Start-up Prize: ENDOLEASE Project Wins
09/02/2025The ENDOLEASE project team from Würzburg University Medicine has won the third phase of the prestigious Northern Bavaria Business Plan Competition. The prize money amounts to 10,000 euros.
The Northern Bavaria Business Plan Competition has been a central contact point for start-up teams from Franconia and the Upper Palatinate for over 25 years. Start-ups from this region have the opportunity to submit their business concepts in three competition phases.
Following its success in the first two phases of the competition for 2025, the ENDOLEASE team from the University Hospital of Würzburg (UKW) has now also impressed in the third and final phase. The team led by project manager Dr Anna Fleischer, Medical Clinic and Polyclinic II, and Johannes Braig, Chair of Functional Materials in Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Würzburg, has thus secured further prize money of EUR 10,000. It was also honoured as one of the most promising regional projects in the field of medical technology.
ENDOLEASE stands for "ENDOvascular reLEASE". This is a platform technology for targeted drug release in the human body. This is how it works: the tubular ENDOLEASE system is placed in an artery leading to the target tissue using a balloon catheter.
Underneath is a fibre scaffold containing the active ingredients. These are then released into the bloodstream in a controlled and uniform manner so that a high concentration of active ingredients is achieved exclusively in the area supplied by the artery. This increases efficacy, minimises systemic side effects and extends the therapeutic window, creating new treatment options for difficult-to-treat diseases such as heart attacks, strokes or cancer.
One Project - Many Prizes
With its innovative idea and development work to date, the UKW team has already won several competitions and received funding. An important milestone was the success at the Medical Valley Awards - with funding totalling 500,000 euros from the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy.
Another special honour was the inclusion in the innovate! Academy and the associated funding of 250,000 euros from the Joachim Herz Foundation. Most recently, the ENDOLEASE team was awarded first place in the "Global Hero" category at the Würzburg StartUP Prize organised by the Gründen@Würzburg initiative at the Mainfranken Theater.
In an interview, Dr Anna Fleischer and Johannes Braig explain how a clinical observation turned into an innovative idea, how interdisciplinary collaboration and support from Würzburg made the project possible and where ENDOLEASE is heading. The interview can be found on the UKW website.
