Nuvisan announces the winners of the 3rd Drug Discovery Innovation Challenge 2026

Nuvisan´s Centre of Excellence Discovery in Berlin announces the winners of the 3rd Drug Discovery Innovation Challenge. The Challenge is designed to foster scientific innovation and translational research, with a particular emphasis on supporting start-ups and biotechnology companies developing novel therapeutic approaches in specific disease areas. The 2026 edition focused on women’s health — an area with substantial unmet medical needs and significant potential for scientific and clinical impact.
 
The challenge attracted a broad range of high-quality submissions demonstrating scientific rigour, innovative biology and translational potential. After an in-depth review by a panel of experts the following scientists were selected:
 
1st prize: Karin Lykke-Hartmann, CEO & Founder of Notify Therapeutics for the development of a first-in-class, non-hormonal fertility treatment addressing women who are unresponsive or low responders to current hormone-based standard-of-care therapies.
 
2nd prize: Emma Laporte, GynQura Therapeutics for a novel endometriosis therapy approach using patient‑derived 3D organoids to model key features of the disease and support translational drug development. The project advances a discovery platform based on a biobank to identify new targets and develop first‑in‑class, non‑hormonal therapeutics that directly address endometriotic ectopic lesions.
 
3rd prize: Matthew Tindall, CEO of Flightpath Biosciences for an orally available, narrow-spectrum antibiotic that is designed to selectively target pathogenic bacteria while preserving the beneficial gut microbiome. The team extends this application to include bacterial infections associated with recurrent bacterial vaginosis, as well as potential links to endometriosis progression and infertility.
 
The winners are invited to the 4th Nuvisan Venture Capital Forum, taking place on 12 March, 2026 in Berlin, where they will present their projects to a panel of investors. In addition, they will receive complimentary scientific consultation hours for their drug discovery project from Nuvisan´s scientific experts.
 
We would like to thank all applicants for their excellent proposals and acknowledge the contributions of the judges and partners for their scientific expertise and commitment throughout the selection process. Nuvisan remains dedicated to enabling pioneering science and building collaborations to help bring therapeutics to life.