Hemerion was created in 2020, after more than 10 years of academic research carried out in an INSERM laboratory in association with Lille University Hospital in France. They are developing a first-line treatment for newly diagnosed Glioblastoma (GBM) that integrates with surgery before the administration of adjuvant therapies.

Their mission is to deliver novel therapies that aim at significantly improving the overall survival and quality of life of GBM patients.

Hemerion is an award-winning HealthTech company:

– In 2021 they received the Galien MedStartup Prize for « Best Collaboration in the MedTech and Digital Health » category. The Galien MedStartup fosters, recognizes, and rewards excellence in scientific innovation to improve the state of human health. Since 2013, it supports the international development of the most promising French startups, selected by a world-renowned panel, and connects them with leading American businesses.

– In 2023 they were awarded the Golden Ticket Ipsen Biolabs at the Biotech incubator Hotel Dieu Paris, granting them access to biology laboratories to enable the development of preclinical research in glioblastoma.

They are developing a first-in-class therapeutic approach for glioblastoma (GBM), the most common malignant brain tumor in adults with 156,000 new cases worldwide per year. Their strategy is promising to significantly improve GBM care management through its unique properties:

– They combine a photonic device (Heliance® Solution) and a drug (Pentalafen®), a photosensitizing agent, which has a therapeutic effect when illuminated with red light.

– This approach represents a breakthrough one-time intervention enabling the destruction of residual tumor cells, responsible for tumor recurrence, following surgery resection.

– It is harmless for healthy tissues as Pentalafen® preferentially accumulates in tumor cells to selectively destroy them.

All in all, their innovation is a novel and safe mechanism of action significantly improving GBM upfront care management by only adding 30 minutes to the current care workflow. Their solution is a photodynamic therapy approach for GBM patients undergoing surgery and seamlessly fits into any patient continuum of care.

–  Therapeutic areas: Oncology, Neuro-Oncology, Brain Tumor, Neurosurgery

–  Based in: Lille & Paris (FRANCE)

–  Employees: 11 – 50

–  Created in: 2020