PIQUR with funding and support by the University of Basel

Financing for the preclinical development has been secured in seed funding in October 2012 from private investors and the Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency KTI/CTI. In addition to that PIQUR is enjoying unique support by its hosting University of Basel, both in terms of IP funding and the use of laboratories and support. These funds will be spent for the preclinical pharmacology and regulatory toxicology studies and the operational set-up of the company.
 
PIQUR is embedded in a broad and very experienced network in Basel and internationally. The exceptional location at the Rosental Biopark enables an exchange between different biotech companies and the neighbouring pharma companies. It builds a unique cluster of young, talented and experienced researchers in the field of oncology. «The team of PIQUR has an outstanding track record in science and business. Selected top-experts from industry have been appointed as executives and advisors», says Dr. Vladimir Cmiljanovic, CEO and co-founder of PIQUR.
 
PIQUR is a spin-off of the University of Basel, and there is a licence agreement between the two institutions. The research group of Prof. Dr. Matthias P. Wymann, a professor at the Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics at the University of Basel, has shown how knowledge of the molecular processes involved in the development of disease can be used to develop targeted therapies.
 
The University is committed to translational research in which the results of basic research are used to develop commercially viable treatments. In PIQUR's case, scientists from the fields of organic chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences, molecular biology and biochemistry collaborated to identify new classes of drugs, which are the foundation on which the biotech start-up is based.
 
The aim of PIQUR’s activities is to turn cancer into a manageable disease. PIQUR’s differentiation against its peers is the outstanding industry expertise, the level of innovation with its unique, proprietary fragment and scaffold libraries as well as cellular technology platform and their best-in-class products with novel, dual-acting ‘strong PI3K plus finely-tuned weaker mTOR’ inhibitors that fully address the given challenges, meeting therapeutic, tolerance and galenic needs.