UCL spinout company Nanomerics wins first prize in RSC competition

The award recognises the commercial and scientific excellence associated with Nanomerics and its Molecular Envelope Technology (MET), the platform technology underpinning Nanomerics’ business. Nanomerics’ MET was developed at the UCL School of Pharmacy and is being used by Nanomerics to develop a handful of differentiated medicines.

From a wide field of international companies, with applicants offering various technologies, all grounded in the chemical sciences, a selection of ten companies had been shortlisted to pitch earlier in the day.

Nanomerics competed in the health category and was first up on the pitching stage, showcasing Nanomerics’ MET to the judges and wider audience. The technologies were judged by a trio of seasoned judges with over 60 years of pharmaceutical industry experience between them: Kurt Pike from Astrazeneca, Ger Brophy from GE Healthcare and Simon Turner from Alacrita.

Professor Andreas Schatzlein, Nanomerics’ Chief Executive Officer and UCL Professor of Translational Therapeutics, and Professor Ijeoma F. Uchegbu, Nanomerics’ Chief Scientific Officer and UCL Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience, accepted the award on behalf of the company from the RSC's Chief Executive Robert Parker and the BBC's TV Host Maggie Philbin OBE.

Andreas said: “We're incredibly humbled to have been recognised by our peers and to be recognised at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s flagship event for companies working in the chemical sciences.”

Ijeoma added: “This award is a treasure of no equivalence for Nanomerics as it vindicates the work we have put into designing, optimising and utilising Nanomerics’ MET for eventual patient benefit.”

The award included a commemorative plaque, a cash prize of £10,000, and a suite of training opportunities in media relations and other business skills for Nanomerics’ staff.

Celia Caulcott, Vice- Provost (Enterprise), said: “I’m really thrilled that Nanomerics won first prize in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition. It's testament to the potential of brilliant new ideas that exist across all of our faculties, that help us keep putting great new discoveries to work in the real world.”

Links

• The Emerging Technologies Competition on the Royal Society of Chemistry website
• Nanomerics on the company's website
• UCL School of Pharmacy
• UCL School of Life and Medical Sciences
• UCL Business

Picture: © Royal Society of Chemistry

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