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The finalists are a group of outstanding entrepreneurs in the field of biomedical research.
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The award was established this year to honor Andreas Strungemann, M.D., and Thomas Strungemann, Ph.D., for their inspiring entrepreneurial achievements and visionary investments in the life sciences industry.
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The winner will be officially announced at a ceremony during the Future Festival at the Deutsches Museum in Munich on June 28, 2024, and will be awarded a prize of 100,000 euros.
Munich, 28 May 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The committee of the newly created Andreas & Thomas Strungemann Award announced today the finalists for the inaugural 2024 award, the first of its kind in the DACH region, which aims to recognise outstanding entrepreneurial talent and achievements in the life sciences sector.
In the spirit of its namesake, the award recognizes the next generation of leaders who are evolving great ideas into reality. This mission is reflected in the award’s name, which pays tribute to brothers Andreas Struengmann, M.D. and Thomas Struengmann, Ph.D., who achieved extraordinary entrepreneurial success as founders of Hexal and profoundly impacted the life sciences industry with their visionary investments, including at BioNTech.
“We are honored to launch this prize and are impressed by the finalists’ visionary entrepreneurial spirit and their achievements in turning innovative ideas into reality. Furthermore, they highlight that the DACH life sciences ecosystem is a thriving, internationally recognised hub of excellence and creativity,” said Andreas and Thomas Strungmann.
The following outstanding entrepreneurs were selected by the awards committee for their innovative thinking and execution in translating biomedical research into therapeutic approaches:
Thomas Sam | Claudia Ulbrich – Cardiol
Thomas Thum, CSO and co-founder of Cardior, is a key opinion leader in cardiac disease and the development of RNA-based therapeutics and established the scientific foundation of Cardior. He serves on the editorial boards of the world’s most prestigious cardiovascular journals and has received multiple awards for his research achievements.
Claudia Ulbrich, CEO and Co-Founder of Cardior, is a seasoned integration leader with over 25 years of operating expertise in private and public biotechnology companies, and extensive experience in M&A, deal management and consulting. At Cardior, she played a key role in strategically leading the company, leveraging her advanced commercial and financial expertise to negotiate high value transactions for the company.
Cardior is a pioneer in developing RNA targeted therapies to prevent, repair and reverse heart disease.
Roman Thomas – DISCO Pharmaceuticals
Roman Thomas, CEO and Co-Founder of DISCO Pharmaceuticals, specializes in identifying unique surface markers on cancer cells and, together with his team, believes this field will yield breakthroughs that will help improve the cancer treatment landscape. Roman brings over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience and nearly 20 years of scientific experience to DISCO. His passion for translating science into therapeutics is evident from his entrepreneurial track record having founded three other successful biotechnology companies.
DISCO Pharmaceuticals uses innovative cell surface discovery technologies to unlock the full potential of targeted cancer therapeutics.
Samir Ounzine | Daniel Blessing – Haya Therapeutics
Haya Therapeutics co-founders Samir Ounzine, CEO, and Daniel Blessing, CTO, have created a company that continues to gain momentum and recognition in the industry, as reflected by the receipt of several prestigious startup awards and the establishment of a US base at JLABS @ San Diego, part of Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s global network of life science incubators. Samir Ounzine is a molecular biologist with over 15 years of experience in exploring the dark matter of the genome, and his research efforts directly led to the discovery of hundreds of novel lncRNAs that are enriched in the heart. Daniel Blessing is a biotechnology scientist with 10 years of experience in the field of pharmaceutical biotechnology, including various translational aspects of drug development and manufacturing.
Haya Therapeutics is a precision medicine company developing programmable therapeutics targeting long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a new class of regulatory molecules in the non-coding portions of the human genome (known as “dark matter”).
Wolf Grounder – T-CURX
Ulf Grawunder, CEO and co-founder of T-CURX, and his team created a company that envisions making CAR-T immunotherapy available to the many cancer patients who currently cannot benefit from these innovative medicines. With over 20 years of experience in founding, building and exiting biotech companies, T-CURX is the third biotech startup that Ulf has co-founded, highlighting his entrepreneurial spirit and deep knowledge of the field.
T-CURX is leveraging its proprietary cutting-edge technology and CAR-T product opportunities using its synthetic transposon system, also known as “Sleeping Beauty,” to develop new and improved CAR-T cell products in both hematological and solid tumor indications.
Dominik Schumacher | Jonas Helma Smets | Ingo Lörke – Tubris
The three co-founders of Tubulis, CEO Dominik Schumacher, CSO Jonas Helma-Smets and CBO Ingo Lehrke, have combined their entrepreneurial spirit, scientific know-how and business expertise to build a clinically-ready company capable of delivering the true therapeutic benefits of ADCs to patients. Dominik Schumacher and Jonas Helma Smets were instrumental in developing the company’s scientific backbone and early funding and are the driving force behind Tubulis’ continued innovation. Ingo Lehrke brings more than 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience to Tubulis. His passion for strategic business development has made him a key contributor to the company’s growth, including Tubulis’ recent partnership with BMS.
Tubulis is building a pipeline of uniquely tailored ADCs tailored to each disease biology by combining the appropriate targeting molecule, conjugation chemistry and payload using its proprietary suite of platform technologies.
As a next step in the selection process, an expert jury made up of leading experts in the DACH life sciences sector will select the winner, who will then be officially announced at the “Festival of the Future” at the Deutsches Museum in Munich on 28 June 2024. As part of the ceremonial event, the winner will have the opportunity to present their company and business idea to an expert audience and will receive a cash prize of 100,000 euros.
For more information about the award and the latest news, please visit our newly launched website at www.struengmannaward.de.
About the Andreas and Thomas Strunjmann Award
The award was established in 2024 to recognize outstanding entrepreneurs who have brought innovative ideas to life in the DACH life sciences sector. Its aim is to reward extraordinary achievements with a prestigious award and to promote the development of the next generation of leaders in the sector. The award is named to honour twin brothers Andreas Struengmann, MD and Thomas Struengmann, who are among the key entrepreneurs, visionaries and investors in the life sciences sector. As founders of Hexal, they have achieved extraordinary entrepreneurial success and, as investors, have repeated that success for more than 20 years by building and developing leading companies across industries, including Mainz-based BioNTech. For more information, please visit https://struengmannaward.de/.
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