Activaero is the global technology
leader in controlled breathing technologies for
inhaled therapeutics. With approved, stand alone
inhalation products and inhalation systems available
for clinical trials and marketing partnerships,
Activaero’s technologies allow for the most precise
and efficient patient-tailored pulmonary delivery.
CeQur is a spin off of Danfoss Bionics and
develops fast acting insulin “dumb pumps”. The CeQur™ insulin delivery
device is intended for continuous, subcutaneous delivery of insulin at
set and variable rates for the management of diabetes mellitus. The
intent for the CeQur™ device is to deliver a continuous stable basal
rate of insulin and incorporate an adjustable bolus functionality.
CeQur™ includes a flow sensor to trigger an alarm for faulty pump conditions.
The CeQur™ insulin delivery device is filled with fast acting Insulin and is
targeting in particular type-2 patients on BOT, CT or ICT/MDI in order to
obtain satisfactory glycaemic control and improve patient outcome.
Covalys, founded in July 2002, has
in-licensed a core patent on an innovative protein tag technology
form the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
(EPFL). Covalys’ core technology, is based on the “SNAP-tag”,
which combines high selectivity and stability with unprecedented
versatility. The SNAP-tag allows the binding of almost any
chemical structure covalently and with high specificity to
a protein of interest. The relatively small SNAP-tag (20
kD) can be expressed in E. coli, yeast, mammalian and insect
cells. It is based on a human homologue of a DNA repair protein,
O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (hAGT).
Protein tags are commonly used to identify, immobilize or
purify proteins of interest. However, the protein tags developed
and available to date have serious limitations concerning
specificity, stability of a tag’s interactions and
the range of applications of a given tag.
Covalys aims to develop and market a variety of kits (labelling,
immobilization and purification) based on the SNAP-tag which
are expected to dramatically enhance productivity.
Delenex Therapeutics is a Zurich , Switzerland-based,
privately held, new clinical stage biotechnology company focusing in research and development
of its antibody fragments for Delivering next generation Therapeutics application. Delenex
uses ESBATech’s proprietary screening platform IMMUNA and ESBATech’s fully human antibody
frameworks against targets of relevance currently in two franchises: rheumatology and
respiratory, advancing a pipeline of novel single-chain antibody fragments for topical
and/or local delivery, to ensure safe and convenient patient therapy.
Edimer is a biotech company based in Epalinges (VD
and Boston (US) focusing on the development of innovative therapeutics for rare diseases.
EDI200, its lead product is aimed at the treatment of X-Linked Hypohidrotic Ectodermal
Dysplasia (XLHED), a rare inherited genetic disease.
Endosense is a medical technology company
based in Meyrin (GE) focused on catheter ablation treatments of cardiac rhythm disorders,
including atrial fibrillation (AF). The company has developed and pioneered the use
of contact force measurement in catheter ablation, with the development of the proprietary
Touch+® sensor technology and TactiCath®, Endosense’s flagship product. AF
is the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia. Most AF patients are currently
treated with ineffective and side effect-causing drugs, with the primary alternative
invasive ablation surgery. Endosense is focused on providing those patients with a safe,
effective and minimally invasive treatment option. TactiCath® is the first force-sensing
ablation catheter to give physicians a real-time, objective measure of contact force
during the catheter ablation procedure. TactiCath received CE Mark approval in April 2009.
Kuros Biosurgery was founded in March
2002 as a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute, ETHZ,
and University of Zurich. The company is focused on developing
novel therapies for biosurgery, tissue repair and regeneration.
The three main development projects in bone augmentation
as well as bone and skin regeneration are in late preclinical
stages. The company was able to close collaboration agreements
with Baxter Healthcare for the further development of products
in the regeneration of bone and skin, and with Straumann
in the field of dental applications.
Neocutis SA is a privately held company originated in 2003 from the University Hospital (CHUV) of the Lausanne Medical School. Neocutis mission is to provide innovative topical preparations for dermatological and gynaecological affections as well as high-end cosmeceutical skincare products dispensed exclusively by physicians.
