For the second year running, we have awarded the Servier Discovery Award to a Californian life sciences start-up. For the 2023 edition, Palm Therapeutics was rewarded for its innovative platform and approach in precision oncology drug development.
As a company committed to therapeutic progress to serve patient needs, Servier takes an open and collaborative approach to R&D at every stage of the drug development life cycle, including early-stage discovery.
Our Servier Discovery Award to the California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) FAST program recognizes the aspiring life-science companies and entrepreneurs who are driving scientific innovation in areas of high unmet need, including hard-to-treat diseases in oncology, neuroscience and immuno-inflammation, as well as those pursuing research in translational medicine, drug development technologies and drug delivery platforms.
We have thus awarded the Servier Discovery Award 2023 to Palm Therapeutics, out of 40 start-up candidates. Palm Therapeutics is helping advance the development of novel therapeutics to address the unmet clinical needs in oncology by pursuing traditionally undruggable targets, such as NRAS, with the first palmitoylation-targeted drugs. While the functional role of palmitoylation has been well established in numerous diseases, methods to selectively drug this modification have been underexplored. Palm was founded with the mission of unlocking the therapeutic potential of this space. Using targeted drug chemistry and a proprietary discovery platform, Palm Therapeutics has enabled palmitoylation-targeted drug development for the first time.
“We are truly honored to be selected for the Servier Discovery Award. This is a testament to the novelty and broad-reaching potential of our therapeutic platform in oncology and beyond. We are excited by Servier’s commitment to early-stage innovation in the life sciences and look forward to collaborating as part of this program.”
Andrew Rudd, Ph.D. – CEO, Palm Therapeutics
“We are proud to support the next generation of innovation to bring novel therapies to the areas of high unmet needs for patients. Our long-term vision provides the opportunity to take an open and collaborative approach to innovation through programs such as CLSA FAST award for early-stage companies. This year we are pleased to select Palm Therapeutics for their innovative protein-palmitoylation targeting platform and its potential to advance precision oncology therapeutics for patients with hard-to-treat cancers. We are excited to continue to build long-term connections with West Coast disruptors and entrepreneurs like Palm Therapeutics to boost innovation for the benefit of patients.”
Irene Blat, Senior Director, Search & Evaluation, Oncology, Servier
The first Servier FAST Discovery Award was presented in 2022 to Californian start-up F5 Therapeutics.
With start-ups, an open innovation dynamic
Because we believe in the power of research to accelerate innovation, we pursue an open, collaborative R&D dynamic. We see three essential advantages in this: accelerating research time, offering each project the best development framework, and surrounding ourselves with the best partners for each of our projects.
Our presence within the life sciences ecosystem in Boston, as well as the new Spartners incubator at our R&D Institute in Paris-Saclay, are testimony to this.