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The awardees, with the acting rector of the UB, Jordi Alberch, the acting president of the Board of Trustees, Joan Corominas, the director-general of Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, Jordi Naval, and other participants in the ceremony (Photo: UB)
 24.11.2016

Minoryx Therapeutics wins the 2016 of Senén Vilaró Prize for best innovative company

Minoryx Therapeutics ––located at TecnoCampus Mataró-Maresme, with laboratories at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB)– has won the 2016 Senén Vilaró Prize for best innovative company, one of the four awards conferred by the Board of Trustees of the University of Barcelona and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG). The Ramon Margalef Prize of the Board of Trustees to the best article published in a distinguished journal in the field of experimental sciences and health was for Benjamí Oller Salvia, for a  research developed during his doctoral thesis at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) at the PCB.

 

On November 24, the Aula Magna of the Historical Building held the ceremony for the Prizes of the Board of Trustees and Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG). In the event, chaired by the Acting Rector of the University of Barcelona, Jordi Alberch, Josep M. Gatell, Professor of the UB and Head of the research team Infectious Diseases and AIDS, gave a conference. There was the participation of the acting President of the Board of Trustees of the UB, Joan Corominas, and the Director-General of the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG), Jordi Naval.

Minoryx Therapeutics, the winner of Senén Vilaró Prize for the best innovative, is a company specialized in the discovery and development of new drugs to treat rare diseases which affect children and teenagers. It was created in 2011, with the support and counselling of Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, by Marc Martinell, Xavier Barril and Joan Aymamí. In 2015, this spinoff of the University of Barcelona closed a financial round of 19,4 million euros, the biggest round reached by a biotec in Catalonia up to that moment, led by Ysios Capital and with the participation of Caixa Capital Risc, Health Equity and international investors such as Roche Venture Fund, Kurma Partners and Chiesi Ventures.

The Ramon Margalef Prize of the Board of Trustees to the best article published in a distinguished journal in the field of experimental sciences and health was for Benjamí Oller Salvia, for his design of a molecule, in particular a peptide created out of bees’ poison, which can be an important contribution to increase the efficiency of drugs that treat diseases in the central nervous system. The substance transfer from blood to the brain is strictly controlled by a cell barrier that tries to stop the coming in of external agents and infections. This protective function, however, is an impassable choice for most drugs aimed to treat diseases in the central nervous system, ranging from cancers to several minority diseases. There is a whole line of research –in which the doctoral thesis of Dr. Oller Salvia belongs- by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) dedicated to peptide shuttles to cross this barrier.