My First Hackathon

By Esther Nakkazi

The first Hack-a-thon I attended ever was at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in August 22nd-24th 2014. For curiosity sake, I never knew what happens at a Hack-a-thon but I was told teams made up of engineers, entrepreneurs, professors, clinicians come up with innovations that impact on global health to save millions of lives in just 48 hours!

After the opening speeches on the first day, as if to clear their heads, in the evening, everyone took to the dance floor, dancing, hands up in the air, swinging and jumping to African drum beats as if there was no work the next day. But the programme was clear, teams had 48 hours to come up with innovations and prototypes.

At this Hack-a-thon, four continents were represented; America, Europe, Asia, Africa so you can imagine the dancing strokes each of them pulled out. Then it started getting dark, then it started raining, the beer river ever flowing and they kept on dancing almost until dawn including Dr. David Bangsberg, Director at Mass General Hospital (MGH)’s Centre for Global Health and his team.

The music from the big speakers could be heard reverberating loudly across the University campus bouncing to other hills around, Mbarara being a hilly area. Looking at them, dancing away, maybe the visitors were thinking ‘the locals think we came with the rain, let us dance to it,’ while the locals thought; ‘these are great visitors, they have come with the rain! Let us drink and dance to the blessing.’

But for sure, the next morning the second annual medical technology Hack-a-thon in Uganda started promptly at 8.30 am. The winning team came up with an idea of a neonate hydraulic mechanical baby scale. They won $1,000, a seed fund to move the idea forward but five other teams won cash too.

“It is novel and can be tested,” said Dr. Bangsberg to the young enthusiastic students while announcing the winning team. “We have never had these many ideas. You have all won in the area of rapid innovations,” he added.

Most of the ideas and prototypes presented for the day were to address road safety while others were towards new born and maternal survival. Software applications for efficiency in health facilities were made but ultimately all efforts were geared towards saving more lives around the world.

This time 29 projects were presented up from 23 projects last year when the first Hack-a-thon was held at MUST and at least 200 clinicians, engineers and entrepreneurs came up with functional ideas and viable business models to commercialise their innovations that have the potential to transform health in Uganda and around the world.

It was organised by the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) Uganda and MUST in partnership with MGH’s Centre for Global Health. Other participating groups were the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard Medical School and Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) in India.

Hack-a-thons are a new way of coming up with innovations, they can be a messy process that generates ideas, which offer health care solutions that are commercially viable. 

Most of the participants at the MUST Hack-a-thon were students from the various Universities in Uganda most of them supported by Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and this time round more local companies supported the event.

Events like Hack-a-thons ‘emancipate fear from young people who also become better thinkers,” said Professor Frederick Kayanja, the Vice Chancellor, MUST. He also recognised that innovations raise the profile of a University just as they are crucial to solving Africa’s problems because ‘the beneficiaries are all those who will be patients at one time or another’ which is all of us at some point.

For students ‘it changes the mindset about their education. People who did not think they were innovators become innovators,’ explains the director CAMTech, Elizabeth Bailey. And entrepreneurship skills are learnt because teams create viable business plans, she added.

In this game, failure is totally acceptable. “We believe in ‘failing fast’ nobody wants to put time and energy into something that will not work. It also offers a neutral space where people do not fear failure,” says Bailey who was so enthusiastic about the business models from all the projects.

Earlier in the day, the Mbarara University of Science and Technology co-creation laboratory was opened. Dr. Data Santorino, a lecturer at MUST and the country director CAMTech Uganda said the laboratory would give the students exposure to clinicians, entrepreneurs and offer technology support as well as basic materials like timber, mortars and electronic devices to produce functional prototypes.

Kristian Olson from Medical Director of CAMTech, was impressed that almost all teams this time round at the second Hack-a-thon made a prototype. Some used used disposable cups, straws, empty tins etc “The fact that there is so much drive and to see that many people want to solve their own problems is intangible,”said Olson.

“In time the co-creation lab gives the students a chance to learn from failures as they pivot towards success,” said Dr. Santorino.

