- Prizes of QIAGEN products and equipment go to three companies in the US and one in the EU
- QIAGEN lends companies unique support in areas from research to commercialization
- Runners-up in large, high-quality field get to join QIAGEN’s Biotech Accelerator Program
Germantown, Maryland, and Hilden, Germany, January 19, 2022 – QIAGEN today announced the winners of its new Biotech Grants program, an initiative driven by the company’s commitment to building strong partnerships with biotechnology and pharma businesses and helping them succeed in the market.
With the new grant program, QIAGEN wants to specifically support small companies and start-ups to grow their business. All with the aim to turn promising scientific visions into commercially viable and socially relevant missions. The program is open to all companies founded within the last two years in North America and Europe. This time, QIAGEN products and instruments worth up to $200,000 went to three main winners in the US - BrickBuilt Therapeutics, Glyphic Biotechnologies and RheumaGen – as well as one winner in Europe – OncoBone Therapeutics. All runners-up also got the opportunity to join QIAGEN’s Biotech Accelerator Program and benefit from comprehensive research and business support.
“All winning companies are extremely worthy winners of a very competitive race for QIAGEN’s first Biotech Grants,” said Thomas Schweins, Senior Vice President, Life Science Business Area. “We had so many great projects to choose from that we had to name more winners than one. It is amazing to see so many companies driving inventions and innovations to become products that can benefit society."
Massachusetts-based grant winner BrickBuilt Therapeutics develops novel microbiome-focused treatments to transform oral health. “QIAGEN is making a real contribution to the biotechnology ecosystem,” said Brian Klein, co-founder and CEO of BrickBuilt Therapeutics. “QIAGEN’s automation of nucleic acid purification, reagent setup as well as target identification and quantitation provide an end-to-end capability for molecular teams. And if we get our research and development execution right with QIAGEN’s help, we will gain insights about microbiomes for oral health and across many systematic disease indications.”
Another main winner of QIAGEN’s grant program is Glyphic Biotechnologies - a company that is developing a first-of-its-kind, next-generation sequencing platform for proteins. “Understanding fundamental cell function and dysfunction by sequencing proteins from samples such as single cells is key to understanding human disease,” explained Joshua Yang, co-founder and CEO of the Californian biotech start-up. “QIAGEN’s support could help revolutionize our understanding of biology and accelerate discovery of targeted therapeutics.”
The third main US-winner RheumaGen comes from Colorado and is developing a cure for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) based on a breakthrough gene therapy discovered at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. “QIAGEN stands for decades of scientific and entrepreneurial excellence,” said Dr. Brian M. Freed, lead inventor, co-founder and Chief Science Officer of RheumaGen. “As we prepare for an Investigational New Drug (IND) submission to the FDA, QIAGEN’s timely support and grant as a commercial partner is greatly appreciated.” Heather Callahan, Director of Licensing at the University of Colorado, added, “The QIAGEN sponsorship will greatly assist in further advancing RheumaGen technologies, bringing life-changing solutions to rheumatoid arthritis patients.”
EU winner OncoBone Therapeutics aims to provide novel therapies for cancer patients with currently incurable bone metastases based on a novel osteoimmuno-oncology concept. “QIAGEN embodies the global biotech community,” concluded Tina Kähkönen, Chief Scientific Officer at the Finland-based company. “We are honoured to be selected as a winner of the biotech grant. The support that we receive from QIAGEN will be of outmost importance for our R&D activities for developing safe and effective therapies for cancer patients with currently incurable bone metastases.”
In line with QIAGEN’s mission of making improvements in life possible, the company has been supporting founders, companies and innovations in biotechnology for many years. Examples range from backing next-generation sequencing pioneer ArcherDx and testing company APIS Assay Technologies to the purchase of diagnostics-systems makers STAT-Dx and NeuMoDx – companies which all profited from QIAGEN’s biotechnology prowess and commercializing drive.
About QIAGEN
QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands-based holding company, is the leading global provider of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. Our sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from blood, tissue and other materials. Assay technologies make these biomolecules visible and ready for analysis. Bioinformatics software and knowledge bases interpret data to report relevant, actionable insights. Automation solutions tie these together in seamless and cost-effective workflows. QIAGEN provides solutions to more than 500,000 customers around the world in Molecular Diagnostics (human healthcare), Applied Testing (primarily forensics), Pharma (pharma and biotech companies) and Academia (life sciences research). As of December 31, 2020, QIAGEN employed more than 6,000 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.com.
Forward-Looking Statement
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