Leading Greek scientist in the position of chairman of the scientific committee of ELPEN’s Research and Innovation Park

ELPEN begins a collaboration with a great and award-winning Greek scientist abroad. This is Dr. Dimitris Iliopoulos, founder of the Center for Systems Biomedicine at UCLA School of Medicine, one of the leading centers for the creation of high-tech medicines. With a prominent scientific career of international prestige and recognition, Dr. Iliopoulos is included in the list of Stanford University that records the top 2% of scientists with the most bibliographic references. It is worth noting that the list consists of personalities, coming from all fields of science.

The sealing of this important cooperation is related to the new investment of the company, which concerns the Research and Innovation Park in Spata, Attica. Dr. Iliopoulos will assume the position of President of the independent Scientific Committee of the Park, responsible for the implementation and sustainable development of its five-year business plan. The Commission will be composed of eminent scientific personalities of high expertise and international recognition, who will be announced in the near future.

With his vision of accelerating the drug development process for the benefit of patients as a compass, Dr. Iliopoulos founded three companies. In America the biotechnology company Athos Therapeutics, which is active in the development of new therapies for autoimmune diseases.In Greece, Dyania Health, which is developing software to accelerate the process of finding patients for clinical trials, and Attica Sciences, which examines the therapeutic properties of plant and animal raw materials in Greece for the treatment of a number of diseases, such as cancer.

Over the years, committed to the field of research and loyal to Greek scientists, ELPEN utilizes the scientific capital of our country for the staffing of the new Research and Innovation Park that it implements in Spata, Attica. This new investment is a unique project not only for Greece, but also for the wider region of Europe. The operation of this Park will play the role of a reception center for biotechnology Startups, providing, in addition to state-of-the-art infrastructure and equipment, opportunities for interconnection with industry and investment funds as well as valuable mentoring to help these companies grow. At the same time, it will provide the opportunity to Greek and foreign researchers to conduct research on various diseases. The Park will also operate a biobank, with the aim of collecting patient samples in collaboration with university clinics and hospitals and analyzing data that will help in the future treatment of specific diseases.

“ELPEN is one of the leading Greek pharmaceutical companies with significant expertise in the field of development and production of high quality and reliability medicines. In this context, I am very pleased that our cooperation has begun. ELPEN’s Research and Innovation Park will have multiple benefits for the country, the economy and patients.It marks an effort, made for the first time in Greece, with the creation of a biotechnology incubator, which will allow the efforts of researchers to find housing in Greece, preventing their leave abroad. A decisive step for the success of the project is the company’s decision to establish a scientific committee, and even an independent one, to oversee the formulation and implementation of the Park’s business plan.In the near future, the names of the people from Greece and abroad who will staff the committee will be announced.”, said Dr. Dimitris Iliopoulos.

“ELPEN has always attached primary importance to research and its cooperation with the scientific and research community of our country.It consistently invests 10% of its annual turnover in research programs and since 1996 it has the first and largest private Research and Education Center in Greece. With its new investment in Spata, Attica, it aspires to create an innovation ecosystem around health and life sciences, where ideas will flow between the various activities that will be co-located in the Park, with the aim of coupling academic research, Startup entrepreneurship and education.We want remarkable Greek scientists to find the right conditions and infrastructure to return to Greece, accelerating the maturation of our country’s innovation ecosystem. In this context, our collaboration with Dr. Iliopoulos, a great Greek scientist with international scientific prestige, will actively contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and the transfer of know-how from the academic and business reality abroad.”, stated Eleni Pentafragka, member of the Board of Directors of ELPEN and Project Leader of the Research and Innovation Park.