The Basque company IkerChem has won the Basque phase of the fourth edition of the Emprendedor XXI awards, sponsored by La Caixa, co-granted by the National Company for Innovation (ENISA) and organised by Garapen, the Basque Association of Development Agencies. The other two finalists were Likuid and Nesplora.

IkerChem is a company specialised in the design and development of new chemical entities with therapeutic application in oncology mainly. The company expects for two of their chemical entities so far developed to reach the clinical stage by next year and to test their performance in patients before giving way to their potential commercialisation.

According to Marek Chauncey, CEO at IkerChem, the company's project is "very attractive, beneficial and applicable for the whole of society, as it focuses on the development of effective drugs for cancer treatment", and we trust to have "the financial support from governments and institutions for its development".

Founded in 2005 as a spin-off of the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), IkerChem has nine employees and counts on the scientific assessment of Professor Fernando Cossio.

The Emprendedor XXI award, presented on 29 of April at the Euskalduna Conference Centre, consisted of a 10,000 euros cheque together with a scholarship for the Ignite Fast Tracking Innovation course at the University of Cambridge. Ikerchem will compete with the other regional winners in the final phase, on a state level, which will be held in Barcelona on 15 and 16 of June.