Two UK Companies Shortlisted for EuropaBio Most Innovative EU Biotech SME Award

UK companies dominate the shortlist for this year's EuropaBio Most Innovative EU Biotech SME Award. Entering its fourth year, the award has grown rapidly, with applications coming from all three sectors of biotechnology - healthcare, industrial and agricultural, all providing solutions to major societal unmet needs.

This year, two out of the five shortlisted firms come from the UK:
• e-Therapeutics, a UK biotech SME based in Oxford and Newcastle has pioneered 'network pharmacology,' a new approach to drug discovery based on advances in network science and chemical biology, with which it seeks novel treatments for complex diseases, principally cancer and disorders of the nervous system.
• PsiOxus Therapeutics, based in Oxfordshire, is developing a new approach to cancer therapy by using the processes of directed evolution to develop a virus that is a potent killer of cancer cells but with minimal effects on normal healthy cells.

Steve Bates, BIA Chief Executive Officer, said: "Having two out of the five shortlisted companies shows the strength of the UK biotech sector in Europe. It is great to see BIA member companies getting the recognition they deserve in this prestigious European competition."

The award will be presented during the first ever European Biotechnology Week, at an event in Brussels on 2 October.

The shortlisted companies have received two year's free membership of EuropaBio, and the over-all winner will receive €10,000.