These scientists and entrepreneurs are taking on some of healthcare’s biggest challenges, from cancer to brain injury and mental health …
Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan, Shorla Pharma, CEO and CTO and Co-founders
Shorla Oncology, the specialty pharmaceutical company, was established in 2018 by chartered accountant Sharon Cunningham and biochemist Orlaith Ryan. From its HQ in Clonmel, Shorla develops and commercialises innovative oncology drugs for cancer with a particular focus on women’s, paediatric and rare cancers where existing treatments are limited, in short supply or the drug applications inadequate for the target population. Last year, the company launched Nelarabine for the treatment of T-cell leukemia and JYLAMVO, the first and only approved oral methotrexate solution for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The FDA is to review the company’s novel formulation to treat breast and ovarian cancer. SH-105 is a ready-to-dilute form of a well-established drug that has been used as a freeze-dried powder since the 1950s and has seen supply shortages. SH-105’s liquid form eliminates the need for powder to be reconstituted, improving efficiency, and reducing the risks associated with the complexity of preparation, thus improving access to and administration of a drug that will help women suffering from breast and ovarian cancer. www.shorlaoncology.com
Professor Jarushka Naidoo, Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre, Oncologist and Scientist
Practicing oncologist and research scientist at RCSI Beaumont Cancer Centre, Professor Jarushka Naidoo is expanding her research and leadership in immunotherapy through the Irish Cancer Society’s Clinician Research Leadership Award. Immunotherapy treatment can benefit over 15 different cancer types, including lung cancer. According to Jarushka, the promise of immunotherapy is that if we generate an immune response against cancer, we may also create immunologic ‘memory’ that results in long term benefit. Inspired by an initiative at John Hopkins University in the US, where she was Assistant Professor, Jarushka is leading the formation of an Irish Immune-related Toxicity Team, or ‘IR-TOX’ team, which will explore why some patients experience side-effects from immunotherapy. In the field of lung cancer, Jarushka serves as the Lung Cancer Disease-specific subgroup Chair for Cancer Trials Ireland, the national clinical trials group. www.rcsi.com
Dr Antoinette Perry, EpiCapture, CEO and Co-Founder
Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer among men, with nearly 4,000 men diagnosed with the disease every year in Ireland. Survival rates are generally higher when the disease is diagnosed and treated early. Dr Antoinette Perry, a cancer research scientist based at UCD, has co-founded EpiCapture, a non-invasive cancer detection and monitoring start-up with a prostate test that uses the patient’s urine to determine if they have cancer or not. The EpiCapture prostate test measures six epigenetic DNA biomarkers which are indicative of aggressive disease. “Clinical features such as a patient’s age and family history are combined with the epigenetic biomarkers using a proprietary algorithm to generate an ‘EpiCapture score’ that indicates the likelihood of having aggressive prostate cancer,” explains Antoinette. A test to non-invasively determine ovarian cancer is also in the works. www.ucd.ie
Dr Alison O’Shea, NeuroBell, CSO and Co-Founder
Brain injury in newborns is a big cause of concern for parents and medical teams, with lasting consequences for long term health. Continuous electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring is currently used to monitor newborn brain activity, but these devices are cumbersome, have limited availability and require specialised training to operate and interpret results. Dr Alison O’Shea is co-founder of NeuroBell, a company that has developed a portable, pocket-sized wireless brain-monitoring device that sends automated real-time alerts and readings which are streamed via wifi to a hospital server. Accurate detection of seizures in newborns needing additional care enables early intervention that can improve outcomes. This new technology allows routine monitoring of babies across various hospital settings without the need for specialised expertise and it also eliminates the need for extensive training in both configuration and result interpretation. Photograph by Clare Keogh, www.irishtimes.com
Dr Alison Darcy, Woebot Health, Founder and President
Woebot, an empathetic, often humorous chatbot that uses AI to function like an automated therapist, was the brainchild of clinical research psychologist Dr Alison Darcy. Named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in AI 2023, she explains: “It’s an emotional assistant that’s there for you in tricky moments and always has your best interest at heart.” Alison is passionate about making mental health care available to everyone. She launched Woebot Health in 2017 with a team of psychologists and AI experts at Stanford, where she’s an adjunct professor; it’s now been used by more than 1.5 million people. The company, headquartered in San Francisco, has raised $123m via multiple funding rounds, allowing its app to be available for free to individual smartphone users and via healthcare organisations and businesses. The app enables Alison to reach people who are waiting for in-person treatment. www.woebothealth.com
