Elsevier’s suite of information solutions, to empower their work and help overcome R&D challenges…
Four start-up companies have been selected for The Hive, Elsevier‘s new incubator project for biotech and pharmaceutical start-up firms.
Arctic Pharma, Rubius Therapeutics, Reset Therapeutics and Myelo Therapeutics were selected for demonstrating their commitment to addressing areas of high needs in therapeutics. All four firms will receive complimentary training and access to Elsevier’s suite of information solutions, to empower their work and help overcome R&D bottlenecks and challenges.
“The goals of The Hive are to highlight the incredible innovation taking place in the pharmaceutical and biotech space and the important role that small biotech start-ups play in the origin of drug discoveries,” said Alexander Van Boetzelaer, Managing Director, Elsevier’s R&D Solutions. “The four companies we selected for The Hive are exceptional examples of the kind of cutting-edge research that is happening in the industry. We believe that each one has the potential to drive successful pharmaceutical outcomes and improve the lives of patients.”
The winning companies
Elsevier’s R&D Solutions aims to fuel research and decision-making in early stage drug discovery and development. The four start-ups that are part of The Hive will be using Elsevier’s tools to support their research into the following areas:
- Arctic Pharma is developing anti-cancer drugs by exploiting the ‘sweet tooth’ of cancer cells and their peculiar metabolic features. Key enzymes that are upregulated in cancer cell metabolism are targeted with inhibitors designed at Arctic Pharma. This supports Arctic Pharma’s development of new pharmaceuticals to combat cancer that exhibit few side effects.
- Rubius Therapeutics, founded by Flagship VentureLabs, is using breakthrough science to develop an entirely new class of therapy. Red-Cell Therapeutics (RCTs) have the potential to treat a wide array of diseases including rare genetic disorders, metabolic conditions, cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases.
- Myelo Therapeutics is developing treatments in areas of high unmet medical needs. Its lead compound, Myelo001, is an orally applied small molecule. MyeloConcept, a phase IIa clinical trial, currently investigates the efficacy of Myelo001 in reducing the occurrence of Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia (CIN), a side effect of cytotoxic chemotherapy that can delay treatment.
- Reset Therapeutics is a discovery-stage biopharma company developing first-in-class approaches to treating diseases by restoring the body’s natural 24-hour, or circadian, rhythms. Reset’s pipeline includes new chemical entities designed to treat Cushing’s disease, type-2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders and narcolepsy and other disorders associated with excessive daytime sleepiness.
Dr Claudia McDonald Bøen, CEO of Arctic Pharma, said, “As a small start-up company, the opportunity to be part of The Hive is significant. It will give us access to trustworthy data that will help us make better informed decisions on lead compound selections, and increase our productivity and scientific progress by reducing the time we spend searching data to find everything that is relevant.”
The Hive will engage the wider pharma R&D community via case studies and other digital content featuring the participants; which will be widely-promoted throughout Elsevier’s online and social networks. For more information on The Hive click here
Related topics
Funding
Related organisations
Arctic Pharma, Elsevier, Myelo Therapeutics, Rubius Therapeutics
Interesting!
Keep it up!