Theramir co-founder wins global Study UK award for Business and Innovation

Nicosia, Cyprus. Dr Marianna Prokopi-Demetriades, co-founder and director of the biotechnology company Theramir, has been named the 2026 Study UK Alumni Awards global winner for Business and Innovation. She was chosen from 1,800 candidates from 120 countries.

A small ecosystem with something to prove

Cyprus remains an unlikely base for a biotech firm. Prokopi-Demetriades increasingly believes that this is exactly what gives the island a point to prove. Theramir develops precision-oncology technologies and builds the manufacturing and regulatory groundwork needed to bring experimental therapies closer to patients. It also aims to show that biotech with global relevance can come out of a small ecosystem.

Slow progress by design

The company’s work moves slowly on purpose. Cancer treatments cannot be hurried through validation, safety testing, manufacturing or regulatory approval. Even strong laboratory findings can take years to reach the clinic.

A broader ambition for Cyprus

Prokopi-Demetriades has a larger goal alongside this. She wants Theramir to help demonstrate that Cyprus can do more than back innovation developed elsewhere. In her view, the country can generate its own innovation, keep the intellectual property and take it abroad.

Recognition and its limits

She said that for years Cyprus “was not a place people immediately associated with biotechnology”, although its technology and innovation ecosystem has expanded considerably over the past decade. The international recognition felt “both like a very personal milestone and a huge surprise”. She also regards it as a chance to place Theramir and Cyprus more firmly on the global biotech map.

She cautioned against mistaking recognition for progress. Awards, she noted, do not suddenly produce deals or open doors, because advances in biotech still rest on years of scientific research and development, validation, manufacturing and regulatory work. What an award can offer, she suggested, is visibility for a field that can often feel like a lengthy and isolating journey.

Hopes for the sector

Prokopi-Demetriades hopes the award will build confidence and enthusiasm around biotechnology in Cyprus and inspire the next generation of scientists. She also hopes it will help solid science find a genuine route to scale and, in the end, reach patients.