With these kinds of events the two professors (Bangsberg and Kayanja) concurred that Mbarara University for Science and Technology could be the next Silicon Valley because it has all the right ingredients; clinicians, entrepreneurs, engineers and solid partnerships from India and the United States.

“Innovation is not a one person affair. As African innovators we need partnerships that support our weak areas. There is a lot we can contribute to Global Health because we understand global health problems better,” said Dr. Santorino.

“My dream is to see an ecosystem where an innovator can take an idea, find the right expertise to ideate it, test it, move it with small seed capital, scale it with cooperate sponsorship,” said Bangsberg.
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World Bank funded shoddy renovations of COVID-19 isolation Centre rejected

By Esther Nakkazi

Renovation works at Entebbe National Isolation Centre project funded by the World Bank which would enable a regional referral hospital to have additional space for COVID-19 patients have failed to meet required standards and this could fuel spread of the pandemic.

The isolation centre funded by the World Bank to the tune of UGX 3 billion is meant to provide more space for Entebbe regional referral hospital which is grappling with limited space due to the high number of COVID-19 patients but the contractor BMK Uganda Ltd presented shoddy work according to the Ministry of Health.

During the pre-hand over inspection of the isolation centre conducted by a team of engineers and architects from the health ministry led by Eng. George Otim, the commissioner of health infrastructure, Dennis Kiberu, an Architect and Engineer Paul Kalanzi, a Mechanical Engineer mechanical and electrical engineering faults as well as carpentry and joinery defects were identified and the contractor was directed by the contractor to fix them within ten days.

The contractor was tasked to replace lights, taps, toilet pans and hand washing basins that do not meet the specifications in the bill of quantities. 

It turned out the approved samples before installation were not what was installed and although the work was slated to be completed within two months the contractor failed to meet his obligations citing lock down and mobility constraints. 

It was noted that the worktops in the kitchen and pantries, particularly in the remodeled former TB ward (Block D) should be reworked to provide space for cookers. He directed that the long neck taps be replaced because they are too high from the level of the handwashing basins and will result in spills. "People will wet their clothes while medics will wet their scrubs while washing hands," Kiberu noted.

MOH contracted BMK Uganda Ltd to refurbish the isolation and complete the works by April this year. However, due to delays in approving plans for remodeling the Tuberculosis ward, the completion date was pushed to May. The contractor was expected to hand over the site on June 11. 

Ministry of Health officials lamented that when they ask the contractor to fix the shoddy work they complain of being harassed. By June 11, the contractor had not yet completed plumbing and electrical works in some of the buildings and former TB ward. 

The ministry has revised the company's terms and wants shoddy work fixed and handed over within ten days as the isolation centre should be in use by next month. 

MOH has already started equipping the isolation centre with beds in the wards and fixed freezers in the mortuary.

Kiberu also noted that the worktops in the kitchen and pantries, particularly in the remodeled former TB ward (Block D) should be reworked to provide space for cookers. 

He directed that the long neck taps be replaced because they are too high from the level of the handwashing basins and will result in spills. "People will wet their clothes while medics will wet their scrubs while washing hands," Kiberu noted.

MOH contracted BMK Uganda Ltd to refurbish the isolation and complete the works by April this year. However, due to delays in approving plans for remodeling the Tuberculosis ward, the completion date was pushed to May. The contractor was expected to hand over the site on June 11.

However, by then, the contractor had not yet completed plumbing and electrical works in some of the buildings and former TB ward. As a result, the ministry gave the company a week to complete the works and hand over the site.

From September, renovation works stalled after the ministry cancelled the contract of Synergy Enterprises Ltd for alleged incompetence and lack of capacity to finance works. 

The work resumed in January 2021 after the World Bank and the Solicitor General approved the award of the contract to BMK Uganda Ltd for completion of the project.

The isolation centre was constructed in 2009 for infectious disease control such as SARS and Ebola. The World Bank and MOH decided to renovate the centre to create more space for intensive care, separate rooms for suspects and patients, laboratories and separate entry and exit points for the public and health workers.

