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Neuroscience Technologies wins the 2010 BMW Initiative Award

By 27 de October de 2010November 18th, 2020No Comments
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 27.10.2010

Neuroscience Technologies wins the 2010 BMW Initiative Award

The company Neuroscience Technologies, based at the PCB-Santander Bioincubator of the Barcelona Science Park, has won the 6th edition of the BMW Initiative Award for Innovation. The awards ceremony took place yesterday at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Catalonia (MACBA) in the presence of Josep Hughet, councilor of Innovation, and Eduardo Villaverde, executive president of BMW for Spain and Portugal, amongst other notable guests.

Neuroscience centers its research activity on the development of new drugs that treat neuropathic pain in chronic patients, a problem affecting between 5 and 7% of the world population and which currently does not have an effective treatment. In order to do so Neuroscience uses a technique called microneurography –which consists of introducing a microelectrode in a nerve, with no need for anesthesia-, which enables the quantification of anomalous activity of nervous fibers that transmit pain. This allows for an objective assessment of the amount of pain that the person may be experiencing in that nerve’s innervation territory. Microneurography is performed only in two other centers in the world, and at present there is no other technique that enables the performance of this assessment. It is for this reason that neuropathic pain (pain caused by a nervous system lesion) is so hard to diagnose. Neuroscience’s business model is based on the performance of research and consulting services for the international pharmaceutical industry. It also offers diagnostic services for patients, allowing it to have a translational research model.

The BMW Initiative Award –endowed with 30,000€ – is framed within the BMW Initiative for innovation, the civic and cultural activities programme that the brand launched in 2004 to promote multidisciplinary projects based on the values of innovation and creativity shared with Catalonia in general and with the city of Barcelona in particular. Each year this award recognizes people, companies or institutions that stand out for having embodied the values that the brand wishes to support in their professional activities. The jury is composed of representatives from the local administration and relevant institutions for the city, as well as from BMW itself, with the objective of ensuring that its decisions reflect the city’s different sensitivities.