Award for outstanding entrepreneurs who establish revolutionary technologies in the life sciences sector.

Strüngmann Award Honors Araris Biotech Founding Team as 2025 Winner

The expert jury selected Dragan Grabulovski, Ph.D., Philipp Spycher, Ph.D., and Isabella Attinger-Toller, Ph.D. of Araris Biotech, from a group of outstanding life science entrepreneurs.

The founding team is developing a breakthrough technology to establish a new generation of targeted cancer therapies.

Committee representatives presented the award and the EUR 100,000 cash prize on Thursday, July 3, 2025

Munich, Germany, July 04, 2025

The Strüngmann Award selection committee today announced that Dragan Grabulovski, Ph.D., Philipp Spycher, Ph.D., and Isabella Attinger-Toller, Ph.D., the founders of Araris Biotech, have been honored as this year’s winners. The award aims to support outstanding entrepreneurial and scientific achievements, as well as ground-breaking ideas in the life sciences industry. Araris Biotech’s founding team distinguished itself not only by developing of a novel technology in the antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) field, but also by successfully validating this innovation through partnerships and a preclinical exit. This new drug class has the potential to significantly advance the development of targeted cancer therapies, thereby delivering added value for people living with cancer worldwide.

“On behalf of the award committee and this year’s expert jury panel, we would like to congratulate Isabella Attinger-Toller, Dragan Grabulovski and Philipp Spycher. Together with the expert jury, we selected the founders of Araris Biotech as winners based on their combined leadership, entrepreneurial expertise and scientific excellence. Following the successful acquisition of Araris by Taiho Pharmaceuticals, we believe this award further recognizes the founding team’s continued growth and positive trajectory ahead. This trio has impressively demonstrated how a new idea, a clear focus on translation and entrepreneurial boldness can come together to launch a new generation of targeted cancer therapies,” said Andreas Strüngmann, M.D., and Thomas Strüngmann, Ph.D., in a joint statement. “It was a special privilege for us to engage with such a diverse, forward-looking group of start-ups from the DACH region. Learning more about the finalists and their impressive achievements made the final decision anything but easy.”

The group of finalists selected in May comprised three companies: Araris Biotech, NovaGo Therapeutics and TOLREMO therapeutics, whose founders exemplify the entrepreneurial potential and scientific diversity that characterize the life sciences sector in the DACH region. They include an impressive variety of disciplines — spanning targeted cancer therapies, regenerative neuroscience and cancer drug resistance. Following the presentation of their entrepreneurial and scientific achievements to an expert jury, Dragan Grabulovski, Ph.D., Philipp Spycher, Ph.D., and Isabella Attinger-Toller, Ph.D., were announced today as the winning team and will receive a joint cash prize of EUR 100,000.

"We feel very honored to have our vision and achievements recognized by the Strüngmann Award. As the founding team, we have always believed in the potential of our new technology and the value it may hold for patients. This award, in addition to the acquisition by Taiho Pharmaceuticals, is a validation of our commitment, shared journey and the hard work that has enabled our success story," said Dragan Grabulovski, Ph.D., CEO of Araris Biotech, on behalf of the founding team.

The Araris Biotech founders, the experienced biotech entrepreneur Dragan Grabulovski, Ph.D., (CEO), the visionary scientist Philipp Spycher, Ph.D., (CSO) and the outstanding translational scientist Isabella Attinger-Toller, Ph.D., (CTO), can look back on one of the most successful Swiss biotech startups to be established in recent years. Spun out of the Paul Scherrer Institute (part of ETH domain) in 2019, the team developed a novel ADC linker-payload technology (AraLinQ™) that enables one-step payload attachment to off-the-shelf antibodies, without the need for prior antibody engineering. This innovative approach not only opens new possibilities in oncology, but also has potential for applications in other therapeutic areas.

In only a few years, the Araris team raised over CHF 40 million, formed a strategic partnership with Chugai (Roche) and Johnson & Johnson, and achieved a landmark acquisition by Taiho Pharmaceutical in March 2025 for up to USD $1.14 billion. Through these achievements, the three winners exemplify the potential within the DACH region to successfully translate scientific excellence into global innovation.