Leonie Young, PrOBmet, Co –Founder
The Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre is one of only two Cancer Centres in Ireland, accredited by the OECI. Its Scientific Director, Professor Leonie Young, is a world-renowned research scientist in breast cancer. Most breast cancer-related deaths are a result of treatment relapse leading to spread of tumours to many organs around the body. When secondary breast cancer, also known as metastatic breast cancer, spreads to the brain it can be particularly aggressive, sometimes giving patients just months to live. Leonie’s research on genetically tracking the tumour evolution from diagnosis of primary breast to the metastatic spread in the brain in cancer patients, led to a spin-out precision oncology therapeutics company, PrOBmet, that is developing targeted treatments for breast cancer brain metastatic patients. Researchers found that almost half of the tumours had changes in the way they repair their DNA, making these tumours vulnerable to an existing type of drug known as a PARP inhibitor. PARP inhibitor drugs work by preventing cancer cells to repair their DNA, which results in the cancer cells dying. This represents an important development in getting closer to a potential treatment for patients with this devastating complication. www.rcsi.com
Dr Niamh Donnelly, Akara Robotics, Chief Robotics Officer and Co-Founder
A mechanical and manufacturing engineer with a masters in computer science and AI, Dr Niamh Donnelly is co-founder of Irish healthcare automation start-up Akara, which creates ultraviolet light-based disinfection robots. Akara’s disinfection robots clean hospital rooms autonomously using UV light, helping reduce the downtime of a hospital bedroom by a factor of seven, with the manual cleaning process that follows measured in seconds rather than minutes. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 delivered an unexpected opportunity for the start-up, with the increased need for disinfection allowing the robot prototypes to be trialled in hospitals. The company ran its first UK trial in June 2022 and in 2023, Akara was granted a CE label for its product, which confirms that it is deemed to meet EU safety, health and environmental protection requirements. Akara landed an NHS hospital as its first commercial customer soon afterwards. It is estimated that an average-sized hospital would require up to 20 cleaning robots. Photograph by Conor Mulhern, www.akara.ai
Sinéad Crowther, Soothing Solutions, CEO and Co-Founder
Sinéad Crowther, a former pharmacy technician, is the Co-founder and CEO of Louth-based Soothing Solutions, a startup established in 2017, which manufactures a range of jelly pops called Tonstix that helps children suffering from sore throats, coughs, and travel sickness. The pops are a child-friendly alternative to lozenges and the main ingredients are honey, vitamin C and zinc. Sinéad was recognised by Enterprise Ireland as the high-potential start-up (HPSU) Founder of the Year in 2023. She met her co-founder Denise Lauaki while on the New Frontiers entrepreneur programme at Dundalk Institute of Technology. Their mission is for Tonstix to “become a household staple, always on hand, ready for when seasonal illness strikes.” Tonstix products are now stocked in more than 1,400 pharmacies across Ireland, and recently launched on Amazon UK. Photograph by Chris Bellow at www.fennell-photography.ie. www.tonstix.com
Dr Elizabeth McGloughlin, Tympany Medical, CEO and Co-Founder
Dr Elizabeth McGloughlin is the Co-founder of start-up Tympany Medical, a med-tech company based in Galway, which develops endoscopes for the ENT market, specifically sinus surgery. Her team has developed Solascope, an endoscope designed to enable panoramic visualisation via a rotation portion to the tip – an innovative mechanism for use in complex rhinology cases. Solascope is at the cutting edge of surgical imaging and technology, and aims to assist surgeons in addressing the growing number of sinus surgeries and associated symptoms globally. Solascope brings various technical areas together to enable less-invasive surgical techniques and deliver improved outcomes for both the patient and hospital system. Liz and the team have built a significant funding record, patent portfolio and product pipeline for Tympany medical, with team members in disciplines including Optical Physics, Biomedical Engineering and Miniaturised Electronics, with plans to add more team members and achieve further milestones in the near future. Photograph by Andrew Downes, www.irishtimes.com.