Uganda registers improvement in Tuberculosis treatment success

By Esther Nakkazi

Uganda was in the for a celebratory World Tuberculosis day last month after the country recorded improved treatment success and increased TB diagnosis capacity.

Treatment success is about 82 percent of the TB patients in Uganda from 75 percent in 2018 although public health experts want a 90 percent treatment success and advise that to get to that all regions should be at the same level.

The Karamoja region in North Eastern Uganda is one of the high burden regions with a TB prevalence rate ten times higher than the national average. The treatment success rate in the Karamoja region was below 50% until an emergency response was declared in 2019. 

“Even in Karamoja sub-region 80 percent of all people treated for TB were cured in the last reporting period, up from 52 percent successfully treated at the start of 2020,” said USAID Uganda Mission Director Richard Nelson at Uganda’s World TB Day National Commemoration event in Moroto. 

TB is the world's deadliest infectious disease, infecting about 10 million people and killing 1.5 million globally each year. Uganda is among the 30 high burden TB and HIV countries in the world.

As dangerous as TB is, it is treatable and curable but in Uganda TB disease still causes illness in about 90,000 Ugandans annually including 1,500 people who get infected with drug-resistant TB. And in Uganda, about 15,600 people died from TB in Uganda in 2019.

Furthermore, in 2019, of the estimated 1,500 multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases, only 559 were diagnosed and notified to the National TB and Leprosy Program (NTLP)

“The treatment coverage rate has improved in Karamoja improving the national rate and ending deaths due to TB has improved,” said Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the Minister of Health during the National World TB & Leprosy Day events held in Moroto District found in Karamoja region.

The region also became the home of the U.S. government's Accelerated Control of TB in Karamoja program or PACT Karamoja supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched last year.

USAID's PACT Karamoja program is a $7.5 million agreement (2020-2025) that aims to address the Karamoja Region’s high TB prevalence and low treatment success rates by supporting locally generated solutions to mobilize health facilities, village health teams, and community members for accelerated screening, testing, identification, and successful treatment and prevention of TB.

In 2018, the U.S. launched the Global Accelerator to End TB to support countries in reaching the ambitious global targets of diagnosing and enrolling 40 million people on TB treatment and enrolling 30 million on TB preventive therapy by 2022.

“Everyone who is sick should get treatment. This will minimize the risk of passing the infection to others and reduce deaths in the community due to TB,” said Dr. Stavia Turyahabwe, the Assistant Commissioner for the Tuberculosis Leprosy Control Unit at the Ministry of Health.

While there is progress many people who are sick are unaware and deaths from TB are an estimate as most of the cases are not followed up. In 2019, 65,897 TB cases were diagnosed and notified to the NTLP (75 percent); this means that approximately 25,000 cases were either not diagnosed or diagnosed and not notified to the NTLP.

The government has decided to step up awareness and improve TB treatment-seeking behavior. According to the Ministry of Health in Uganda, only 46% of the population is aware of TB and about 40% of the people with signs and symptoms of TB do not seek care for TB services.

“We are instituting mortality TB audits. Although we cannot stop death completely, we can save some lives by understanding the circumstances around death,” said Dr. Turyahabwe.

She said death is occurring in the first few days of initiation of treatment but this is due to delayed diagnosis, limited awareness of the disease and not completing treatment.

“We are also encouraging our facilities that have big numbers of patients to have clinic days so that patients come on appointment and are seen on specific days and share information among themselves,” said Dr. Turyahabwe. This will improve adherence and reduce stigma.

Supported by USAID and other development partners, Uganda has also made milestones in the Treatment Success Rate of Multidrug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB) treatment due to increased roll-out of GeneXpert machines, decentralization of MDR-TB care to regional referral hospitals, and improvements made to the specimen transport system.

Uganda also has the national TB Supranational reference laboratory which is responsible for testing samples that are suspected to be MDR of those that are supposed to have sensitivity for different drugs. The Supranational reference laboratory receives samples from over 22 countries across Africa and is a regional center of excellence, receiving samples for reference testing. 

