A team from CINTESIS – Center for Health Technology and Services Research/the University of Algarve (UAlg) won the Born from Knowledge Ideas Awards, in the category “Health and Well-being”.
The award, promoted by ANI – National Agency for Innovation, distinguishes more specifically the “expressPIK“, developed by researchers Ana Teresa Maia and Joana Xavier, from CINTESIS/UAlg.
“The expressPIK, a complementary diagnostic test based on RNA mutation expression, to help physicians identify breast cancer patients most likely to respond to treatment with alpelisib or other anti-PIK therapies,” adds ANI.
With a business potential calculated by the team at 70 million euros/year, and being scalable to other cancers with similar mutations, the solution, says the same source, may have a prototype in a year and a half.
In this 2020 edition, postponed due to the pandemic, 33 candidate projects distributed by different categories were submitted. After presenting their “pitches”, eight projects passed to the final, including the one from the CINTESIS/UAlg team, which ended up being awarded in one of the categories.
The decision was made by a jury composed of João Mendes Borga, director of ANI; José Vale, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at IAPMEI; Rui Ferreira, executive vice president of Portugal Ventures; and Cláudia Montenegro, director of Social Responsibility at Galp.
The winners of BfK Ideas have direct entry to the Science and Technology Acceleration Program “BfK Rise”, also of ANI’s responsibility. Three editions are planned – North, Center, and Alentejo – in which participants will be closely monitored by a network of mentors for three months, consisting of other entrepreneurs, ANI’s partner entities, companies, among others. The goal is to enable them to accelerate the process of transferring knowledge into products or services for the market.