Neocutis professional skin care products stem from an innovative and proprietary
process of extraction of natural ingredients from particular cellular populations
which are able to restore the health and the appearance of diseased or aging
skin. In addition, Neocutis proprietary process will be applied for the development
of innovative OTC (over the counter) topical products for the management of
various skin conditions such as Vulvar vestibulitis, Chronic eczema, Psoriasis
and others. In addition Neocutis is developing an innovative program of cellular
therapy for the treatment of severe burns.
Sequana is a medical device
company founded in 2004 and based in Steinhausen (ZG) that
designs and develops automated implantable pump systems to
move fluids around inside the body. Sequana is the leading
innovator of a new category of patented technologies and
products designed to remove chronic fluid build-up in
the body. The company's initial product line focuses
on a large unmet clinical need to remove excess fluid
that accumulates in the abdominal cavity in patients
with a variety of illnesses including liver disease
and refractory ascites management, congestive heart
failure and some types of cancer.
ascites management, congestive heart failure and some types of cancer.
Sequana's mission is to improve the quality of patients' lives and
positively impact their clinical outcome by offering advanced, cost-effective
solutions for fluid management to the medical community.
Oncalis AG is a spin-off from ESBATech AG,
a biotechnology company that has developed technology platforms
in both the antibody and small molecule areas of pharmaceutical
research. In Spring 2006 it was decided to create two different
tailored enterprises, one focused on antibody fragments (ESBATech)
and one on small molecules (Oncalis).
Oncalis has acquired from the mother company all small molecule
related assets, including a yeast-cell based, high-throughput
screening platform for receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs),
and a number of specific and potent kinase inhibitors. The company
is currently financed by ESBATech's Series A investors, including
Novartis Venture Fund, BioMedInvest and Venture Incubator.
Oncalis will now focus on the discovery and development of
small molecule inhibitors for oncology indications. Oncalis'
unique discovery approach involves combining proprietary
cutting-edge yeast cell-based technologies with chemistry/medicinal
chemistry provided by alliances with specialized companies to ensure
rapid development of selected drug candidates through the value chain.
SpineLab, founded in November 2002,
is dedicated to the emerging field of non-fusion spine technologies.
The core product is a pedicle screw based dynamic stabilization system.
SpineLab is unique in that it has a simple approach to establish consistent
biomechanical conditions. SpineLab's patents cover a wide range of design
options including minimally invasive approaches. SpineLab is based in Zug,
Switzerland and has a technical office in the Technopark Winterthur.
SpineLab's management team and inventors of the respective patents have
combined over two decades of experience in the field of dynamic
stabilization devices.
JenaValve Technology is a medical device
company specialized in developing minimally invasive heart valve
replacement systems. JenaValveÕs products offer a true and safe
alternative to conventional surgery and to existing commercialized
transcatheter devices. Jenavalve products are first in class second
generation systems with improved technology, especially for correct
positioning, repositioning and ease-of-handling.
NEXThink develops and markets REFLEX,
an Endpoint Behavior Management solution based on research
initially conducted at the Artificial Intelligence Lab
of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL)
in Lausanne, Switzerland.
REFLEX technology is especially tailored to manage behavioral
vulnerabilities faced by enterprises today
(identity thefts, misconfiguration, misunderstanding, mistakes, unawareness,...).
In addition to its REFLEX solution, NEXThink offers a unique
methodology called Audit EBA (Endpoint Behavior Assessment).
The five interactive phases of the Audit EBA provide a dynamic
representation of applications usage and behaviors and
fit well into the deployment of industry standards to
measure efficiency of the Information Security Management
System (ISMS) as for example with ISO 27004.
NEXThink is one of the very few vendors active in the new
and promising market segment of Insider Threat Management (ITM).
In a report published in May 2006 IDC Research estimates the
ITM market to reach $1.9B by 2009.
sonic emotion is a technology
company focussing on unique solutions for 3D audio reproduction
(hardware, software, licensing, services). The company was
set up in November 2002, founded by a group of experienced
professionals recognised in their fields of 3D audio innovation
and signal processing.
sonic emotion's vision is to provide the technology and tools
to create a new era of total audio immersion. The technologies
are required in all applications where audio is reproduced
spatially, such as cinemas, computer games, flight simulators,
theme parks, etc. Unlike tools for 3D video processing that
are already on the market, equivalent tools for audio processing
hardly exist. However, they are desperately needed to match the
3D possibilities in video and interactive games.
