A busy year for…

Distalmotion

This medical device company has experienced fast growth since 2021, when it undertook its first clinical cases in Switzerland using Dexter – the world’s first and only on-demand surgical robotic system. This innovative approach to robotic surgery is providing surgeons with the unique ability to choose the most adapted and efficient tool, between robotics and laparoscopy, at any time in the procedure.

In 2022, Dexter performed its first surgeries in Germany, scaling quickly to operate on a daily basis across urology, gynaecology and general surgery at Saintonge Hospital in France. Its clinical and commercial roll-out was accelerated by the closing of a US$90m Series E financing round last year and the company looks set to scale even further in years to come.

HAYA Therapeutics

The year in review

Last year saw HAYA Therapeutics work with an emerging pipeline of lncRNAtargeting candidates and forge ahead with its pioneering next-generation therapies for fibrotic diseases, establishing a new laboratory space at JLABS @ San Diego, growing its functional genomics team and securing a US$5m seed extension and CHF 3.1m of extra funding from Innosuisse.

The company also made some major new hires, welcoming Ahmad Masri to its Scientific Advisory Board and appointing Brian Thomas as the chairperson of its board of directors. It was named the eighth Best Swiss Startup of 2022 by the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards and considered ‘one to watch’ by investors and analysts alike.

ADC Therapeutics

It was a productive and eventful year for ADC Therapeutics – a commercial, global leader and pioneer in the field of antibodydrug conjugates (ADCs) that develops ADCs for patients with hematological malignancies and solid tumours.

The company appointed a new CEO, industry veteran Ameet Mallik, along with a seasoned Chief Business & Strategy Officer, David Gilman.

It was the first full year of US sales for the company's newly approved product for relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, ZYNLONTA. ZYNLONTA also extended its global reach, with licensing agreements in Europe and Japan. Positive pivotal data for another ADC, Cami, was shared through a prestigious oral presentation at the European Hematology Association’s annual congress. The company also hosted its first ever R&D day to share the progress of its proprietary ADC platform in hematology and solid tumours.

Novigenix

Novigenix is a precision oncology biotech specialising in liquid biopsy immunotranscriptomic solutions for early detection of cancer, therapy optimisation and biopharma solutions for drug development. Over the course of 2022, the company closed its Series B funding round and completed EU validation patient recruitment for its next-generation ColoxNGS test for the early detection of colorectal cancer. It also presented new data on its patient stratification programme on melanoma patient ICI therapy at the European Society

for Medical Oncology.

The Novigenix proprietary platform LITOseek provides liquid biopsy interrogation of host immune function with high-throughput analytic capacity for biopharma applications and clinical development of new therapies. The company is actively engaging with biopharma partners to support their clinical programmes. In light of all these developments, Novigenix is scaling up its team to over 25 full-time employees and is looking forward to a number of key milestone announcements in 2023.