LMU start-up Epicure wins m⁴ award

Endowed with 500,000 euros, the award supports academic research groups as they translate scientific insights into concrete applications – in this case the development of novel cancer therapies. Dr. Matthias Heiss, Dr. Corinna Pleintinger, Yasmin Gärtner, Professor Thomas Carell, Dr. Mike Rothe and Professor Franziska Traube of the Faculty of Chemistry took receipt of the prize in Munich at the start of July.

The m⁴ award is presented biannually by BioM – the biotech industry’s cluster development organization in Bavaria – and the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy. On each occasion, it is given in recognition of five outstanding biomedical research projects, the aim being to promote innovative technologies, products and services that help solve urgent medical problems.

Epicure focuses on active substances in the epigenetic sphere that target specific disease-related molecular mechanisms in an attempt to make cancer treatments both more effective and better tolerated. Especially in the context of malignant conditions of the blood and lymphatic systems, there is a desperate need for new treatments: Despite medical progress, more than 750,000 people a year die of hematological neoplasms, because existing treatments are often not sufficiently effective or are heavily toxic.

Thanks to the money from the m⁴ award, Epicure can now go ahead with important preclinical studies, laying the regulatory foundation for initial human clinical trials – and moving the project a step closer toward its planned spin-off.