Cambridge, UK, July 14th, 2023: o2h discovery, a preclinical Contract Research Organization which has integrated drug discovery capabilities operating from its state-of-the-art research facilities in Ahmedabad, India and Cambridge, UK, is pleased to announce the fourth edition of the o2h kickstarter competition exclusively aimed towards supporting early stage biotech companies based in Italy.
o2h discovery has collaborated with several early stage biotech companies from Italy over the last 20 years. Italian biotech firms are making great strides towards developing novel therapies for unmet medical needs. The Italian biotech industry has undergone an extraordinary growth due to several factors, among them being the undisputed excellence of their academic and industrial research, and the ability of Italian companies to turn innovation into valuable products and technologies. With its booming startup culture and world-class academic institutions, Italy has the potential to emerge as a prominent biotechnology powerhouse.
o2h discovery understands that drug discovery research is a complex phenomenon. This can firstly require synthesis and screening of large numbers of molecules to identify a “hit”. This can be extremely time consuming and costly. The o2h kickstarter competition has been developed to provide a boost to small molecule focused biotech companies who need to supercharge their chemistry efforts to meet their next funding milestone.
The applications will be evaluated by the kickstarter committee including Sunil Shah, Co-founder of o2h group, Andy Morley, CSO of o2h discovery, Gayathri Sadasivam, Head of Biology at o2h discovery, amongst others. The programme offers a dedicated team of six FTE chemists for each project, access to a large inventory of chemicals and reagents for synthesis in order to support small molecules research for a fraction of the costs. For more information and to apply, visit – https://o2h.com/the-o2h-kickstarter-competition-4-0/
Sunil Shah, Co-founder of o2h discovery, said:
“In o2h we love all things Italian, and we appreciate the great advances that the Italian biotech industry is making. We thought that we would shift from British Biotech to ‘Biotechs del Bel Paese’ and launch a kickstarter award specifically to support fledgling Italian startups and give them a chemistry boost. I look forward to visiting some of our winners!”
Claudio Dagostin, VP, Business Development of o2h discovery, said:
“o2h supports start-up biotech companies to reach their objectives and advance their programs for more than 20 years, not only offering drug discovery services but also investing in them. This successful competition is running for the second consecutive time increasing the chances of success of science-driven biotech. We believe that Italy deserves more chances to commercialise their discoveries and o2h, with its capabilities and extended investor network, is perfectly fit for the job”
Editor Notes:
About o2h discovery:
Founded in 2005, o2h discovery (o2h) is a fully integrated Anglo-Indian CRO drug discovery partner and has capabilities to support programs from target validation to IND filing from our state-of-the-art research centre in Ahmedabad, India and The Mill SciTech Park, Cambridge, UK. We have the in-house capability to execute hit-to-lead and lead optimization small-molecule drug discovery programs with expertise in medicinal chemistry (UK based), biology, pharmacology.
We recently added to our capabilities the expertise in the synthesis and purification of PROTAC molecules. We can now make available to companies active in the field the o2h PROTAC toolbox™ to rapidly test hypotheses with available off-the shelf PROTAC building blocks. We finally can provide phospholipid synthesis at a high degree of purity to support the production of novel lipid nanoparticles (LNPs).
The DNA of o2h discovery is centered around the nurturing of its people, values, and culture. It reflects in the way we work with each other, as well as our collaborators and partners.
For more information about o2h group, please visit www.o2h.com and to know more about our chemistry services, please see – https://o2h.com/discovery/chemistry/
Media Contact:
Preety
Marketing & PR Manager
preety.pandey@o2h.com