“We have expanded diagnostics like GeneXpert technology from less than 50 machines to over 280 GeneXpert instruments. Although we continue to use our conventional methods of smear microscopy for follow-up with patients on TB treatment, the GeneXpert technology has eased so much in this finding of tuberculosis,” said Dr. Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health.

However, the Ministry acknowledged that an increased rollout of GeneXpert instruments is required and strengthening of the specimen transport system is required as well as increasing access to X-Ray and radiology services in the country including making the services available at the community level through targeted outreach programs would create better outcomes.

Among the challenges, Uganda is facing is increasing mortality among TB/HIV co-infected patients.
About 8,500 people died of TB/HIV in 2019. The ministry of health intends to improve case finding and treatment of people co-infected with TB/HIV and reduce deaths.

Dr. Atwine said they have introduced testing for TB using urine for people living with HIV who are severely ill and unable to produce sputum which too has eased the diagnosis.

In the Karamoja region, while officiating at the World TB day, Dr. Aceng urged community leaders to support the TB program for sustainability. The Ministry of Health which she heads also wants more community engagement and has implemented a National TB Civil Society Organization (CSO) Engagement strategy as well as approved the National Community TB Operational Guidelines in 2019.

With the engagement of community actors studies have demonstrated that these can contribute to increased TB case-finding, TB Preventive Therapy (TPT) uptake, TB treatment support and retention, and awareness about TB. For example, in 2019, 25 percent of TB cases notified in three USAID-supported districts were referred by community actors.

“As individuals, raise awareness about TB, encourage people to seek help early, and support those in care to complete treatment. Support every person with TB to complete treatment for TB,” said U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) country director for Uganda Lisa Nelson speaking at the event in Moroto.

Over the last 12 months, there was a 43 percent increase in the number of TB cases identified and a more than doubling in the number of cases successfully treated compared to the prior year. 

This is an important milestone to achieve during the first year of PACT Karamoja implementation amidst COVID-19 in a region with a high burden and past low performance, said Nelson. 

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Energy company could pull the plug from South Sudan over non payment

By Esther Nakkazi

The Ezra Construction and Development Group (ECDG) that built and is operating a power plant for the national grid of South Sudan has given notice that the Juba power plant will cease to operate in the next few days due to lack of payment. 

ECDG claims they have continued to supply electricity despite continued failure to make contractually required payments of US Dollar $3million every month by the central bank both in person, in the presence of different stakeholders.

At this moment in time the Ministry of Energy and Dams has failed to make over 85% of payments over the last 15 months. Some of the payments have been delayed for over 400 days.

On 31 March, 2021, the company had notified Hon. Peter Marcello Nasir Jelenge, Minister of Energy and Dams, that it would be forced to take this drastic action unless the government of the Republic of South Sudan urgently made the US Dollar payment as set out in the PPA agreement signed on 16 August 2017. 

In a press release sent out today, Ezra says they have made an extensive investment and made to available over 230,000,000 kWh by the end of 2020. Over 64,000,000 kWh was consumed in 2020 alone by over 20,000 customers marking a successful inaugural year.

Ezra produces bulk energy supplied to JEDCO, which in turn distributes electricity to customers in Juba, who pay in South Sudanese Pounds. The Government, through both the Ministry of Energy and Dams, and Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, is contractually obliged to convert the SSP received by JEDCO into US Dollars to pay Ezra for the electricity it generates.

"Despite ensuring the collection of electricity tariff which is made in SSP through our joint efforts in JEDCO from customers, payments due to Ezra as per the contract signed in August 2017 have not been made on time despite numerous attempts to address the situation," says the release. 

Ezra power plant is built with capital expenditure from investors and loans from financiers. The company had managed to secure a one-year grace period from investors, which expired in January, 2021. Ezra now faces additional US Dollar costs, both for fuel and related products required to run the power plant purchases, and capital expenditure obligations from building and maintaining the plant.

