Winners of the second annual Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Summit & Awards in Oncology announced

Winners of the second annual Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Summit & Awards in Oncology announced

Mihir Shah of UE LifeSciences Inc. has been selected as the winner of the 2019 Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Award in OncologyPierluigi Paracchi of Genenta Science has been selected as the winner of the 2019 Squinto-LePera Award

MONACO, PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO and NEW YORK, NY, MARCH 19, 2019:
Lyfebulb, a patient-empowerment platform that connects patients with industry to support user-driven innovation, and Helsinn, a Swiss pharmaceutical group focused on building quality cancer care, today announced that Mihir Shah of UE LifeSciences and Pierluigi Paracchi of Genenta Science were chosen as winners of the second Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Summit and Awards in Oncology. Mihir received the Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Award, and Pierluigi received The Squinto-LePera award, which was presented by Dr. Stephen Squinto and Denise LePera. The awards recognize outstanding innovations by Patient Entrepreneurs which advance solutions in the prevention, management or care of cancer, and have the potential to be commercialized.

Mihir Shah founded UE LifeSciences to enable affordable and scalable access to early diagnosis of cancer for women everywhere, after seeing his mother-in-law go through breast cancer. The company's iBreastExam, a US FDA-cleared, hand-held device, enables health workers to identify non-palpable breast lumps in just a few minutes, without pain or radiation and at a fraction of the cost of a mammogram.

Inspired by his mother's brush with cancer, Pierluigi Paracchi, an experienced venture capitalist, co-founded Genenta Science, a clinical stage immune-gene therapy company which leverages the ground-breaking science from Professor Naldini at the San Raffaele Milano hospital. Genenta has phase 1 / 2 trials ongoing in multiple myeloma and glioblastoma.  

Ten inspiring finalists were invited to compete at the 2019 Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Summit in Oncology, which was hosted on March 18-19 by Lyfebulb and Helsinn in Monaco. All finalists were Patient Entrepreneurs, meaning that they are cancer patients, survivors or people with   a close relative or loved one who has been affected by cancer. Over the course of the Summit, the finalists presented their businesses to a jury with diverse expertise in cancer. Each winner received a $25,000 monetary grant.

"The innovations demonstrated at this Summit clearly show how the personal experiences of each of the ten finalists have informed and driven them in developing impactful solutions for people affected by cancer. We look forward to following their progress and believe that the Lyfebulb Patient Entrepreneur Circle and its Innovation Summits can play a significant role in their journey," said Dr. Karin Hehenberger, CEO and Founder of Lyfebulb.

Riccardo Braglia, Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and CEO, added, "We were very impressed by the quality of applications received for this Innovation Summit and the finalists who competed in Monaco. We congratulate the winners and know the jury chose worthy award recipients, Mihir and Pierluigi. Helsinn is proud to be supporting dynamic entrepreneurs who are bringing innovation and personal experience to developing solutions to the challenges of cancer, and the second year of this event has demonstrated that this is a powerful idea with momentum. Looking ahead, we hope that this Innovation Summit will inspire more Patient Entrepreneurs to come forward in providing further solutions in cancer."

The Lyfebulb-Helsinn Award recognizes outstanding potential among entrepreneurs who have demonstrated an ability to develop and bring to market solutions that improve quality of life of people with cancer. The Squinto-LePera Award by Lyfebulb was generously donated by Dr. Stephen Squinto and Denise LePera, and was added to the Summit to provide additional recognition among a highly talented pool of finalists.

About Lyfebulb

Lyfebulb is a chronic disease-focused, patient empowerment platform that connects patients and industry (manufacturers and payers) to support user-driven innovation. Lyfebulb promotes a healthy, take-charge lifestyle for those affected by chronic disease. Grounded with its strong foundation in diabetes, the company has expanded disease states covered into cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis.
See www.lyfebulb.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Lyfebulb LinkedIn, and Karin Hehenberger LinkedIn.

About Helsinn International Services sarl

Helsinn International Services sarl is the Helsinn subsidiary which provides a range of advisory services and strategic activities to the Group and its specific companies. In particular, it acts as the advisory company to Helsinn Investment Fund. 

About Helsinn Investment Fund S.A., SICAR

The Helsinn Investment Fund is focused on early-stage investments in areas of high unmet patient need. Backed by the Helsinn Group, and guided by Helsinn's core values of quality, integrity and respect, Helsinn Investment Fund aims to help companies with innovative technologies to transform new ideas into commercial solutions with the potential to impact health-related quality of life of patients.
Drawing on Helsinn's over 40 years of investment into research and development and commercial expertise, the investment fund selects companies with technologies in a range of areas including cancer therapeutics and diagnostics, cancer supportive care, metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders, and dermatology conditions.
For more information, visit www.helsinninvestmentfund.com

About the Helsinn Group

Helsinn is a privately owned pharmaceutical group with an extensive portfolio of marketed cancer care products and a robust drug development pipeline. Since 1976, Helsinn has been improving the everyday lives of patients, guided by core family values of respect, integrity and quality. The Group works across pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and nutritional supplements and has expertise in research, development, manufacture and the commercialization of therapeutic and supportive care products for cancer, pain and inflammation and gastroenterology. In 2016, Helsinn created the Helsinn Investment Fund to support early-stage investment opportunities in areas of unmet patient need. The company is headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, with operating subsidiaries in Switzerland, Ireland, the U.S., Monaco and China, as well as a product presence in approximately 190 countries globally.
To learn more about Helsinn Group please visit www.helsinn.com

For more information:

Helsinn Group Media Contact
Paola Bonvicini
Group Head of Communication
Lugano, Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0) 91 985 21 21
Info-hhc@helsinn.com
For more information, please follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Vimeo.

Press Contact for Lyfebulb:
Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD
CEO & Founder, Lyfebulb,
Phone: + 00 1 917-575-0210
Email: karin@lyfebulb.com

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