Amylon Therapeutics Targeting Central Nervous System Disorders Wins Startup Slam Competition at BIO-Europe Berlin

Thomas de Vlaam, CEO and founder of Amylon Therapeutics, will receive a complimentary registration to BIO-Europe Spring 2018 from EBD Group and the opportunity to enter a year-long no fee arrangement to become a J&J Innovation, JLINX community member.

  • Eight short-listed life sciences startups pitched to expert panel of judges at fourth Startup Slam competition at BIO-Europe® 2017
  • Startup Slam sponsor and co-host Johnson & Johnson Innovation recognise high calibre of diverse European entries, including France, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal, Russia and Switzerland

Berlin, Germany, 8 November 2017 - Amylon Therapeutics was today announced as the winner of the Startup Slam competition at this year’s BIO-Europe® 2017 annual conference in Berlin. Thomas de Vlaam, CEO and founder of Amylon Therapeutics, will receive a complimentary registration to BIO-Europe® Spring 2018 from EBD Group and the opportunity to enter a year-long no fee arrangement to become a Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLINX community member.

Eight international startups from the life sciences sector pitched at this special session, sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Innovation for the fourth year running. All contestants had to present their company and innovation—either a new therapeutic product or medical technology platform—in only three minutes to a floor of experienced investors and potential collaboration partners.

Amylon Therapeutics targets Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders through an ultra-genetics approach, focusing on rare genetic disorders that can serve as a possible gateway to more frequently occurring indications.

Judge Regina Hodits, from Wellington Partners said, “The pitches from all eight finalists were extremely impressive, which made the job of selecting one winner very difficult for me and my fellow judges. We heard from startups involved in cutting-edge research, including using artificial intelligence to treat neurological disorders, developing pioneering products for skin lesions with exosomes secreted from umbilical cord blood cells and cultivating healthy gut bacteria for personalised microbiome therapies. However, Amylon therapeutics stood out because of the potential of their innovation to translate into transformative healthcare solutions for patients.”

Tom Aelbrecht, Head of the Janssen Campus Office (JCO) and Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLINX in Beerse, Belgium, added, “Congratulations to Thomas de Vlaam and we are excited to invite Amylon Therapeutics to be part of the JLINX community. This well-established session provides an exclusive platform for high calibre entrepreneurs to pitch their innovation to a room of influencers and investors who can help advance the most promising science.”

The eight life science companies that presented at this year’s Startup Slam were:

  • Amylon Therapeutics
  • biotx.ai GmbH
  • Exogenus Therapeutics
  • Lumobiotics GmbH
  • MT-Medicals LLC
  • Novadiscovery
  • PharmaBiome
  • ProteoFormiX

Previous Startup Slam winner of 2017 was Laura Soucek of Peptomyc S.L., and the winners of the previous two editions in 2016 were EpiAxis Therapeutics and QureTech Bio.

The expert judges included: Ann Beliën, Founder and CEO, Rejuvenate Biomed; Joris De Maeyer, Venture Coach, bioqube ventures in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLINX; Professor Craig Garner, Prof Charité, Founder SPARK-Berlin; Regina Hodits, General Partner, Wellington Partners and Pavithra Sundaresan, Senior Director, New Ventures and Transactions, Immunology, Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

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