Two C-CAMP supported startups win top honours at global Johnson & Johnson Innovation QuickFire Challenge in Infectious Disease and Geriatrics domains
Two startups supported by Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms or C-CAMP have emerged victorious in the globally prestigious Johnson & Johnson (JnJ) Innovation’s Global Health Discovery QuickFire Challenge: Flavivirus Infections and JnJ Innovation Japan Smart Healthy Aging QuickFire Challenge.
The startups are Aaarna Therapeutics, a C-CAMP BIRAC funded and incubated company and Qure.AI, supported by C-CAMP’s Digital Health program. Aarna Therapeutics is the only company to feature as a winner in the 2023 JnJ Innovation’s Global Health Discovery QuickFire Challenge: Flavivirus Infections while Qure.ai is the only Indian company to be featured among the four awardees in the JnJ Innovation Japan Smart Healthy Aging QuickFire Challenge.
C-CAMP Director-CEO, Dr Taslimarif welcomed the news saying, “C-CAMP is extremely proud to have two of its startups feature in Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s global list of innovators. This achievement shows that India is emerging as a destination for deep tech bio innovation. The fact that both are also C-CAMP supported highlights the crucial piece of the puzzle that C-CAMP as an organization is filling in the Indian innovation ecosystem.”
About the Winners:
1) Aaarna Therapeutics, an mRNA therapeutics company developing mRNA expressed CRISPR-Cas based broad spectrum antiviral therapeutics, vaccines and prophylactics. Instituted by Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Johnson & Johnson Global Public Health, the 2023 JnJ Global Health Discovery award sought to identify pathbreaking ideas from Asia Pacific/Oceania area to treat, control, or prevent flavivirus diseases such as dengue virus, Zika virus, West Nile virus, Japanese Encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus). Climate change, globalization and rampant urbanization increase the risks of vector-borne RNA-virus infections otherwise called flavivirus infections, especially those carried by mosquitoes. This was seen by the fatal outbreak of Zika in 2015-2016 In South America. Similar data shows that during 2015 to 2021, a minimum of 1,530 individuals died in India due to dengue, while more than nine lakh were infected. Flaviviruses such as dengue and zika are currently without a cure and suffer inadequate vaccine coverage.
2) Qure.AI is a digital healthcare company providing AI/ML and deep learning-driven radiology analysis and interpretation solutions for X-Rays, and CT scans. The technology significantly improves diagnostics for Neurocritical care, Respiratory, Musculoskeletal and Cardiovascular health areas. Johnson & Johnson Innovation, together with The Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies in Japan had launched the Japan Smart Healthy Aging QuickFire Challenge open to innovators across the globe. Japan being the oldest country in the world with 30% of its population in the elderly category, is a hotspot for non-communicable diseases and multimorbidities. Qure.AI’s solution is expected to increase life expectancy and quality of life through timely diagnosis and screening for cardiovascular, neurological episodes.
Both winners will receive grant funding from a total pool of $300,000, access to Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s Asia Pacific ecosystem including a dedicated workstation for one year at JLABS @ Shanghai, and mentorship from experts across the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies (Johnson & Johnson).
