Lyfebulb-Helsinn Cancer Innovation Summit & Award

Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
January 29-30, 2020

CHALLENGE TIMELINE

January 29, 2020
Registration at Monte Carlo Bay Hotel
January 30, 2020
Public opening of exhibition
January 30, 2020
Jury Deliberation
January 30, 2020
Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony at Yacht Club de Monaco

The Winner

Boston Immune Technologies and Therapeutics

Russell LaMontagne is the CEO of Boston Immune Technologies and Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing immune-based approaches for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Russell has 20 years of experience in the health care industry, primarily focusing on consulting roles at biotechnology companies and non-profits from the University of Pennsylvania and the New England Journal of Medicine to VIRxSYS and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Over the past ten years, Russell has organized partnerships with Massachusetts General Hospital to promote clinical trials and new indications for the BCG vaccine. Prior to co-founding Boston Immune Technologies and Therapeutics, Russell served as president of Corinth Group, a boutique healthcare consultancy. Russell received his BS in Biology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his MS from Yale University.

Russell LaMontagne
Co-Founder, President & CEO

ABOUT THE SUMMIT AND AWARD

11 finalists will compete at the third annual Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Summit. The Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Award will be presented to an exceptional innovator with outstanding entrepreneurial potential to commercialize a creative idea to better manage cancer using drugs, medical devices or healthcare information technology.

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SQUINTO LAPERA AWARD

Oncoheroes Biosciences

Dr. Cesare Spadoni is the founder and Chief Operating Officer of Oncoheroes Biosciences, a biotechnology company exclusively focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of new treatments for cancers in children and adolescents. Following the passing of his daughter Laura in 2006, Cesare founded the aPODD Foundation, a London-based charity focused on accelerating pediatric oncology drug development. As aPODD’s chairman and trustee, he is actively involved on a voluntary basis in drug repurposing projects, advocacy efforts and research collaborations with other childhood cancer charities. Frustrated by the lack of progress in new drug development for pediatric cancers, he then set out to take matters into his own hands by founding Oncoheroes. Cesare has over 20 years of experience in drug development in both scientific and commercial roles. Previously,he held senior business development positions at AMRI, Aptuit Laurus, ThalesNano and Auxiliis BV. Cesare started his career as research scientist in a pharmaceutical company (Eisai, London) and in academia (Institute of Enzymology, Budapest).
Cesare received his MSc in applied molecular biology and PhD in neuroscience from University College London, as well as his MBA from Central European University, Budapest.

Cesare Spadoni, PhD
Founder & Chief Operating Officer

The Jury Award

Valo Therapeutics

Dr. Michael Stein is the CEO of Valo Therapeutics, a developer of novel cancer immunotherapies with a unique approach to delivering a highly immunogenic and rapidly adaptable tumor vaccination platform. Dr. Stein is a business leader and strategic advisor with C-suite experience in healthcare. Prior to joining Valo TX, Michael was the founding CEO of OxStem, an award-winning biotechnology spin-out from the University of Oxford, which broke the UK record for a seed round fund-raise. In addition, Michael has served as the founding CEO for Doctor Care Anywhere, acquired by Synergix. In 2001, he co-founded the Map of Medicine with University College London. As founding CEO, and later CMO, the Map was nationally licensed across NHS England and acquired by Hearst Business Media, after which Michael transitioned to executive vice-president of healthcare innovation. Michael graduated from the University of Cape Town as a medical doctor with Honours and biochemist with First Class Honours, and from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate in Physiological Sciences, Immunology. He subsequently was appointed as a Junior Research Fellow in Medicine at Trinity College, Oxford, subsequently lecturing part-time in Immunology and Pathology at Balliol College, Oxford. As a medical scientist, Michael first described the alternative pathway of macrophage activation. In addition, he has co-authored the best-selling UK medical handbook.

Michael Stein, PhD
CEO

Honorable Mention

ConquerX

I’m currently an undergraduate student in Computer Science at MIT. I have a long-term interest in healthcare, and particularly in cancer, due to many health issues my family had to endure. As a result, I have pursued computational research of cancer immunotherapy at MIT, developed a microfluidics device for accelerating cancer drug development at the National University of Singapore and started my company ConquerX. ConquerX is developing a multi-cancer diagnostic platform based on proprietary nanomaterials and machine learning. Our Metachip platform uses electrochemistry to measure the concentration of cancer-related biomarkers in blood or biopsy samples. We are currently testing our prototype on 3 different types of cancer. Moreover, our technology is portable to other diseases as well, which we demonstrate through our collaboration with a research laboratory in Brazil on the development of a novel test for diagnostics of syphilis. We are alumni of MassChallenge Boston and MassChallenge HealthTech, currently raising our seed round and looking to expand our team.

Jakub Chaudik
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

FINALISTS

JUDGES

Carolyn R. “Bo” Aldigé

Founder and CEO at Prevent Cancer Foundation®

Kimberly Irvine

Patient Ambassador at Lyfebulb

Hans Mies, PhD

Partner, Value Chain Management at KPMG

Professor Patrick Rampal, MD

President at Scientific Center of Monaco

Dennis Urbaniak

Executive Vice President Digital Health at Orexo