For headphones reproduction, sonic emotion has developed an
algorithm which allows head-tracking of the listener and adapts
the audio perspective interactively. For loudspeakers, sonic
emotions owns IP for sound field reproduction (wave field synthesis),
enabling holographic sound perception.
SmallRivers offers web based solutions to easily connect people
around shared interests. Lately, it created www.paper.li, a
free service that organizes links shared on Twitter into an easy
to read newspaper-style format and facilitates the discovery of
like-minded people and the content they share.
deal united creates incremental revenue
for merchants by converting non-buying customers into buying
customers. This way, merchants can leverage their existing
website traffic without additonal costs. Customers who accept
an offer by one of deal united`s partners get the merchants
product for free.
MESA Imaging AG was founded in July 2006
to commercialize the world-leading 3D Time-of-Flight depth mapping
technology developed by CSEM. Its real-time, 3D video capture
cameras include the award-winning SwissRanger™ products, which
have been shipping to customers since the company was founded.
MESA is also able to draw on its extensive experience to develop
customized imaging and camera solutions.
The solid-state 3D cameras of MESA are widely recognized
as the highest performance in its class – and leverage the
company's knowledge in sensor pixel design together with
innovative camera hardware and software. Privately financed,
with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, MESA is developing
innovative solutions for a wide variety of markets, including
Machine Vision, Video Gaming, and Robotics.
Myotest was created in March 2004 in
Sierre, Valais. Its main goal is to develop, produce and
commercialise measuring devices for use in medical and sporting
fields. It also provides advice on sports training and rehabilitation.
Its objective is to democratize and facilitate the access
to the tests on the muscle. By developing a simple tool, accompanied
by relevant software, Myotest supports specialists in their need to
understand and quantify the effect of a treatment on the human body
in various fields, such as sporting medicine, physiotherapy and amateur-
or professional-level sport.
The company has developed its own
technology (hardware and software), as well as operation processes,
to build, operate and maintain large size networks for monitoring
of remote devices. The company is focusing on Remote Tank Management
and VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) business models. Its first
product Silentoil allows the building management companies in
Switzerland , Germany and Austria to remotely manage their heating
oil tanks. The service center in Lausanne is connected to over
10'000 oil tanks.
Silentsoft will expand its activities around its core business:
the data management of remote devices as a service model (ASP).
Its service platform, based on proven service procedures and
technology, is generic and has potentially many new applications
in the field of the fast growing M2M (MachineToMachine) market.
Athelas is a drug discovery company identifying and developing new anti-bacterial drugs with unique mechanisms of actions. Athelas drug candidates are acting on bacterial mechanisms essential for both bacterial survival and for the onset, spreading and maintenance of the infection in vivo.
In combination with a US $30m financing round Athelas was merged in August 2006 into Merlion Pharmaceuticals, a Singapore-based privately held company. MerLion is engaged in drug discovery from natural products. In addition, Merlion had acquired with the merger with Combinature two novel antibiotics in late preclinical development phase.
Avalon Photonics is an optoelectronics company founded in Zurich in 2000 as a spin-off from the Swiss Center of Electronics and Microtechnology, CSEM. The company pioneered the development of single- and multimode Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) and VCSEL arrays for applications in sensing and optical communications. It manufactures optical subassemblies that are core components in fiber-optic links with datarates ranging from 1.25 to 40 Gbps. Its patented single mode VCSEL technology allows the mass-fabrication of highly reliable semiconductor laser sources with ultra-low power consumption, thus enabling innovative optical sensor solutions such as optical oxygen concentration monitoring, atomic clocks, high resolution optical encoders, advanced optical bio-medical sensors and accurate optical distance measurements.
The company has been sold in 2006 to Bookham Inc. (Nasdaq BKHM). Bookham, Inc. supplies optical component solutions for the telecommunications and industrial applications.
www.avap.ch
EndoArt is a Swiss medical technology company leader in the development of telemetrically driven implantable medical devices and applying innovative solutions to serious unmet medical conditions. EndoArt is focusing its activity on the treatment of morbid obesity using a remotely controlled adjustable gastric band, which is based on its proprietary technology platform FloWatch®. FloWatch® is a unique technology which allows the transmission by radio frequency of operating instructions and energy to the implanted micro-motor. The implant needs thus no batteries and remains totally inert and passive between two adjustments. In addition to its core activity in obesity, EndoArt has developed a pipeline of products based on the FloWatch® technology, which are addressing large unmet medical needs or underserved markets, such as cardiac malfunctions in newborn and very young children.
