Luisa Botella awarded the second prize in the III Edition of the +50 Emprende Awards

The Helprare project, an initiative of Luisa Botella, researcher at the Margarita Salas Center for Biological Research (CSIC), has been awarded the second prize during the III Edition of the +50 Emprende Awards, convened by SAVIA Generation, the project of the Endesa Foundation in collaboration with the máshumano Foundation to promote senior talent and entrepreneurship, together with the production company 02:59 Films.

Rare diseases are those that affect fewer than 5 patients per 10.000 inhabitants, according to the European Union (EU) definition. There are around 6.000 or 7.000 different diseases, each of them affecting very few patients. In Spain it is estimated that there are about 3 million people affected with rare diseases, 30.000 million in the EU and in the world population between 300-400 million people. They are hereditary diseases in 80% of cases. They are unknown to doctors, unattractive to the pharmaceutical industry because they are not profitable, and little studied because there is a lack of economic investment and incentives for research.

In this context, Helprare proposes comprehensive personalized assistance to patients. Finding a genetic diagnosis as early as possible, which is communicated to both the patient and the doctor in contact with him, also facilitating interaction with leading researchers in rare diseases, helping to consolidate the patient-doctor-researcher triangle. Likewise, the company will develop personalized cell models of diseases from blood samples or surplus from patient surgeries, which can be used to screen existing drugs, in a process known as therapeutic repositioning, in order to identify possible treatments for the disease.

The award received by Dr. Botella, endowed with 5,000 euros, includes legal advisory services in protection of innovation offered by Arrabe Integra, as well as online training to consolidate business plans given by 50 Pro, valued at 12,000 euros.

Together with Luisa Botella, Sergi García-Alsina and Juan García-Alsina have been awarded the first prize for a European patent for the mechanism that improves the comfort of the ski boot, providing a rigidity solution through an exostructure that does not act by compression; and with the third, Patrick de la Cueva, for his digital platform delacueva Fine Food, which markets high-quality agri-food products made by small artisan companies with deep respect for raw materials, processes and the environment.

Finally, the jury has awarded two special mentions to María José Andrade and Nuria Martínez. Andrade is the founder and director of Mujeres Valientes, an association and digital magazine to inform and help women entrepreneurs. For her part, Nuria Martínez is a lawyer and president of the 3rd age in action movement, which focuses her work on launching ideas and initiatives in favor of seniors.

In this III Edition of the +50 Emprende Awards, given at the Loom Huertas Space in Madrid, 483 entrepreneurs have participated, with an average age of 55 years, who have presented a total of 207 initiatives, among which have been selected the winners.

More information (in Spanish):

Generación SAVIA Press Release: enlace.

Generación SAVIA website mention: enlace.

Linkedin: enlace.