The spin-off of the Paul Scherrer Institute impressed the jury of the Strüngmann Award 2025 with its technology for developing a new generation of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) – a promising innovation for cancer therapy.
The founding team Dr Dragan Gravulovski, Dr Philipp Spycher and Dr Isabella Attinger-Toller were honoured for their entrepreneurial expertise and scientific excellence. The award is endowed with 100,000 euros and honours pioneering developments in the biotech sector.
Araris uses a proprietary platform to couple active substances to commercially available antibodies in a single step – without prior modification. The result is highly precise and stable cancer therapies with great medical potential.
Founded in 2019, Araris raised over CHF 40 million in capital, established strategic partnerships (including with Johnson & Johnson) and was acquired by Japanese company Taiho Pharmaceutical in March 2025. The transaction is valued at up to 1.14 billion dollars.
We congratulate Araris Biotech from the bottom of our hearts on this great success!