In February 2007, Endoart was acquired by Allergan (NYSE AGN) for US $97m in an all cash transaction.
ESBATech is a spin-off biotechnology
company that originated from the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
The company is engaged in drug discovery through exploiting
the knowledge of human diseases to develop highly specific
and more efficient drugs to ultimately improve the quality
of life of patients. To this end, ESBATech has established
unique cell-based assays that reproduce the principal and
molecular mechanism of different diseases. These functional,
cellular assays are employed in high throughput small molecule
screenings for the identification of inhibitor of Secretases,
Proteases and Receptor Tyrosine Kinases.
In addition, ESBATech has established a proprietary screening
procedure for the selection of human antibodies. These human
antibody fragments have greatly enhanced stability and are
particularly suitable for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes,
but also for target validation.
In September 2009, ESBATech was acquired by Alcon (NYSE ACL)
for US $150m in cash at closing, plus contingent payments of
up to US $439m based upon the achievement of future research
and development milestones.
GANYMED Pharmaceuticals AG is a leading
biopharmaceutical company offering smart antibody therapeutics
for ideal targets in solid cancers. The Company’s discovery engine
is one of the most powerful integrated solutions to building an
antibody cancer pipeline in the industry. This is because GANYMED
has brought together arguably the strongest and most dynamic
scientific team for translational medicine. With a world leading
expertise in pinpointing highly specific proprietary targets,
GANYMED is building a growing sustainable pipeline of antibody
therapeutics targeting solid cancers with high medical need and
large market potential. GANYMED has antibody projects in development
for breast, colorectal, lung, pancreatic and prostate cancers.
In August 2008 VI sold its stake in Ganymed to ATS, a family
office of the Strüngmann brothers.
High Power Lithium SA (HPL S.A.). is an
advanced battery research company, based in Lausanne Switzerland.
The company was formed in August 2003. The primary aim of the company
is to develop value added technology for next generation Li-ion
batteries. Primary research focus is higher power and improved
safety. Specifically the company is working to develop innovative
technology in three key areas:
• novel nanostructured electrode materials,
• new safer electrolytes and
• improved electrode/electrolyte interfaces
The company has developed a strong portfolio of patents covering research in all of these areas.
In spring 2007 VI sold its stake in HPL to a group of strategic oriented investors.
The hybris-group, with offices in Germany
and Switzerland, is an innovative supplier of versatile
"E-business-platform" software solutions for
optimizing data and workflow in the supply chain and in
the demand management areas. Highly flexible and modularly
architectured, the hybris software is currently driving both
small and large customer installations seeking a fast ROI with
a performance oriented and scaleable demand-chain management
and procurement-applications.
Prominent customers include: Bechtle, Bitburger, Interbrew,
Edeka, Talkline, Warsteiner and Webasto. The Hybris software
is powering solutions in the areas of marketing, general e-commerce,
channel management, catalogue-management as well as e-procurement.
2009 VI sold its stake in Hybris to a strategic oriented investor.
IR MICROSYSTEMS fabricates novel, low-cost,
rugged and simple infrared detection subsystems to accurately
analyze the components of gases, liquids and solids. Together
with their OEM customers they provide solutions for in-line
and on-site process control in many industrial sectors like
chemical engineering, petro-chemistry, medical technology,
biotechnology, nutrition and agriculture. The company offers
solutions for infrared detection at various degrees of integration
- starting from simple detector units up to spectrometry
subsystems with complete proprietary analog/digital read-out
electronics and interface, capable of delivering a full infrared
spectrum over a pre-defined wavelength range.
In summer 2007 VI sold its stake in IR microsystems to a
strategic oriented investor.
Thommen Medical AG was established
in August 2001 in Waldenburg, Switzerland, and is engaged
solely in the design, manufacture and distribution of products
for dental implantology; the focus will not be diluted by
ventures into any other major fields of dental treatment.
