Two C-CAMP supported startups win top honours at global J&J Innovation QuickFire Challenge

New Delhi: Two startups supported by Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms or C-CAMP have emerged victorious in the globally prestigious Johnson & Johnson (JnJ) Innovation’s Global Health Discovery QuickFire Challenge: Flavivirus Infections and JnJ Innovation Japan Smart Healthy Aging QuickFire Challenge.

The startups are Aaarna Therapeutics, a C-CAMP BIRAC funded and incubated company and Qure.AI, supported by C-CAMP’s Digital Health program.

Aarna Therapeutics is the only company to feature as a winner in the 2023 JnJ Innovation’s Global Health Discovery QuickFire Challenge: Flavivirus Infections while Qure.ai is the only Indian company to be featured among the four awardees in the JnJ Innovation Japan Smart Healthy Aging QuickFire Challenge.

C-CAMP Director-CEO, Dr Taslimarif welcomed the news saying, “C-CAMP is extremely proud to have two of its startups feature in Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s global list of innovators. This achievement shows that India is emerging as a destination for deep tech bio innovation. The fact that both are also C-CAMP supported highlights the crucial piece of the puzzle that C-CAMP as an organization is filling in the Indian innovation ecosystem.”

Aaarna Therapeutics, an mRNA therapeutics company developing mRNA expressed CRISPR-Cas based broad spectrum antiviral therapeutics, vaccines and prophylactics. Instituted by Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Johnson & Johnson Global Public Health, the 2023 JnJ Global Health Discovery award sought to identify pathbreaking ideas from Asia Pacific/Oceania area to treat, control, or prevent flavivirus diseases such as dengue virus, Zika virus, West Nile virus, Japanese Encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus).

Qure.AI is a digital healthcare company providing AI/ML and deep learning-driven radiology analysis and interpretation solutions for X-Rays, and CT scans. The technology significantly improves diagnostics for Neurocritical care, Respiratory, Musculoskeletal and Cardiovascular health areas. Johnson & Johnson Innovation, together with The Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies in Japan had launched the Japan Smart Healthy Aging QuickFire Challenge open to innovators across the globe.

Both winners will receive grant funding from a total pool of $300,000, access to Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s Asia Pacific ecosystem including a dedicated workstation for one year at JLABS @ Shanghai, and mentorship from experts across the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies (Johnson & Johnson).