About Araris Biotech AG

Araris Biotech is a leading biotech company pioneering the future of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and redefining the entire paradigm of targeted cancer therapy and beyond. Araris’ vision is a world without chemotherapy and its proprietary conjugation and groundbreaking multi-payload technology represents a quantum leap forward in ADC design, enabling the transformation of any antibody into an ADC with the goal of better safety and efficacy. By enabling the attachment of multiple, synergistic cancer-fighting payloads to a single antibody in an efficient one-step process, Araris is creating a new generation of smart missiles that deliver the potency of combination chemotherapy in a targeted fashion in order to tackle the persistent challenges of cancer resistance. Araris is a wholly owned subsidiary of Taiho Pharmaceutical following its acquisition in March 2025. For more information about our science and pipeline, please visit https://www.ararisbiotech.com/.

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Strüngmann Award Committee Announces 2025 Finalists Recognizing Outstanding Life Science Entrepreneurs in the DACH Region

The selected finalists have demonstrated entrepreneurial execution and translational potential for a range of scientific approaches.

The winner(s) will be officially announced on July 3, 2025, and will receive an EUR 100,000 cash prize.

Munich, Germany, May 27, 2025

The Strüngmann Award selection committee today announced this year’s award finalists. The three companies and their founders highlight the exceptional and internationally successful leaders emerging from the DACH region’s thriving life science ecosystem. Now in its second year, the award aims to recognize founders who are not only advancing breakthrough science, but who have also demonstrated the drive and resilience required to translate innovation into therapeutic impact.

The award was established to honor its namesakes, Andreas Strüngmann, M.D., and Thomas Strüngmann, Ph.D. As the founders of Hexal they achieved extraordinary entrepreneurial success, subsequently they expanded on these achievements in their roles as visionary investors. The award celebrates the next generation of leaders advancing a great idea into reality.

“We are convinced of the exceptionally talented leaders in the DACH life science ecosystem and are committed to recognizing and promoting both innovative ideas and execution through this award. This year’s finalists underscore the depth of scientific and entrepreneurial excellence in the DACH region. They represent a remarkable diversity of scientific fields: from targeted cancer therapies to regenerative neuroscience and drug resistance. It’s inspiring to see how different paths can lead to meaningful innovation that improves patients’ lives,” said Andreas und Thomas Strüngmann.

The following visionary entrepreneurs have been selected by the award committee for their innovative mindset and talent for execution in translating biomedical research into therapeutic approaches:

Dragan Grabulovski | Philipp Spycher | Isabella Attinger-Toller – Araris Biotech

The founding team of Araris Biotech, Dragan Grabulovski, Ph.D., CEO, Philipp Spycher, Ph.D., CSO, and Isabella Attinger-Toller, Ph.D., CTO, has built one of Switzerland’s most successful biotech ventures in recent years. Spun out of the Paul Scherrer Institute (part of ETH domain), the team developed a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) linker-payload technology (AraLinQTM) that enables one-step payload attachment to off-the-shelf antibodies, without the need of prior antibody engineering. Their collaborative leadership and scientific excellence led Araris to raise over CHF 40 million, form a strategic partnership with Chugai (Roche) and Johnson & Johnson, and achieve a landmark acquisition by Taiho Pharmaceutical in March 2025 for up to USD 1.14 billion.

Araris Biotech is advancing a new class of ADCs aiming to redefine the entire paradigm of targeted cancer therapy and beyond.

Martin E. Schwab | Stefan Moese – NovaGo Therapeutics

Prof. Martin E. Schwab, Ph.D., CSO and co-founder of NovaGo Therapeutics, is a world-renowned neuroscientist whose pioneering work on nerve growth inhibition fundamentally changed the field of neuroregeneration. He discovered the protein Nogo-A, a key blocker of nerve repair in the central nervous system and translated this breakthrough into the development of regenerative antibody therapies. Building on decades of research at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, he founded NovaGo in 2015 to advance clinical candidates for patients with spinal cord injury and related indications.

Since joining as CEO in 2023, Stefan Moese, Ph.D., has brought deep expertise in biologics and translational drug development. Together, he and Martin E. Schwab are driving the company’s efforts to translate cutting-edge science into regenerative therapies, where the first candidate has entered clinical trials in acute spinal cord injured patients in 2024.

NovaGo Therapeutics is a Swiss biotech company developing antibody-based therapies to promote nerve and blood vessel regeneration, with a lead program targeting acute spinal cord injury.

Stefanie Flückiger-Mangual – TOLREMO therapeutics

Stefanie Flückiger-Mangual, Ph.D., founder and CEO of TOLREMO therapeutics, has built a company that is redefining the way drug resistance is approached in the treatment of cancer. Drawing from her academic research at ETH Zurich, she uncovered that resistance is often driven by transcriptional changes — sometimes long before oncogenic mutations arise. This insight led to the development of a proprietary screening platform which resulted in the identification of CBP/p300 as an epigenetic master regulator of non-oncogene resistance. Under Stefanie’s leadership, the company has raised over CHF 34 million and advanced its lead program TT125-802, a novel, highly selective CBP/p300 inhibitor, into the clinic. In this ongoing clinical trial, TT125-802 has shown a best-in-class safety profile and unprecedented monotherapy activity in solid tumors.