The goal is to capture a strong position in the key markets
of dental implantology within the next five years. Dental
implants have only really gained large-scale acceptance over
the last ten to fifteen years - they are still a "new" concept
by medical treatment standards. As such, growth rates between
10 and 15% are expected to continue for many years to come.
Thommen Medical AG has assembled some of the most experienced
and successful people working in the dental implant industry today
In March 2007 VI sold its stake in Thommen to a group of strategic
oriented investors.
Visonys (previously known as Seclutions) is an information security
application software provider whose "application security gateway"
(also known as “web application firewall”) visonysAirlock provides
much-needed protection against attacks and downtime to Web and wireless
applications, while significantly lowering costs. Winner of the Swiss
Technology Award 2003, visonysAirlock technology is deployed at leading
institutions in finance, government, healthcare, e-business and telecoms
sectors.
Visonys holds approx. an 80% market share on new application security
gateway projects in Switzerland. The company counts more than 90 customers
with approx. 200 productive installations of the product in different countries
(Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Middle-East).
Visonys was acquired in Q2 2008 by phion AG, Innsbruck.
Xigen S.A. is a biotech company founded
in 2002 in Lausanne, whose mission is to develop innovative
intracellular therapeutic agents for unmet medical indications
in major debilitating diseases such as cerebral stroke, cancer
and myocardial infarction. Xigen products are based on its
proprietary D-TAT transporter technology (ICPT) and on protein-protein
interactions. Xigen's first candidate, XG-102, for the
treatment of stroke and myocardial infarction is an inhibitor
of the Jnk pathway and has shown highly promising results
in established and relevant animal models. In addition,
XG-102 is investigated in acute ear loss in collaboration
with Auris Medical (www.aurismedical.com),
neuro-degenerative diseases and organ transplabtation.
Xigen plan to perform the clinical trials of XG-102 under
US IND mid 2005. Xigen is also further developing new families
(second and third generations based on its technology)
of cytotoxics for the treatment of various cancer types.
2008 VI sold its stake in Xigen to a strategic oriented investor.
NemeriX SA is a privately owned company
based in Manno, Switzerland and was formed in June 2002 by
Francesco Piazza, Paolo Orsatti, and Marco Cavadini, the same
team of engineers who have previously founded Tchip Semiconductors
SA. The company designs and develops low power integrated
circuits for the GPS market. Its devices and software enable
battery-powered location determination everywhere, anytime
and allow the design of truly low-power, accurate, light-weight
consumer products.
This technology is essential to the future of the mobile phone
industry, the telematics and AVL industries, asset tracking,
the location and security industries, Personal Digital Assistants
(PDAs) and the recreational market.
Using a combination of innovative silicon architectures and
full custom layout techniques, NemeriX’s GPS chipset
is the lowest power solution available anywhere in the world
today. Such power savings in silicon are critical for the
adoption of GPS in mobile and handheld products, permitting
the use of low cost batteries and enabling new applications.
In 2010 the assets have been sold and the company has been liquidated.
Picodrill develops an innovative methods to micromachining dielectric
materials as glass, quartz any silicates. The Electrothermal Focussing (ETF)
ablation method allows the creation of micro-holes with unparalleled aspect
and pitch ratio on a very efficient cost bases. First applications will be
in life science sector (Picopatch® ) while other in MEMS and semiconductor
fields are being developed.
The company has been sold to an industrial partner in 2010.
EpiSpeed, a spin-off of the ETH
Zurich , was incorporated in early 2003. The company is focusing
on low-energy plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (LEPECVD)
methods and technologies for fast epitaxial growth of semiconducting
materials at low temperatures. The process resulted in devices
with world-record performance, and leading companies, including
Intel, have tested EpiSpeed's silicon-germanium (SiGe) products.
EpiSpeed is presently starting the commercialization efforts
for LEPECVD to develop systems suitable for semiconductor
manufacturers such as Intel, STMicroelectronics, Samsung,
and IBM. Besides "strained silicon" applications, EpiSpeed
is also pioneering LEPECVD process technology for materials
used in blue and white high-brightness LEDs, high-efficiency
solar cells, and discrete high performance and opto-electronic
devices.
In 2010 the assets have been sold and the company has been liquidated.
