Swiss Health Valley startups build strong partnerships

Avrion Therapeutics, Neurosoft Bioelectronics and FluoSphera have recently announced partnerships that bring their technologies closer to patients and to industry. The projects cover gene therapy, brain-computer interfaces and preclinical drug testing.

Avrion Therapeutics: moving an ALS gene therapy towards the clinic

EPFL spin-off Avrion Therapeutics, ReMedys Foundation and Institut Charcot, an initiative of the French ALS patient association ARSLA, have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance AVR-001. This advanced preclinical gene therapy targets certain familial forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) linked to mutations in the SOD1 gene.

AVR-001 comes from research led by Dr. Bernard Schneider at EPFL and is jointly developed by ReMedys and Avrion. The AAV9-based therapy is designed to reduce SOD1 production in motor neurons and astrocytes, two cell types at the heart of ALS. Preclinical work has already shown therapeutic activity in ALS mouse models, along with target engagement, biodistribution and initial safety data.

The programme will join Institut Charcot’s pipeline, France’s first integrated translational pipeline dedicated to ALS. The institute will contribute its scientific expertise and network, while ARSLA brings the patient community’s perspective. The partners are working towards a first-in-human clinical trial, expected in 2028.

Neurosoft Bioelectronics: bringing AI to the brain with Mila

Geneva-based Neurosoft Bioelectronics has partnered with Mila, a Canada-based AI research institute, to develop AI-powered brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for patients with severe neurological conditions.

Neurosoft develops stretchable, minimally invasive Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs). The company is also building a cortical foundation model: an AI model trained on large-scale neural recordings, in the same way that large language models learn from text. Brain data is much scarcer than text, so the model needs algorithms that learn efficiently from limited data. That is one of Mila’s areas of expertise.

With this partnership, Neurosoft joins Mila’s industry network of close to 2,000 researchers and professionals. The agreement also builds on Neurosoft’s existing collaboration with Prof. Guillaume Lajoie’s lab. “This marks an important step toward building a platform that doesn’t just record the brain, but can understand it,” said Nicolas Vachicouras, CEO & Co-Founder of Neurosoft.

FluoSphera: safety and efficacy testing in a single experiment

UNIGE spin-off FluoSphera, based in Plan-les-Ouates (Geneva), has teamed up with German proteomics company Sciomics to launch a joint preclinical profiling service.

The service combines FluoSphera’s human 3D multi-tissue platform with Sciomics’ high-content protein analysis. In a single experiment, pharma and biotech teams can see whether a compound is effective or toxic, in which tissue, through which pathway, and with which candidate biomarkers. Tumor and healthy organ tissues are tested together under identical conditions, and the platform includes liver metabolism. This helps catch safety issues that conventional models, which test tissues one at a time, can miss.

The approach has already been demonstrated in a proof-of-concept study with AbbVie, which is now being prepared for publication. “Combining human multi-tissue biology with comprehensive protein profiling removes that trade-off,” said Gregory Segala, CSO of FluoSphera. The service is available now.

A strong signal for the region

Each of these companies is partnering with patient organizations, AI researchers or industry. Together, they show how Swiss Health Valley innovation connects with international partners to speed up the path from science to patient impact.

➡️ Source: Press Releases | 📸 DR