TOLREMO therapeutics is pioneering a comprehensive new approach to tackle cancer drug resistance by blocking transcriptional resistance pathways that operate parallel to the primary oncogene signaling axis. This represents a differentiated strategy to address a major challenge in cancer treatment, with significant therapeutic potential both as a monotherapy as well as in combination with targeted therapies.

As a next step in the selection process, an expert jury consisting of leading entrepreneurial personalities and biotechnology investors will select the winner(s). The winner will be officially announced on July 3, 2025, and will receive a EUR 100,000 cash prize.

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Andreas & Thomas Strüngmann Award Honors HAYA Therapeutics Co-founders as Inaugural Winners.

The award jury selected Samir Ounzain, PhD and Daniel Blessing, PhD, the two co-founders of HAYA Therapeutics, as the winners from an outstanding finalist group of life science entrepreneurs.

Representatives from the award committee presented the award and the €100,000 cash prize at the Festival of the Future at the Deutsches Museum in Munich last Friday, June 28, 2024

Munich, Germany, July 1, 2024

The committee of the newly established Andreas & Thomas Strüngmann Award today announced that Samir Ounzain and Daniel Blessing, the two co-founders of HAYA Therapeutics, are the inaugural winners of the Andreas & Thomas Strüngmann Award. Established to support and recognize entrepreneurial vision in the life science arena, the award recognizes the co-founder’s progress in building a company developing a RNA therapeutic approach targeting long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in multiple disease areas, in advance of the start of a HAYA’s first-in-human clinical study in non obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

“Together with the award committee and this year’s jury, we congratulate Samir and Daniel and hope that this award provides an additional validation as HAYA’s begins the next stage of development as a company. They have proven their ability to translate their findings from the lab into a differentiated cell-state-modifying platform that has significant potential to provide novel, disease-modifying therapeutics for the heart and a range of other disease areas,” Andreas and Thomas Strüngmann said in a joint statement. “Throughout our selection process, it has been a tremendous privilege to view the outstanding companies nominated from across the DACH region and, in particular, get to know the finalists whose successes made the final decision a difficult one to make.”

The company teams shortlisted in May represent established and emerging biotech entrepreneurs in the DACH area who made significant achievements over the past years. These entrepreneurs turned unique scientific approaches into companies focused on bringing solutions to patients through modalities ranging from cell and RNA therapies to ADCs. Following the nomination, a group of finalist innovators had the opportunity to present their companies and their respective scientific approaches to an expert jury of leading personalities from the DACH life sciences sector, who then selected the winners announced last Friday, June 28 at the Festival of the Future at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. As part of the award, Samir Ounzain and Daniel Blessing received a cash prize of €100,000, which they will share.

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Newly Launched Andreas & Thomas Strüngmann Award Recognizing Outstanding DACH Life Science Entrepreneurs Announces 2024 Finalists.

The selected finalists are a group of outstanding entrepreneurs in the field of biomedical research.

The award was established this year to honor Andreas Strüngmann, M.D., and Thomas Strüngmann, Ph.D., for their inspiring entre­ preneurial achievements and visionary invest­ ments in the life science industry.

The winner will be officially announced at the Festival of the Future ceremony at the Deutsches Museum in Munich on June 28, 2024, and will receive a €100,000 cash prize.

Munich, Germany, May 27, 2024

The committee of the newly initiated Andreas & Thomas Strüngmann Award today announced the finalist selection for the inaugural 2024 award. It is the first of its kind in the DACH region and aims to recognize impressive entrepreneurial talents and achievements in the life science arena.

In the spirit of its namesakes, it recognizes the next generation of leaders advancing a great idea into reality. This mission is reflected in the name of the award, which is a tribute to brothers Andreas Strüngmann, M.D., and Thomas Strüngmann, Ph.D., who achieved extraordinary entrepreneurial success as the founders of Hexal and made a significant impact on the life science industry with their visionary investments, including BioNTech.

"We are honored by the creation of the Award and impressed by the fina­ lists, their visionary entrepreneurship and achievements that translate revolutionary ideas into reality. In addition, they highlight that the DACH life science ecosystem is thriving and represents an internationally recognized hub for excellence and creativity.” said Andreas und Thomas Strüngmann.

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