Venture Update Vol. X, #4, April 2006
Done Deals
RTP – Chorus Systems, a provider of automated IT repair software, has raised $6 million in Series B funding, led by Core Capital. Other investors include Inflection Point Ventures and Anthem Capital Management. Proceeds from the round will fund an expansion of the company’s sales and marketing programs, as well as continued product research and development. Contact Sirus Chitsaz (919.248.9393).
RTP – Affinergy, Inc., a Duke University spinout with a proprietary site-specific biological delivery system, has closed on a $3 million Series B round. Charleston Angel Partners, Trinity Healthcare, Wilmington Investor Network and NC IDEA participated, along with several undisclosed individual investors. The money will be invested to expand partnering activities and begin development of proprietary products. Contact Peyton Anderson (919.345.4732)
Raleigh – Visitar, the provider of hosted services for communications-enabled business applications, has secured $2.6 million in first-round funding. The Aurora Funds, Inc. was the lead investor. Founded in 2005, Visitar currently employs about 20 workers, both at its Raleigh corporate headquarters and in Reston, Va. Contact Janet Holt(919.261.9828)
Hendersonville – Immaculate Baking Company, a producer of all natural and organic cookies, has received approximately $2 million in investments from Sherbrooke Capital Partners, a Massachusetts-based venture capital fund focused on the health and wellness industry. The investment will focus on Immaculate’s core line of products consisting of cookies targeted toward adults. Contact Ann Marshall (888.826.6567).
RTP – Wavecom, a France-based provider of embedded wireless communications platforms, has agreed to pay more than $39 million for M2M Communications, an RTP-based subsidiary of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications that develops machine-to-machine wireless communications technology. The transaction is expected to close near the end of March 2006. Contact Joe Braga (919.472.7448).
Durham – Constella Group, a provider of professional health services, has acquired Origin Pharmaceuticals (Holdings) Ltd. (Origin), a U.K.-based international contract research organization that specializes in regulatory affairs, product development and clinical trials services in Europe and North America. Origin will soon begin operating under the Constella Group name. Contact Sue Ann Pentecost (919.313.7601).
Cary – Arysta LifeScienceNorth America , the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese crop protection and life science company, has acquired "major" assets of Micro Flo Co., a Memphis-based subsidiary of BASF Corp that makes crop protection chemicals. Under the acquisition agreement, Arysta LifeScience will acquire the commercial business of Micro Flo. BASF will continue to own and operate the formulation production facility. Contact Donna Uchida (415.309.9637).
Morrisville – SunTechMedical, a wholly owned subsidiary of SunTech Medical Group Limited, and the leader in motion-tolerant, non-invasive blood pressure monitoring products and technology, has acquired an equity position in Empirical Technologies Corporation, an advanced research technology firm. The acquisition gives SunTech access to intellectual property including breakthrough technology in continuous beat-to-beat, non-invasive blood pressure measurement. Contact Russell Wooley (919.654.2300).
RTP – LiveWire Logic, a provider of computational linguistics software, has been acquired by Ohio-based Astute Solutions, an end-user endorsed inbound consumer interaction solution provider. LiveWire will operate as a subsidiary of Astute Solutions.
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On The Up
Ercole Biotech
RTP, NC
In the race to cure the world’s most problematic diseases, one drug therapy is making progress in light of recent breakthroughs in decoding the human genome sequence.
RTP-based Ercole Biotech, Inc. serves as a strategic leader in Splice Switching Drugs (SSDs), a new class of drugs developed out of research that has discovered the profound role human protein complexity--not just gene complexity--plays in the onset and cure of disease.
Ercole’s SSDs apply to a wide range of ailments, including everything from cancer and inflammatory disorders to cardiovascular disorders and inherited genetic diseases.
The discovery that human biological complexity derives from the ability to produce large numbers of functionally distinct proteins from a modest number of genes has sparked interest in alternative RNA splicing.
Alternative RNA splicing is a naturally-occurring mechanism for generating protein complexity. With ordinary RNA splicing, genes follow a single path and thus the RNA produces a single protein.
In more than 74% of all genes, however, the splicing patterns vary depending on the tissue or the developmental or physiological state of the cell. This alternative splicing produces multiple proteins with different functions from a single gene.
Since Ercole’s technology was licensed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2002, it has been developing novel oligonucleotide drugs that achieve their therapeutic effect by directing alternative splicing.
Ercole’s SSD’s can simultaneously increase the expression of a beneficial gene product while decreasing the production of an undesirable, or disease-related, product. As a result, SSD’s are more potent and more broadly apply to all diseases compared to other RNA-targeted drugs.
Even more, the Ercole platform allows the advancement from gene sequence to drug candidate in a fraction of the time and expense associated with small molecule and protein-based drug discovery.
“The old axiom of “one gene-one protein” clearly no longer describes nature,” said Ercole President and Company Founder Ryszard Kole, Ph.D. “Ercole’s novel SSD drugs are based on this breakthrough finding, achieving their therapeutic effect by directing the alternative splicing of target genes.”
