Venture
Update Vol. VIII, #5, June 2004
Done Deals
Winston-Salem - Targacept (www.targacept.com) has filed an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission for up to $86.25 million. Morgan Stanley is the managing underwriter of the offering. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., CIBC World Markets and Pacific Growth Equities LLC were named as co-managers. No timetable has been set for when the offering would take place. Targacept, which was spun off from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in 2000, develops receptor-based drugs for anxiety, Alzheimer's disease and other ailments. Contact Alan Musso (336.480.2100).
RTP - Hatteras BioCapital (www.hattbio.com), formerly BioVista Capital, announced that the Golden LEAF Foundation has invested $30 million in HBM BioCapital through the Hatteras BioCapital Fund. HBM BioCapital is a Switzerland-based investment partnership focused on later stage life science companies in the United States and Europe with an initial closing of $95 million and a target size of over $200 million. Along with this announcement, HBM has retained Hatteras BioCapital as an investment advisor with an office in North Carolina and an emphasis on North Carolina companies. HBM, through HBM BioCapital and its other funds, plans to invest over $300 million in private equity in the United States including in North Carolina over the next five years. Officials with HBM and Hatteras BioCapital were recognized at CED's Biotech 2004 conference in May 2004. Contact Clay Thorp (919.484.0730).
RTP - Adherex Technologies (www.adherex.com), with joint headquarters in RTP and Canada, has raised $12.4 million, including $8.4 million from a previously announced Canadian “bought deal” with Dlouhy Merchant Group Inc., as well as $4 million from a concurrent private placement outside of Canada. Participating in the financing were current shareholders The VenGrowth Advanced Life Sciences Fund, HBM Bioventures, OrbiMed Advisors and other new institutional investors. Adherex is focused on vascular targeting and cell adhesion-inhibiting agents. Contact Nickola Capstick (613.738.8000 x293).
Raleigh - Summus, Inc. (www.summus.com), a developer of consumer wireless applications and solutions, has secured $2 million in senior convertible debt financing from individual shareholders to fund working capital requirements until Summus becomes cash flow positive. Summus has immediate access to an initial $1 million and can access the second $1 million, if needed. Contact Gary Ban (919.807.5682).
Pittsboro - Biolex, Inc. (www.biolex.com), a protein therapeutics company, has acquired Epicyte Pharmaceutical, Inc., a San Diego-based company focused on the discovery and development of human monoclonal antibodies. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. The acquisition gives Biolex complementary intellectual property and technology, as well as a pipeline of therapeutic antibodies in development. Contact Jan Turek (919.542.9901).
RTP - Netsco (www.netsco.com) announced that Texas-based IPVoice Communications has signed a letter of intent to acquire Netsco for $3 million in stock. As part of the deal, the new owners will also pump $500,000 into Netsco, which would be combined with Digital Computer Integration Corporation, a subsidiary of IPVoice. Netsco, which was founded eight years ago, offers software for managing distributed computing systems, especially for mission critical applications in large enterprise networks. Contact Philip Verges (972.386.3372).
On The Up
Polyglot Systems, Inc.
Morrisville, NC
An estimated 20 million Americans are unable to communicate effectively in English. This population grew by 40% in the last U.S. Census and will likely continue.
To address this expanding language gap, Morrisville-based Polyglot Systems is developing a unique multilingual translation technology. Dr. Charles Lee founded Polyglot in 2001 to help the medical community treat non-English speaking patients. One of the most pressing needs for interpreter services is in hospital emergency departments (ED), where patients must be treated quickly.
Polyglot's flagship product, ProLingua ED, was released in January 2004 and has demonstrated an advantage over other human-based translation solutions that are costly and can cause delays. ProLingua ED is a multi-language interpretation service using a touch-screen system for “bi-directional communication.”
Initially deployed in Spanish, ProLingua ED has over 6,700 phrases for emergency department communication. ProLingua ED, which will ultimately serve over 20 languages, is cart-based and requires no IT integration. No other bi-directional interpretation technologies exist in the market at this time, according to Polyglot.
Polyglot has selected emergency departments, hospitals and urgent care centers as its initial target customer segment. Since officially rolling out ProLingua ED in early 2004, Polyglot has already landed customers at several leading institutions, including medical centers at Duke and UCLA.Although the company is initially focused on the healthcare market, Polyglot sees other promising areas where its translation products could have commercial potential, including such markets as security, immigration, banking, and law enforcement.
Polyglot, an early-stage presenter at CED's Venture 2004 conference, has already raised seed funds and is currently seeking its next funding round to expand sales force and add additional languages/products.
Contact Dr. Charles Lee (919.653.4380).
New Developments
RTP - The Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina (www.rtp.org) has hired Rick Weddle as its new president and CEO. Jim Roberson, who announced his retirement in late January 2004, will remain president and CEO of the Foundation until Weddle officially takes over. Weddle spent the last seven years as president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council in Arizona. Earlier in his career, Weddle established the Winston-Salem Business Inc. and served as its president and CEO from 1987 to 1991. Contact Jamie Nunnelly (919.549.8181).
Durham - The Aurora Funds (www.aurorafunds.com) announced that Grant Jackson has joined Aurora's Life Science team as Senior Associate. In his new role Jackson will source new investment opportunities in the healthcare services and device industries. Prior to joining Aurora, Grant worked with First Analysis Corporation, a boutique investment bank and private equity firm in Chicago, where he specialized in venture capital investments and public equity research in the healthcare services sector. Contact Shawn Ramsey-Kroboth (919.359.0947).