Ezra officials say most of the power plant’s production inputs are imported and tied to Foreign Exchange. ECDG is now investing in resources that reduce foreign exchange reliance and is working to source local services and inputs.

It commits to investing in the development and prosperity of South Sudan and has plans to expand additional renewable capacity and hopes to find an amicable and permanent solution, as it continues to meet customer demands.

ECDG also appeals to relief from the Government and is appealing for a collaborative effort to find a permanent solution to the forex convertibility problem that consistently plagues the partnership.

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WHO issues calls for health systems strengthening

WHO Press Release: April 6th 2021

GENEVA—COVID-19 has unfairly impacted some people more harshly than others, exacerbating existing inequities in health and welfare within and between countries. For World Health Day, 7 April 2021, the World Health Organization is therefore issuing five calls for urgent action to improve health for all people.

Within countries, illness and death from COVID-19 have been higher among groups who face discrimination, poverty, social exclusion, and adverse daily living and working conditions - including humanitarian crises. The pandemic is estimated to have driven between 119 and 124 million more people into extreme poverty last year. And there is convincing evidence that it has widened gender gaps in employment, with women exiting the labour force in greater numbers than men over the past 12 months.

These inequities in people’s living conditions, health services, and access to power, money and resources are long-standing. The result: under-5 mortality rates among children from the poorest households are double that of children from the richest households. Life expectancy for people in low-income countries is 16 years lower than for people in high-income countries. For example, 9 out of 10 deaths globally from cervical cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries.

But as countries continue to fight the pandemic, a unique opportunity emerges to build back better for a fairer, healthier world by implementing existing commitments, resolutions, and agreements while also making new and bold commitments.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has thrived amid the inequalities in our societies and the gaps in our health systems," says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “It is vital for all governments to invest in strengthening their health services and to remove the barriers that prevent so many people from using them, so more people have the chance to live healthy lives.”

WHO is therefore issuing five calls for action:

Accelerate equitable access to COVID-19 technologies between and within countries

Safe and effective vaccines have been developed and approved at record speed. The challenge now is to ensure that they are available to everyone who needs them. Key here will be additional support to COVAX, the vaccine pillar in the ACT-Accelerator, which hopes to have reached 100 countries and economies in the coming days.

But vaccines alone will not overcome COVID-19. Commodities such as medical oxygen and personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as reliable diagnostic tests and medicines are also vital. So are strong mechanisms to fairly distribute all these products within national borders. The ACT-Accelerator aims to establish testing and treatments for hundreds of millions of people in low and middle-income countries who would otherwise miss out. But it still requires USD22.1 billion to deliver these vital tools where they are so desperately needed.

Invest in primary health care

At least half of the world’s population still lacks access to essential health services; more than 800 million people spend at least 10% of their household income on health care, and out of pocket expenses drive almost 100 million people into poverty each year.

As countries move forward post-COVID-19, it will be vital to avoid cuts in public spending on health and other social sectors. Such cuts are likely to increase hardship among already disadvantaged groups, weaken health system performance, increase health risks, add to fiscal pressure in the future and undermine development gains.

Instead, governments should meet WHO’s recommended target of spending an additional 1% of GDP on primary health care (PHC). Evidence reveals that PHC-oriented health systems have consistently produced better health outcomes, enhanced equity, and improved efficiency. Scaling up PHC interventions across low- and middle-income countries could save 60 million lives and increase average life expectancy by 3.7 years by 2030.

Governments must also reduce the global shortfall of 18 million health workers needed to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030. This includes creating at least 10 million additional full-time jobs globally and strengthening gender equality efforts. Women deliver most of the world’s health and social care, representing up to 70% of all health and care workers, but they are denied equal opportunities to lead it. Key solutions include equal pay to reduce the gender pay gap and recognizing unpaid health care work by women.