Ercole most recently established a collaborative agreement with Santaris A/S of Denmark in September to provide funding as well as its proprietary second and third generation oligonucleotide chemistries for further testing.
Ercole will also present at CED’s Venture 2006 Conference in May. Contact Bennet Love (919.929.5167).
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New Developments
Durham – Eisai, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai Co., has won $1.15 million in economic incentives for a $90 million expansion of its Durham facility. The new facilities will lead to 59 new jobs over the next three years and a total of 84 new jobs over the next five years. The New Jersey-based Eisai Inc. will use the incentives primarily for site preparation costs and job training expenses related to the expansion. Contact Cathy Pollini (201.287.2052).
Winston-Salem – The Wake Forest UniversityCenter for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials is part of a research team selected to receive a $5 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative program grant from the Department of Defense to develop new negative index of refraction materials that have potential for a range of uses in military and civilian life. The five-year grant teams researchers from Wake Forest's nanotechnology center with Kent State University researchers in an effort to develop these new "negative index" or "left-handed" materials.
RTP – Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. has purchased the former Eli Lilly building in RTP. Stiefel Research Institute, Inc., a subsidiary of Stiefel Laboratories, will open its global R&D headquarters there in late 2006 and will relocate its current, New York-based U.S. R&D site to the new facility as well. Stiefel Research plans to create 200 jobs and invest more than $50 million in the facility over the next five years. Contact Jill Lucas (919.733.5612).
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In the Pipeline
Raleigh – Qualyst, Inc., a developer of proprietary ADMET research technologies, and Oxford Biomedical Research, Inc., a manufacturer of biological reagents, assay kits and services, have announced the completion of an agreement under which Oxford has exclusively licensed intellectual property from Qualyst for the production of novel cytochrome P450 (CYP450) inhibition assays, to be sold as ACCURATET. The first product in the ACCURATET product line is an assay to detect the inhibition of CYP3A4, the enzyme most responsible for metabolizing xenobiotics. Contact Marc Sedam (919.313.6511).
Durham – Argos Therapeutics and global healthcare leader Novo Nordisk, have entered into an agreement under which Argos has licensed to Novo Nordisk antibody technology for research and development of a treatment for systemic immune disorders, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Under the terms of the agreement, Argos will receive up to $69 million comprised of up front and milestone payments, in addition to royalties on potential future sales of products. Contact Bradd Pavur (919.870.5718).
Durham – Metabolon, Inc., a company involved in the identification of novel biomarkers that reveal disease processes and drive drug development, has announced the issuance of United States Patent 7,005,255, titled "Methods for drug discovery, disease treatment, and diagnosis using metabolomics." The patent broadly covers metabolomic methods used to identify the molecular profiles, or biomarkers, seen in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease). Contact Stephanie Ferrell (919.287.3359).
RTP – Clinipace , a software company focused on late-stage clinical research studies and registries, has been selected by Austin-based Medical Carbon Research Institute (MCRI) to support a landmark Phase IV heart valve study. Successful completion of this FDA-approved clinical study could result in MCRI's valve becoming the first and only mechanical heart valve approved for low-dose anticoagulation therapy. Contact Jennifer Porter (919.647.4474).
Durham – Adherex Technologies, a biopharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of oncology products under development, has initiated three additional sites in Canada for its Phase II clinical trials of the ADH-1 (Exherin™). The three sites include the BC Cancer Agency – Vancouver Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Alberta, and QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, bringing the total number of clinical sites for the trial to six, including the current centers in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. Contact Melissa Matson (919.484.8484).
Chapel Hill – Asklepios Biopharmaceutical Inc. has initiated the first human gene therapy trial for its lead product candidate in the United States for a particular type of muscular dystrophy. A clinical trial is under way at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio to test the safety and effectiveness of Biostrophin as a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disorder that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness that begin with microscopic changes in the muscle tissue. Contact Jade Samulski (919.302.8358).
Cary – Cornerstone BioPharma, a pharmaceutical company currently focused on the development and commercialization of niche prescription medications in the respiratory arena, has signed a co-promotion agreement with ASCEND Therapeutics (ASCEND). This agreement names ASCEND as a partner in the promotion of Balacet 325™, a mild-to-moderate pain medication. The ASCEND sales force will co-promote Balacet 325 with a focus on obstetrics and gynecology healthcare providers. Contact Jonathan Jordan (919.557.7890).
Mark Your Calendar!
CED’s Venture 2006
May 2-3, 2006
Pinehurst Resort
Pinehurst, NC
Biotech 2006
May 22-23, 2006
Benton Convention Center
Winston-Salem, NC
For more information, visit the CED Web site (www.cednc.org) or call 919-549-7500.
Venture Update is published by the
Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)
an entrepreneurial support organization located in the Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Robert Albright, editor
P.O. Box 13353, RTP, NC 27709
Phone: 919-549-7500
FAX: 919-549-7405
email: news@cednc.org