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River Cities Capital Fund is a private equity firm founded in 1994 and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The firm manages approximately $500 million under management and is currently investing out of its 2014 vintage $200 fund. The firm looks to make investments of $5-$15 million initially up to $20 million over the investments lifetime. The firm is willing to invest throughout the United States and is looking to make approximately 4-6 equity investments over the next 6 to 9 months.

RiverVest Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that was founded in 2000 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri with additional office in Cleveland, Ohio. The firm currently has managed over $208 million of total assets. RiverVest has raised two investment funds with total committed capital of $165 million since inception. The recent fund closed at $75 million. RiverVest typically makes equity investments into global companies, and has no specific geographic preferences. The firm will consider making investments at all the stages, and focuses on investments in seed, early-stage and select later-stage companies. The typical investment size is around $6 million, though the firm can invest more or less, depending on the opportunity. 

RiverVest is extremely opportunistic when it comes to investments in the life sciences space; with that being said RiverVests specified sectors and sub sectors of interest may or may not be an area in which RiverVest is currently looking to allocate capital to. The firm invests in companies in the biotech therapeutics and diagnostics, as well the medical technology space. 

Some of the firms investments have included companies developing biotech therapeutics and diagnostics targeting diseases of the blood and blood forming organs, neoplasms, cancer, and oncology, skin and subcutaneous tissue, cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the ear, and infectious diseases. The firm has also invested in companies developing anti-body based therapeutics. The firm has also invested in firms developing medical technologies such as therapeutic radiation devices, active implantable devices, non active implantable devices, hospital hardware, and imaging devices.

Regulating Nitrosylation for Multi-Disease Therapies

SAJE Pharma’s S‑nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) inhibition technology regulates nitric oxide signal transduction pathways that are critical for multiple therapeutic benefits.  SAJE’s small molecule drugs regulate nitrosylation by inhibiting GSNOR.  Many biologists consider that “Nitrosylation is the new phosphorylation”, meaning that nitrosylation regulates cell pathways as directly as does phosphorylation.  The big advantage for SAJE is that there is only one human GSNOR to inhibit as compared to 100’s of phosphorylation targets, making it a much more “druggable” target with less possibility for off-target toxicity.  SAJE and its collaborators have discovered that GSNOR inhibition reduces: inflammation, oxidant damage, fibrosis, mucus accumulation, and bronchoconstriction.  Such multiple therapeutic efficacies by inhibiting only one enzyme with small molecules is unprecedented in pharmacology.  SAJE is focused on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and asthma as its first clinical applications, although there is animal data for efficacy in other diseases including cardiovascular, metabolic, inflammatory, liver, kidney, and other respiratory.  One GSNOR inhibitor has shown Clinical Proof of Concept for GSNOR as a target in a Phase IIa trial in asthma.

SAJE Pharma’s executive team consists of experienced drug development scientists and serial entrepreneurs whose backgrounds include FDA, large pharma, start-up companies, and the CRO industry.

SAJE has licensed one patent app that is nearing issuance in the EU and the US.  It protects SPL-334, SAJE’s lead molecule, and other related molecules.  In addition, SAJE is close to filing 3 more patent apps on its novel compositions that inhibit GSNOR.  A clear advantage for our drugs compared to many novel therapies  is the cost of goods.  Our drugs will cost pennies per dose.

SAJE would like to raise $15 MM to take SPL-334 through a Phase IIa trial in IPF.  The drug is ready for IND-enabling studies.  The company’s exit strategy is to out-license each of its drugs and their accompanying data set, one at a time, for different diseases in different categories.

SENS Research Foundation is based in Mountain View, CA. The foundation provides grants for research into rejuvenation biotechnologies that prevent or reverse age-related tissue damage. Historically grants have ranged from $40,000 to $200,000 although this range may change in the future. Grants are available to researchers worldwide. SENS requests that grants not be used to cover overhead/facilities costs. At present, 15 projects are being supported.