RTP - The Research Triangle Regional Partnership (www.researchtriangle.org) has been recognized as a co-winner of the U.S. Commerce Department's 2004 Regional Competitiveness Excellence in Economic Development Award. RTRP was recognized for its regional initiative, “Staying on Top: Winning the Job Wars of the Future,” a five-year, $5 million plan to create 100,000 jobs and boost employment in all 13 counties of the region. Contact Ted Abernathy (919.840.7372 x14).
Chapel Hill - UNC-Chapel Hill (www.unc.edu) has received a $300,000 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to fund a “boot camp” in July 2004 for junior faculty interested in research on minority and women's entrepreneurship. The boot camp will bring leading senior scholars in minority and women's entrepreneurship together with junior faculty for a three-day intensive training and networking session. The $300,000 grant is in addition to a $3.5 million grant UNC received in December 2003 from the Kauffman Foundation to foster entrepreneurship across campus. Contact Kim Weaver Spurr (919.962.8951).
RTP - RTI International (www.rti.org) announced that an RTI-led research team has received an $18.8 million research grant as part of a new national bioterrorism defense initiative. The grant will help researchers develop a Web-based portal and a set of computational and analytical tools for researchers and public health officials to model emerging infectious diseases and appropriate public health responses. RTI International, as the core informatics group, will lead a group of experts from SAS, IBM and Duke and Emory universities on the project. Contact Kathy Pitts (919.990.8388).
In the Pipeline
RTP - Amphora Discovery Corp. (www.amphoracorp.com) and Massachusetts-based Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement for Caliper to acquire certain technology developed by Amphora for cell-based screening assays. Under the terms of the agreement, Amphora will transfer to Caliper its proprietary cell culture techniques, as well as various hardware and software upgrades that Amphora has implemented on Caliper's proprietary microfluidic screening system. In exchange, Caliper will compensate Amphora through a combination of cash, Caliper products, and royalties based on future sales of cell-based assays. Contact Jeff Lucero Riley (919.287.6213).
Chapel Hill - POZEN (www.pozen.com) and GlaxoSmithKline (www.gsk.com) have initiated a Phase III program for the migraine treatment “Trexima.” POZEN will conduct two Phase III pivotal trials, designed to determine the effectiveness and safety of Trexima for the acute treatment of migraine. In addition, POZEN will conduct a long-term, open label safety study. With the start of the Phase III program, GSK will pay POZEN a $15 million development milestone payment. The companies expect to file the New Drug Application (NDA) for Trexima in the second half of 2005. Contact Lisa Barthelemy (919.913.1044).
Raleigh - Sicel Technologies, Inc. (www.siceltech.com), a developer and manufacturer of implantable sensors that will provide clinicians with ongoing data about tumor cells and the impact or timing of treatment, has signed a distribution agreement with MED-TEC Inc., which designs, develops and distributes enabling technologies for radiotherapy. The distribution agreement is for Sicel's disposable surface dosimeter, OneDose, which is wireless and pre-calibrated with built-in memory that enables it to be archived as a permanent record of the radiation dose received by the patient. Contact Glenn Seymour (919.465.2263).
High Point - TransTech Pharma, Inc. (www.ttpharma.com), has received two SBIR grants totaling over $700,000. The first award is a two-year grant for $665,000 awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. This Phase I grant will allow TransTech to utilize its proprietary technology to identify and optimize potential small molecule drugs to treat smallpox. The second award is a six-month Phase I Department of Defense grant of $65,000 for TransTech to generate molecular models and use them to design/identify novel chemical inhibitors against specific targets of interest to the U.S. Army. Contact Adnan Mjalli (336.841.0300).
RTP - Advanced Animal Diagnostics (www.advancedanimaldiagnostics.com) has received a US Department of Agriculture SBIR grant for the development of the “Inflammatory Cell Differential Counter,” a new tool to combat mastitis on-site. Mastitis, an infection of the milk-producing glands of dairy cows, results in annual productivity losses exceeding $5 billion worldwide. The Phase I grant is for $80,000 for 6 months, with a final report is due in November 2004. If successful, a Phase II proposal could verify this information in selected farms. Contact Ann Schwindaman (919.597.6434).
RTP - Incara Pharmaceuticals Corporation (www.incara.com) has submitted an IND to the FDA to begin Phase 1 clinical trials for the possible treatment of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as “ALS” or “Lou Gehrig's disease”). Incara expects to begin dosing of the first volunteers for the Phase 1 clinical trials before the end of the second quarter of this year. Incara also announced that Dr. Shayne Gad, who worked with Incara in preparing the IND for submission, has been appointed president after the company's president and CEO, Clayton Duncan, resigned. Contact Dr. Shayne Gad (919.558.8688).
Mark Your Calendar!
CED's Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards & 20th Anniversary Family Celebration
June 9, 2004
RBC Center, Raleigh, NC
www.cednc.org/awards
Engage: Sales and Marketing
June 24, 2004
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, Chapel Hill, NC
www.cednc.org/engage
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.
Lisa Rowe-Ralls, editor
P.O. Box 13353, RTP, NC 27709
Phone: 919-549-7500
FAX: 919-549-7405
email: news@cednc.org