Phision Therapeutics, an early-stage life sciences venture, has won University College Dublin’s (UCD) 2015 Start-Up Award, claiming the overall prize in this year’s UCD VentureLaunch Accelerator Programme.
The new venture is developing proprietary therapeutic drugs to more effectively treat vision loss to prevent blindness associated with ageing or diabetes.
Phision Therapeutics is developing small-molecule drugs with novel mechanisms of action to curb the undesired growth of ‘leaky’ new blood vessels in the eye, which can lead to vision loss and blindness.
The spin-out emerged from research carried out over several years by founder Dr Breandán Kennedy with Dr Alison Reynolds at the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science and the UCD Conway Institute.
Dr Breandán Kennedy said: “Looking to the future, we are currently seeking €400,000 in seed funding to enable us to formulate and manufacture our novel small molecule drugs.
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“Thereafter, following additional fundraising, we plan to proceed with pre-clinical and clinical studies to validate that our drugs offer a better treatment option, including a reduction in the number of eye injections, for patients experiencing vision loss associated with AMD (age-related macular degeneration).”
Funders of Phision Therapeutics’ research to date include Enterprise Ireland; Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council.
Speaking after the awards evening, Professor Orla Feely, UCD vice-president for research, innovation and impact, said: “Excellent research and innovation are central to all that we do in UCD, delivering impact in areas of importance and opportunity.
“Phision Therapeutics is an excellent example of a new venture, emerging from research carried out at UCD, which is being established to address a worldwide need, in this case to more effectively treat patients experiencing AMD-related vision loss.”
In addition to the 2015 UCD VentureLaunch Accelerator award, Phision Therapeutics was presented with a cheque for €10,000 and a professional services package to the value of €15,000. The prizes are sponsored by AIB, Bryan Maguire Business Consulting, Deloitte and NovaUCD.
Phision Therapeutics founders Dr Breandán Kennedy and Dr Alison Reynolds
