Stephen Porter United States

Advances in synthetic chemistry and drug screening techniques have flooded the pharmaceutical industry with potential new drugs. At the same time, industry consolidation and financial pressures on R&D budgets have reduced the ability of biotech and pharmaceutical companies to develop early stage drugs. As a result of these market forces, large pharmaceutical companies have restricted their drug development activities to "blockbuster" drugs ($1 billion revenues) with proven efficacy. Promising early-stage drugs developed in emerging biotech and pharmaceutical companies, and university research laboratories are being shelved. 
VDDI Pharmaceuticals has been formed to capitalize on these opportunities. The Company will license attractive product development opportunities from academic institutions, biotech firms and pharmaceutical companies. VDDI Pharmaceuticals will focus on pharmaceutical product opportunities where general proof-of-principle has already been established in pre-clinical or human testing, and where the products are novel and offer significant potential advantages to products currently in the market or in development. VDDI Pharmaceuticals will pursue early-stage products qualifying for fast track approval, primarily in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular disease and infectious disease and develop the products through Phase II of the required regulatory approval processes. The developed products will be licensed to existing pharmaceutical companies for product marketing, thereby generating license fees and ongoing royalties for VDDI Pharmaceuticals.

As its name suggests, VDDI Pharmaceuticals utilizes a virtual business model. Virtual drug development entails: (i) a small core group of employees responsible for strategic management, regulatory strategy, and financial control, (ii) outsourcing all non-core business functions, including preclinical and clinical drug development, and (iii) electronic data capture and data submission to regulatory authorities. By adopting this model, VDDI Pharmaceuticals believes it can reduce total drug development program costs by at least 25% and development times by up to 50%.

Year Founded
2000
Biotech Subsector
Biotech Phase of Development
Technology Overview
Rhabdomyolysis results from muscle injury that leads to the release of myoglobin, which is then deposited in the kidney; acute renal failure (ARF) results.
Alliance & Collaborations
Heyuan Co-Source, Hefei, PRC for xemilofiban only. Vanderbilt University for PIP Inhibitors
Current Financing Needs
$2.5 M
Current Timeline
Orphan Designation 1Q 2015, FIle SBIR/STTR APril 5, 2015, Pre-IND work June 2015 FIle IND July 2016, Sept, 2016 Phase I
Current Investors
$14 Million for previous assest and xemilofiban and $375 SBIR STTR NIH for PIP inhibitor program. Angels and NIH SBIR/STTR
IP Status
Patent and application serial numbers 8,367,669, 13/759,987, 61/761,182
Recent Milestones
VDDI Vanderbilt Option Agreement Signed Dec 2013
Management Team Highlights
R. Stephen Porter, Pharm. D. - Chairman, CEO and President: Dragon Bio-Consultants ,Therapeutic Antibodies, Am. Cyanamid
VDDI Pharmaceuticals
President, CEO 

Kayvon Pourmirzaie

Website:
www.nasseo.com
Nasseo

Lorenzo Pradella

Z-Cube invests strategically in technologies that benefit Zambon’s pharmaceuticals and API chemical businesses. 

Within the therapeutics sector, Z-Cube is interested in new technological platforms that enable Zambon’s therapeutic innovation (Z-Cube does not make developmental-stage investments in new chemical entities, and as Zambon only markets small molecule therapeutics, technologies related to biologics are not of interest). This includes drug delivery innovations, and other enabling technologies for therapeutics that do not have to undergo the full therapeutic approval process in order to reach the marketplace. 

Z-Cube is also interested in diagnostics, particularly point of care diagnostics, companion diagnostics and other diagnostics that are used alongside a therapeutic intervention, and diagnostics that can be used in preventative care or to lower overall healthcare costs. Zambon is also interested in diagnostic technologies used to monitor a chronic condition. 

Zambon’s therapeutic focus areas are respiratory diseases and pain (particularly chronic pain), and the firm is also interested in CNS disorders and women’s health (encompassing osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis in addition to ob/gyn). However in the diagnostics sector, Zambon is interested in all indications. 

