The spinoff MiWEndo Solutions, which is developing a device for quicker, more efficient early detection of colorectal cancer during colonoscopy procedures, has been selected as a finalist for The Spinoff Prize, created by the journal Nature and the pharmaceutical company Merck. The company, created by UPF in collaboration with the UPC, Hospital Clínic and ICREA, is one of the 12 candidates chosen by the jury from the approximately 150 spinoffs from around the world that entered.

MiWEndo Solutions is developing a low-cost medical device that will be coupled to endoscopes used in colonoscopy procedures and, using microwave technology, will scan patients’ large intestine to detect malignant polyps, precursors of colorectal cancer. This disease is the most prevalent cancer among the over-50s and hence there are screening programmes that aim to diagnose it in its early stages, when it is easier to treat and can be cured. The MiWEndo Solutions device will facilitate the location of these polyps, which are not always easy to find since the visibility of the colonoscope is limited, and will also determine the degree of malignancy.

Thanks to this initiative, the company has earned a place in the final of The Spinoff Prize, an award created by the prestigious scientific publication Nature and the pharmaceutical firm Merck to give support and visibility to spinoffs around the world based on knowledge generated at universities. The winner will receive a prize of 30,000 euros.

In the first stage of the final, the 12 candidates will give a six-minute online presentation to a panel of experts to explain how they have turned original, high-quality scientific research into products or services capable of dealing with market problems and achieving a positive impact on society. The four selected companies will go on to the second round, to be held on 13 July as part of the Future Insight virtual meeting, dedicated to the most recent scientific and technological achievements.

“We are very proud to have reached the final of a prize awarded by such prestigious entities to companies around the world”, celebrates the UPF researcher Marta Guardiola, co-founder and MiWEndo Solutions Technology director. In her opinion, “reaching this point is already a reward for the work of the company and many years of research”. The scientist also highlights “the great visibility” that the company will get thanks to this event.

The 12 finalists of The Spinoff Prize are:

• MiWEndo Solutions (Pompeu Fabra University, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies – ICREA)
• Cage Capture (University of Liverpool, United Kingdom)
• Caristo (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
• EpiVario (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
• EraCal (University of Zurich, Switzerland, and Harvard University, USA)
• Forkhead Therapeutics (University of Columbia, USA)
• Oxford Brain Diagnostics (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
• PredictImmune (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
• Scailyte (ETH, Zurich, Switzerland)
• Sibel (Northwestern University, USA)
• Softsonics (University of California, San Diego, USA)
• Temprian Therapeutics (Northwestern University, USA)