MILAN, Italy, July 18, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- July 2002 BioXell S.p.A. was recently named in the second annual "Tornado Insider 100" list as one of Europe's top emerging private tech companies. BioXell, headquartered in Milan, was founded in 2002 by Francesco Sinigaglia (CEO of BioXell), Luciano Adorini (CSO of BioXell) and Michael Steinmetz (Chairman of BioXell board and General Partner at MPM Capital) and specialises in the area of immunology.
"We are very pleased that our efforts have been recognised by Tornado Insider," said Francesco Sinigaglia, CEO of BioXell. "We have a strong team who has developed great technologies and products and we are proud to be recognised as one of the Tornado Insider Top 100 startups in Europe."
The list, which is detailed in the summer issue of Tornado Insider magazine, an on their website (www.tornadoinsider.com), profiles BioXell and the other 99 most promising and innovative emerging companies in the European IT and biotech sectors.
"These companies are the elite of Europe," said Timothy Weeks, Tornado Insider's Senior Research Analyst. "They have clearly demonstrated that the technology they are commercialising today will change the way things are done tomorrow."
The selection of BioXell and the rest of the top 100 was narroweddown from thousands of candidates and judged by the followingcriteria:
- Delivering an innovation that shows the promise of setting
new standards
- Introducing a major new audience
- Supplying a key piece of the ICT infrastructure
- Commanding a significant customer base
- Having the potential to become a global brand or standard
- Influencing a major market
- Receiving a significant amount of funding
- Having a strong valuation for a future IPO
The companies selected had to also meet the requirement of sellingproducts that match their marketing promises as well as exhibit anability of utilising their funding in the most effective manner.Indicative of this years 'follow the money' philosophy, both biotechand Israel were included in this year's list.
About BioXell
BioXell is a private research and development biopharmaceutical Company with a competitive edge in immunology developing products through two strong technology platforms based on the TREM receptor system and Vitamin D3. To date, BioXell has identified Vitamin D3 analogues, which are being developed for secondary hyperparathyroidism and benign prostatic hyperplasia. In addition, the Company has active research programmes in inflammatory diseases including asthma, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. In March 2002, BioXell raised $22m in a firstround of financing through a consortium of three toptier venture capital firms: MPM Capital, Index Ventures and Life Sciences Partners. BioXell has a network of academic collaborations, including Washington University, St. Louis and the Universities of Arkansas, Milan, Florence, Modena and Zurich.