Zambon is additionally interested in digital technologies that enhance communication in the healthcare space, particularly between doctor and patient or between general practitioners and specialists. This includes EMR and telehealth technologies, and devices that transmit information wirelessly. 

Zambon is also interested in innovations in high-tech chemistry, including purification of APIs, advanced crystallography, and novel custom synthesis.

Zcube | Research Venture

Jayson Punwani

Pappas Ventures is a Venture Capital company based in Durham North Carolina founded in 1994. The firm manages 4 funds for a total of approximately $35 million in assets under management. The firms is currently investing out of its $1 million 4th fund focused exclusively on the life sciences. The firm looks to provide up to $5 million of preferred equity capital in the initial round and up to $1 million over the life of the investment. The firm is very flexible in terms of period to exit but generally looks to exit in around 5 years. The firm plans to make 2-3 investments over the next 6-9 months and will consider companies throughout North America.
Pappas Ventures
Associate 

Dennis Purcell

Aisling Capital is a private equity group based in New York with over $1.6 billion in assets under management. Aisling is currently looking for new firms for potential investments for the firm?s third fund. The firm looks to make investments in companies seeking to raise a total round of $2-5 million. The firm looks to invest in companies globally with a focus on companies located in the United States.
Aisling Capital
Founder and Senior Advisor 

Mohammed Qadir Canada

Fusion Genomics Corp (FG) is a molecular diagnostic test  development company that is introducing diagnostic kits with companion analysis software that offer superior clinical information, faster turn-around-times and ease of use for hospitals and clinical laboratories. Fusion is the first of two companies in the world to bring a validated Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) diagnostic test complete with highly secure cloud based analytical service for childhood cancers (ChildSeq-RNA SRCT) into the clinic. This test was validated in the renowned medical testing facility at the Texas Children Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine.

FG is completing development of kits for facilitating absolute diagnosis of pediatric and adult blood cancers. In addition, FG has partnered with the Royal Tropical Institute (Dutch: Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen; KIT) a World Health Organization reference diagnostic laboratory for infectious diseases to design the next generation of assays for the detection of infectious diseases including drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, influenza, hepatitis and hemorrhagic fevers including Ebola.

Year Founded
2013
Biotech Subsector
Medtech Subsector
Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Technology Overview

Fusion Genomics Corporation (FG) develops molecular diagnostic tests that utilize next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. All of FG’s tests can be used with any of the widely adopted NGS instruments on the market. Data is analyzed using FGF’s secure FusionCloud, providing diagnosis –enabling DNA sequence information to the clinician.

Most NGS based diagnostic efforts can be divided into two categories: 1) whole genome sequencing (WGS), where the entire DNA of an individual (or a pathogen) is sequenced, and 2) target-capture sequencing (TCS), where only diseased portions of DNA are sequenced. TCS produces 1000 times less data than WGS. The expensive computational resources required for analysis of WGS data prevents it from being adopted for routine clinical use. Therefore, TCS is more suitable and appealing in frontline diagnostic environments.

TCS uses either PCR or “DNA baits” as the underlying technology to “capture” disease-specific regions of the genome. PCR-based methods suffer from limitations described earlier. FG uses proprietary Quantum ProbesTM, an enhanced form of DNA baits, in all its tests. Quantum ProbesTM allow for nearly limitless expansion of genetic targets and rapid development of new tests as well as patentable techniques that are beyond the capacity of PCR. The superior advantage of Quantum ProbeTM, coupled with FusionCloud analysis and reporting, will drive the successful adoption of the tests. 

Alliance & Collaborations
Texas Children Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, USA), British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (Vancouver, Canada), Royal Tropical Institute / Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Supporting Metrics or Evidence

The Fusion Genomics team published a very well received peer-reviewed publication which demonstrated that their technology was more sensitive, accurate, rapid and comprehensive than current industry standards such as PCR and FISH.  This study can be found at here.

Current Financing Needs

 $0.5-1M to complete seed round

Current Investors

Founders, board members, family and friends.

IP Status

Patent applications are pending.

Management Team Highlights

Fusion Genomics Corporation’s team has established expertise in next-generation sequencing, diagnostic test and software development, and information technology.

