Oryl Photonics is awarded the EIC Transition grant with a European consortium
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Oryl Photonics achieved a significant milestone: together with its partners of the FASS – Fast and Accurate Solubility for Sustainability project, they were awarded the prestigious EIC Transition grant amounting € 2.5 Million.
The consortium is led by EU-OPENSCREEN ERIC, the European research infrastructure for early drug discovery and chemical biology with its central office in Germany. Other consortium members are Oryl Photonics, a Swiss spin-off from EPFL; Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW – University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland) based in Switzerland; and ALPhANOV, a research and technology organization based in France.
“This grant will accelerate the development and market entry of our laboratory instrument. Oryl Photonics is excited to make a world impact through its light-scattering based technology that fills a gap in the market offering of solubility measurement. The output of the grant will empower researchers in the pharmaceutical, chemical and life sciences industries to achieve more in their work, with sustainability and performance in mind.” shares Orly Tarun, CEO & Co-founder of Oryl Photonics.
A revolutionary laboratory instrument for pharmaceutical companies.
The instrument was initially conceived at EPFL in Lausanne by Orly Tarun and Nathan Dupertuis, the founders of Oryl Photonics. The Swiss startup has developed the technology, an advanced form of laser- based light scattering, after an incubation for over a decade.
The spin-off received over the last years CHF 1.2 million in non-dilutive funding, grants, and awards from various Swiss organizations as well as an ERC Proof of Concept grant from the European Research Commission. The current FASS project is a direct follow-up to this very competitive grant.
FASS officially started on June 1st and will last for 30 months. The new funding of € 2.5 M will help the consortium to deliver to the market a disruptive and sustainable solubility measurement instrument that reduces cost and drug compound consumption, increases measurement throughput while achieving cutting-edge performances in sensitivity and reliability.
The composition of the consortium is ideal to achieve this objective, with complementary expertise in photonics and laser technologies, drug screening and discovery, and pharmaceutical formulation. The grant will be instrumental for technological maturation, customer development, exploration of value- added applications of the technology in drug discovery and development and to improve market competitiveness, positioning and credibility.
A technological breakthrough for life science R&D. T
Measuring how drugs dissolve in liquids is crucial for the development of efficient drugs. The FASS technology forwards solubility measurement to the next level through its rapid, sensitive and accurate laser-based light scattering that requires the least quantity of compounds. It is based on the ‘Solvent Redistribution’ method – born at EPFL – that is the world’s-first solution that will disrupt the way solubility measurement is performed.
The laboratory instrument created by Oryl Photonics provides a straightforward analysis and automated solubility testing process for pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, while saving precious compounds compared to existing technologies. It also reduces drastically the environmental impact with a lower consumption of chemicals, electricity and consumables, hence giving its name – Fast and Accurate Solubility for Sustainability – to the project.
Source: press release