The AIM-HI Accelerator Fund recently announced that the winners of the 2023 Women’s Venture Competition are March Biosciences and its CEO, Sarah Hein, PhD as the First Prize with Distinction, and Degron Therapeutics and its Co-founder and CEO, Lily Zou, Ph.D., MBA as the Second Prize. The blue-ribbon judge committee members selected them from 71 female-led and early-stage oncology companies across 15 countries.
The winners were also recognized at a Luncheon Award Ceremony with certificates and honorariums during the 2023 Global Summit and Award Ceremonies for Cancer Research & Entrepreneurship, co-hosted by AIM-HI and the National Foundation for Cancer Research on October 21, 2023, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
March Biosciences developed the MB-105 T-cell therapy for T-cell lymphoma (TCL) and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), indications with few treatment options and an exceptionally poor prognosis that leave patients little room for hope. And the Phase 1 clinical trial has demonstrated strong efficacy and safety signals, with multiple long-term survivors in remission years after treatment.
Degron Therapeutics designed and synthesized a unique molecular glue degrader (MGD) compound library known as the GlueXplorer platform. And it utilizes its platform in combination with phenotypic screening, proteomic screening, and AI to accelerate the development of novel drugs for previously undruggable targets in oncology. The lead program – a first-in-class MGD of an “undruggable” RNA binding protein that regulates critical cancer survival pathways – will enter clinical trials for multiple oncology indications with high unmet needs.
Along with the first and second-place winners, Delee was selected as The 2023 People’s Choice for “Best Pitch” by a public audience voting for their favorite pitch presentation during the 2023 Women’s Venture Competition selection process. Led by 26-year-old Liza Velarde, Co-founder and CEO, Delee has developed a circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection technology (CytoCatch), involving a simple blood test and lab-on-a-chip technology for early cancer detection and monitoring of applied treatment effectiveness.
AIM-HI also launched the Women’s Venture Competition in 2020 to empower women scientist-entrepreneurs who are underfunded and underserved in the life science industry and create a sustaining impact for cancer patients through their worldwide ventures. And AIM-HI harnesses the collective efforts of donors, visionary scientists, and entrepreneurs through its venture philanthropy approach to advance the development of promising discoveries to breakthrough therapies for patients.
The 2023 committees are comprised of the following persons (listed in alphabetical order):
— Anna D. Barker, Ph.D., Chief Strategy Officers, Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine
— Webster K. Cavenee, Ph.D., Director of Strategic Alliances, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
— Yijing (Jane) Chen, Ph.D., Associate, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
— Aleksandra Filipovic, M.D., Ph.D., Head of Oncology, PureTech Health
— Pamela Garzone, Ph.D., Chief Development Officers, Anixa Biosciences
— Dimitra Georganopoulou, Ph.D., Innovation Faculty, MIT linQ CATALYST and General Partner of Qral Ventures
— Raju Kucherlapati, Ph.D., Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
— Brian Leyland-Jones, M.B., B.S., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer, National Foundation for Cancer Research
— Scott Lippman, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Medicine & Associate Vice Chancellor for Cancer Research, UC San Diego Health
— Beverly Lu, Ph.D., Investment Manager, Health, Emerson Collective
— Jimmy Lu, J.D., MBA, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Eos BioInnovation
— Eva Martin, M.D., Senior Director, Alliance and Asset Management, Roche Pharma Partnering
— Tom Miller, Founder and Managing Partner, GreyBird Ventures
— Gregory W. Mitchell, Ph.D., J.D., Of Counsel, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
— Kornelia Polyak, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
— Fei Shen, Ph.D., Managing Director, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund USA
— Suzanne Topalian, M.D., Associate Director, Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Johns Hopkins University
— Kevin Tylock, Ph.D., J.D., Associate, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
KEY QUOTES:
“I am truly humbled to accept this prestigious award on behalf of March Biosciences. The journey has been one of passion, perseverance, and collaboration building off the breakthrough innovations from leading scientists at Baylor College of Medicine. This recognition from AIM-HI is an acknowledgment of our hard work and an affirmation of our technology platform. Thank you for this incredible honor, and together, we will continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the fight against cancer.”
— Dr. Hein
“In an environment where numerous medical breakthroughs and transformative technologies struggle to progress into viable treatments due to limited funding for early-stage enterprises often deemed too risky for conventional venture capital or biopharmaceutical firms, the hurdles are even greater for women-led ventures. The Women’s Venture Competition’s goal of bolstering women-led startups at the forefront of life-saving innovations through strategic partnerships and empowering these enterprises with access to our global network of influential thought leaders is what drives AIM-HI to recognize and award these women-led oncology startups to continue their vital work in our collective effort to beat cancer.”
— Sujuan Ba, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of AIM-HI