Siragen Pharmaceuticals is a drug discovery and development company, focused on novel approaches to treat Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease. Siragen is developing a group of small lead molecules that tackles Alzheimer’s Disease and aging neurons by novel strategy different from current unsuccessful approaches.   Siragen Pharmaceuticals, based in San Diego, California, was incorporated in May 2014, and is a spin off of Neurogeneration Inc. Siragen's products will be for the brain what cholesterol agents are for the heart.

Sofia Angel Group is a group of angel investors based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group solely focuses on investing in women-led businesses where women are the founders, or women are on the senior management team. Sofia Angel Group does not have a specific timeframe to make an investment, however would make an allocation by the end of 2013 if a compelling opportunity is identified. The group typically invests around $100,000 per company, however has the ability to invest up to $3 million through co-investments from the group’s members.

Subwave Sensing is poised to be the future of fracture care by giving the traditional orthopaedic hardware market an infusion of intelligence that will improve patient outcomes, decrease treatment costs and fundamentally change how fracture care is treated in the United States.

Rapid Development of Injection Molded Medical Devices
From Concept Through Transfer-to-Manufacturing

Symbient specializes in engineering research and development, prototyping and design-for-manufacturing of innovative medical devices that use injection molded components. Our highly experienced team consists of mechanical and biomedical engineers, industrial designers, machinists and molding technicians. They leverage our in-house rapid prototyping, and prototype tooling fabrication and injection molding to create proven, manufacturable designs with unmatched speed, efficiency and precision. These designs make up our deep portfolio of over 300 successful devices that have collectively generated hundreds of millions of dollars. They include FDA Class I, II and III devices, developed under our ISO 13485 certified quality management system.

Our Services Include:

• Concept Development
• Development Engineering
• Design-for-Manufacturing
• Industrial Design
• Project Rescue
• Design Control per IOS 13485
• Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
• Design Verification Testing
• Test Method Development
• Transfer to Manufacturing

Our In-House Capabilities and Expertise Include:

• Stereolithography (SLA) Prototyping
• CNC Machining / Fabrication
• Prototype Mold Fabrication
• Prototype Injection Molding of Devices for Testing, Trials and Studies
• Liquid Injection Molded (LIM) Silicone Prototype Molding
• Product Reliability Testing
• Plastics Assembly Expertise: Ultrasonic and Laser Welding, Heat Sealing, Pressure Sensitive Adhesives, Swaging, Snap Fits, Press Fits, Interlocks.
• Speed: Prototype Molds in as little as 1 week and Modifications in as little as 1 Day
• Material Selection Expertise, Research and Testing to Ensure All Product Requirements Are Met.

Our Portfolio Includes:

• Diagnostics / Molecular Diagnostics
• Sample collection / preparation
• Life Sciences / Microfluidics
• OTC Consumer products
• Respiratory
• Surgical devices and clinical tools
• Drug Delivery

SynDevRx develops new and effective treatments for metabolic-related diseases including pre-diabetes, diabetes, obesity, dyslipidemia and fatty liver disease as well as treatments for cancer.  Our treatments are best-in-class MetAP2 inhibitors of the fumagillin drug class.  SynDevRx lead compound, SDX-7320, is a polymer conjugate of a novel fumagillol derivative which releases the pharmacologically active drug in vivo.  Our approach improves both the efficacy and safety of low molecular weight drugs while reducing systemic drug exposure compared to the small molecule drug alone.

Tangen Biosciences is an early stage diagnostic instrument company that has developed a group of novel technologies that together enable rapid, portable, lab-free, and very low cost molecular diagnostics at the point of care.   

The Tangen platform will amplify and detect specific nucleic acid sequences obtained from a variety of source samples, including clinical specimens such as blood, tissue and sputum, as well as environmental samples obtained from water, soil or food, for example.  The first application of the Tangen platform is the detection and diagnosis of Tuberculosis using DNA extracted from sputum samples, using the Tangen Sputum Processing assay kit