Liverpool Chirochem, a University spin-out company that aims to enhance drug discovery and development, has received the top prize at this year’s Merseyside Innovation Awards,
Chirochem beat fellow finalists Fusion Implants, also a University of Liverpool spin-out, and FumeCare to the £10,000 cash prize.
Liverpool Chirochem (LCC) was founded in 2014 by Professor Jianliang Xiao from the Department of Chemistry in conjunction with two of his former PhD students, Dr Jianjun Wu and Dr Paul Colbon.
The business supplies specialist building blocks for pharmaceutical research and biotechnology, drawing upon synthetic methods in asymmetric catalysis, first developed and patented by the University.
The Merseyside Innovation awards were set up to recognise and reward the use of innovation to boost growth and profitability by individuals or companies with fewer than 50 employees.
The BBC’s Jayne McCubbin, who chaired the judging panel, said: “All three of the finalists are brilliant companies doing amazing things and all scored very highly. But Liverpool ChiroChem has a fantastic and truly innovative product in what is a very competitive pharmaceuticals sector.”
Runner-up, Fusion Implants, will now receive £4,000 in business support. The company has created advanced devices which have pioneered a 3D printing method to produce surgical implants for dogs with ruptured canine cranial cruciate ligaments.