Prioritize health and social protection

In many countries, the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, through loss of jobs, increases in poverty, disruptions to education, and threats to nutrition, have exceeded the public health impact of the virus. Some countries have already put in place expanded social protection schemes to mitigate these negative impacts of wider social hardship and started a dialogue on how to continue providing support to the communities and people in the future. But many face challenges in finding the resources for concrete action. It will be vital to ensure that these precious investments have the biggest impact on those in greatest need, and that disadvantaged communities are engaged in planning and implementing programmes.

Build safe, healthy and inclusive neighbourhoods

City leaders have often been powerful champions for improving health - for example, by improving transport systems and water and sanitation facilities. But too often, the lack of basic social services for some communities traps them in a spiral of sickness and insecurity. Access to healthy housing, in safe neighbourhoods, with adequate educational and recreational amenities, is key to achieving health for all.

Meanwhile, 80 per cent of the world's population living in extreme poverty are in rural areas. Today, 8 out of 10 people who lack basic drinking water services live in rural areas, as do 7 out of 10 people who lack basic sanitation services. It will be important to intensify efforts to reach rural communities with health and other basic social services (including water and sanitation). These communities also urgently need increased economic investment in sustainable livelihoods and better access to digital technologies.

Strengthen data and health information systems

Increasing the availability of timely, high-quality data that is disaggregated by sex, wealth, education, ethnicity, race, gender and place of residence is key to working out where inequities exist, and addressing them. Health inequality monitoring should be an integral part of all national health information systems.

A recent WHO global assessment shows that only 51% of countries have included data disaggregation in their published national health statistics reports. The health status of these diverse groups is often masked when national averages are used. Moreover, it is often those who are made vulnerable, poor or discriminated against, who are the most likely to be missing from the data entirely.

"Now is the time to invest in health as a motor of development," said Dr Tedros. “We do not need to choose between improving public health, building sustainable societies, ensuring food security and adequate nutrition, tacking climate change and having thriving local economies. All these vital outcomes go hand in hand.”

WHO press Release

Radiation boost lowers risk of prostate cancer recurrence

 

An additional external-beam radiation dose delivered directly to the tumor can benefit the prospects of men with non-metastatic prostate cancer, without causing additional side effects according to the FLAME study. 

The risk of relapse within five years for these men is smaller than for men who did not receive this boost, as shown by a large-scale study initiated by UMC Utrecht in collaboration with the Netherlands Cancer Institute, UZ Leuven and Radboudumc.

Radiation therapy is one of the treatment options for men with non-metastatic prostate cancer. Physicians deliver the external beam radiation to the entire prostate, as cancer cells often occur in several areas throughout the prostate. 

Only the main tumor is visible on a scan. If the cancer returns, it often recurs right where that visible tumor was located. Delivering an additional dose to this area appears very effective, as shown by the FLAME trial: a large-scale study involving 571 patients at UMC Utrecht, Netherlands Cancer Institute, UZ Leuven, and Radboudumc. Results will be published on the 20th of January in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Less recurrence
As part of the study, patients received 35 radiotherapy sessions with or without additional radiation boost delivered to the visible tumor. The men who had received the additional boost showed less recurrence over the first five years after treatment than the others. 92% of men who received the boost had low levels of PSA – an important indicator of prostate cancer – compared to 85% of men who had not. All participants were men diagnosed with intermediate- or high-risk tumors.

No additional side effects
“The radiation boost halved the percentage of men presenting with raised PSA levels over the first 5 years after treatment: from 15 to 8 percent,” radiation oncologist and research leader Linda Kerkmeijer of UMC Utrecht and Radboudumc clarifies. “The radiation boost did not lead to additional side effects, which is an important outcome.” The treatment is currently available at UMC Utrecht, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, UZ Leuven and Radboudumc.

Prevent trouble
“Our results can benefit a substantial number of men,” radiation oncologist Floris Pos of the Netherlands Cancer Institute explains. “Every year in the Netherlands, we give radiation therapy to hundreds of men who may qualify for this treatment. This could prevent a lot of trouble: for our patients, cancer recurrence often means uncertainty, diagnostic examinations, and intense treatments like surgery or hormone therapy.”