Mohammed Qadir, PhD., Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer has over 17 years of research experience; the last 10 were at the British Columbia Cancer Agency. As part of his early training, he worked with world-renowned experts in genomics and drug development and is the co-inventor of the ChildSeq assay and ChildDecode.

Greg Stazyk, Chief Technical Officer has over 20 years of experience in senior positions in the IT industry. Mr. Stazyk was the IT lead for one of Canada’s largest bioinformatics computing platform at the BC Cancer Agency’s Genome Sciences Centre (GSC). Mr. Stazyk was the senior manager at PMC-Sierra Inc. responsible for its global computer systems operation.

Brian Kwok, VP of Product Development has close to 10 years of experience in molecular biology and genomic technologies including leading edge next-generation sequencing. Mr. Kwok has worked in combinatorial drug screening and led the development of the ChildSeq assay.

Dr. Poul Sorensen MD, PhD: Board member and clinical expert. Dr. Sorensen is a world-renowned pediatric pathologist and is the Johal Chair in Childhood Cancer Research at the University of British Columbia, as well as a professor in the Department of Pathology and a Senior Scientist at the BC Cancer Research Agency (Vancouver, Canada). Dr. Sorensen is also the Chair of the Translational Research committee of the Children’s Oncology Group.

Fusion Genomics Corporation
Chief Scientific Officer 

Sofie Qiao United States

WuXi Venture Fund is the corporate venture arm of WuXi AppTec, a multinational CRO based in Shanghai China with multiple offices across China and the United States. The fund makes equity investments into technology and life science companies to enhance or leverage WuXi AppTec's platform capabilities. The investment size will be varied based on a case-by-case basis. The firm invests in life science companies across the globe with an emphasis in China and the US.

WuXi Venture Fund
Managing Director 

Momei Qu

Baird Venture Partners is the venture and expansion capital arm of Robert W. Baird & Co. The Baird Venture Partners team is based in Chicago Illinois and has around $27 million in total assets under management. In 214 Baird closed a fourth venture capital fund at $185 million. The firm is currently seeking opportunities in the life science sector and while Baird has no strict timeline to make investments the group would invest in a new firm within the next 6-9 months if a compelling opportunity was identified. The firm?s equity investments range from $3-1 million but are typically in the $8-1 million range.The firm will only consider investment into US based firms.
Baird Venture Partners
Senior Associate 

Chandra Ramanathan

Website:
www.bayer.com
Bayer AG
Global Program Head, External Innovation - Life Sciences 

Euan Ramsay Canada

Precision NanoSystems Inc. (“PNI”) has developed proprietary technology (NanoAssemblr) and companion Reagent Kits (SUB9KITS) that enable the simple manufacture of novel nanoparticles that are used to delivery genetic and small molecule medicines (nanomedicines). Nanomedicines are the "FedEx" of the health-care industry and are used for cell-specific delivery of research tools, diagnostic imaging agents and drugs to study, diagnose and treat disease. PNI's products are commercialized and in high demand from many of leading RNA and small molecule therapeutic biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.  http://www.precisionnanosystems.com/products/

Year Founded
2010
Biotech Phase of Development
Current Financing Needs
PNI is currently raising Series A financing.
Recent Milestones
PNI launched its flagship NanoAssemblr Benchtop and SUB9KIT products in H2 2013. Since that time, PNI has seen significant latent demand for its products and is rapid expanding product manufacturing to satisfy market need. Additionally, PNI has achieved important technical milestones in it's large-scale nanomedicine platform and SUB9KIT products.
Management Team Highlights
PNI’s management, directors & advisors have collectively contributed to over 100 patents and 500 papers, started over 20 biotech companies, raised over $1B in financing/deals and have brought 4 drugs to market. PNI’s CEO, Dr. James Taylor has over 10 years of experience in commercializing biotech and has lead PNI since invention. PNI’s COO, Dr. Euan Ramsay, has 13 years commercializing biotech, has secured over $40M in leveraged financing, and has developed nanomedicines to clinical trials.
Precision NanoSystems
COO