5 radiation sessions
At the start of the FLAME trial, standard treatment for these patients was 35 radiation sessions. Over the past years, this number has been scaled down to 20, and 5 for men with less aggressive tumor types. “Meanwhile, we have started a follow-up study that combines these new radiation boosts with 5 radiation sessions” (see information below), says radiation oncologist Karin Hausterman of UZ Leuven. “It appears that 5 radiation sessions may become the new standard for this group of patients as well.”

Information about prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men in the Netherlands. More than 12,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. In about half of these people, the cancer cells are still contained in the prostate (IKNL). These men have multiple treatment options, such as radiation therapy, hormone therapy, or surgical removal of the prostate.

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Argobio a 50 M€ new European start-up studio for the creation and development of biotech companies

Esther Nakkazi

Argobio SAS, a newly-created start-up studio dedicated to life sciences, has today been launched with 50 M€ of committed capital for creation and development of therapeutic biotech spinouts. 

Argobio will create and launch at least five ambitious biotech companies over the next five years sourcing innovative early-stage projects from renowned European academic research institutions and it will focus on selected therapeutic areas, including rare diseases, neurological disorders, oncology, and immunology. It will also look to develop promising platform technologies for therapeutic products.

“We are very proud to launch today the first French start-up studio dedicated to Biotech alongside our partners, project on which we are working for more than two years," said Laurent Arthaud, Director of the Biotech and Ecotech investment of Bpifrance.

Argobio was initiated by Kurma Partners, a leading Paris and Munich-based healthcare venture capital firm, and Bpifrance, the French national investment bank who were joined by Angelini Pharma, a private international pharmaceutical company, Evotec, a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company, and the Institut Pasteur, internationally renowned center for biomedical research.

Thierry Laugel, Argobio President & Managing Partner at Kurma, said Argobio has the appropriate capital and environment to make the best of the European early stage biotech opportunities.

According to Peter Neubeck, Partner at Kurma Argobio represents the realization of a longstanding idea at Kurma, namely the creation of a professional biotech project incubator which would allow them to fully leverage the strong proprietary deal flow they are generating from their network with the best European academic institutions. 

Argobio will identify, select, and incubate these projects up to company creation, providing broad expertise in the discovery and development of innovative therapeutic products from its team of highly experienced biotech entrepreneurs. 

"We are very happy and thrilled to start working with this exceptional group of individuals and investors the Argobio concept has brought together with the common vision of turning the best science made in Europe into new therapies for patients around the globe,” Peter Neubeck, Partner at Kurma added.

The investors will have the opportunity to invest in the biotech companies created by Argobio. "we will be able to evaluate promising programs from the top European academic institutions and continue investing in innovative companies that are developing groundbreaking therapeutics in areas of high medical need," said Pierluigi Antonelli, CEO of Angelini Pharma. 

“Building on our BRIDGE strategy and partnerships, we continue to be dedicated to making Evotec’s all-modality technology platforms available to validate and accelerate therapeutic concepts from top-tier academic institutions globally,”said Dr. Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec SE. 

"As an investor into Argobio, we are delighted to work with a group of distinguished partners and entrepreneurs to build companies committed to the maturation of first-in-class therapeutics towards drugs that which will change patients’ lives and cure diseases with some of the highest medical needs,” Lanthaler.

Prof. Stewart Cole, CEO of the Institut Pasteur, announces: "The Institut Pasteur as a strategic and scientific partner is pleased to participate to the creation of Argobio and to the value creation dynamics Argobio aspires to. 

In 2019, we have set up the Pasteurian Innovation Accelerator (PIA) to increase the development potential of our research applications: we are focusing our efforts on flagship projects certified by an independent committee. The investment of the Institut Pasteur and the close collaboration between PIA and Argobio are fully in line with this strategy”.
 
The team will be led by Yves Ribeill, Neill Mackenzie and Rémi Soula. Thierry Laugel, Managing Partner at Kurma Partners will be appointed President of Argobio, and Laurent Arthaud, Director of the Biotech and Ecotech investment of Bpifrance, will be appointed Chairman of the Supervisory Board.