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Teijin Pharma Ltd. has unique profiles managing pharmaceutical and home healthcare products and also strong value chaines from basic research to sales, maintenance and follow up to patients in both business divisions.

We are actively dedicating to look for opportunities to collaborate with the US companies including startups, instituites and investors to introduce products/technologies into JP market with some amounts of investments for the best collaborations.

We are focusing on areas of respiratory, cardiovascular, orthopedics, rehab and neurological diseases.

TEXO Ventures is a healthcare venture capital firm that was founded in 29 and is based in Austin Texas. The firm operates as a hybrid of angel and venture capital. The recent fund closed at $15.4 million in 212. The firm focuses on making equity investments in the Medical Technology and Healthcare IT spaces at near commercialization or early commercialization stage. The firm typically invests ranging from $3 million to $5 million into a company. The firm plans to make 2-3 investments over the next 6-9 month. TEXO Ventures is open to consider companies across the US. The firm primarily focuses on healthcare which includes Health IT Technology  enabled Health Services Chronic Disease Management Managed Care and Benefit Design. Although medical devices and functional diagnostics are considered for investment purposes Texo Ventures must see a clear regulatory pathway and obvious synergies with healthcare reform within a company. The firm's current investment portfolio includes companies in the area of medical technology. Within this field they are in areas such as diagnostic and therapeutic radiation devices electro mechanical medical devices re-usable instruments biomaterials and non-active implantable.

Thrive Bioscience is commercializing automated, analytical cell management laboratory instruments with integrated disposables. Thrive systems target the existing manual cell culture market ($8B), the cell-based assay market ($14B) and multi-billion dollar emerging markets for cell therapeutics. Thrive systems monitor, maintain, and passage cell lines, as well as run assays and generate large amounts of previously unavailable data.

Current methods of cell culture, developed more than 50 years ago, are now a major bottleneck holding back research and medicine, and cost society billions of dollars annually in waste and lost opportunity. Thrive Bioscience is the first company to wholly automate cell culture in research, diagnostic, and therapeutic markets.

Cell culture, especially the growth of human and other mammalian cells, is a fundamental tool used in science and medicine. As an example, the market for cell-based assays used in drug discovery accounts for $14B annually. One of the most rapidly growing and emerging segments requiring automated cell culture is the personal cell-based therapeutics market, for which human cells are genetically engineered, and then re-implanted into a patient.

TRANSVERSE MEDICAL INC is an early stage medical device company focused on the development of innovative technologies addressing the market of aortic embolic protection for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR), cardiovascular percutaneous interventions and surgical procedures. TMI’s proprietary Point-Guard™ technology is uniquely designed with the capability to conform to the aortic arch anatomy, deflect and filter embolic material from entering the major cerebrovascular arteries, collateral and adjacent arteries, and upon completion of procedure, safely and effectively remove the system with captured embolic debris.

Stroke rate is substantial in many established and emerging cardiovascular procedures.  Of particular interest in the field are the new Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) procedures.  There clearly exists an unmet need for an embolic protection and capture device that can be utilized during the procedures to significantly reduce acute strokes and adverse ischemic events, particularly in heart valve implantation & repair.

The risk of cerebral events and the need for protection during Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement is well documented in the literature and discussed by highly recognized key opinion leaders at major medical conferences around the world.  Stroke and the incidence of silent embolic events during TAVR are associated with high patient morbidity and mortaility.  This awareness of stroke, reported early on in the range of 2% to 11% prior to standardized endpoint definitions, is a concerning complication during TAVR and may have been attributed to early generation devices.  However, stroke continues to be reported in TAVR with rates in the range of 0.6% to as high as 7%, remaining roughly double those associated with surgical aortic valve replacment (SAVR). While the clinical and technical challenges of TAVR will continue to be addressed through lower profile devices and operator experience, the risk of stroke remains a major concern.

The market opportunity and adoption for TAVR continues to grow worldwide with a CAGR estimated at 19.8% (2014 to 2018) and worldwide market sales projection of $2.9 Billion in 2018. (Source: David Roman, Managing Dir., Global  Investment Research, Goldman, Sachs & Co.). The TMI Leadership Team estimates the Cerebral Embolic Protection Device (CPD) market to be at a conversion rate to CPD during TAVR at 50% by 2018, with worldwide market sales for CPD estimated at approx. $280 to $480 Million with an ASP of $3-5K. The Point-Guard™ advantages are expected to allow it to be used in 50% or more of such cases, projecting gross worldwide revenues of around $146 million by 2018.  Complications are limiting market growth (i.e., stroke) - - Controlling stroke (i.e., Point-Guard) can expand the markets and accelerate the expansion of TAVR use to lower risk patients, capture a larger portion of high/intermediate risk patients, set the "standard of care" (e.g 100% carotid filter use in US), and set the standard for other procedures (EP, AF, LAA, etc.).  Preliminary data presented at TCT 2014 by Dr. Axel Linke of University of Leipzig Heart Center in Leipzig, Germany showed significant reduction in early cerebrovascular accidents (CVA). Median Total Lesion Volume reported a 65% Reduction; Median Lesion Number reported a 57% Reduction; Rate of CVA reported a 67% Reduction. 

TMI is currently developing the POINT-GUARD™ Cerebral Embolic Protection System with VARIFLEX™ Conforming Technology. Point-Guard™ is the first complete embolic protection system engineered with VariFlex™ conforming technology, uniquely designed to conform to the aortic arch and branch artery ostia addressing the concern and possibility of residual flow redirecting around current embolic protection devices. The integration of VariFlex technology allows for maximum wall apposition to cover the aortic arch branch arteries with variable flexibilty and positioning. All other CPDs in the market have only met one or two areas of concern for CPD (Freeman, et al – “With all the embolic protection devices, potential limitations exist.”).  The Point-Guard is the only aortic embolic protection device designed to address all key features and functions of embolic protection during TAVR: conformity, deflection, filtration, and capture of emboli upon removal. Point-Guard will be the first cerebral embolic protection system to completely meet operator and procedural needs through ease of use, a low profile, safety and efficacy, compatible, and rapid delivery.

The Point-Guard™ is a class II product in the USA and can be cleared using the 510(k) process, with clinical trial results.  The number of clinical trial patients required is to be determined, but anticipated to be fewer than 100, including EU CE Mark clinical trial patients.  The CE Mark will be pursued first and is expected to require 50 or fewer patients with 30 day post-procedure follow-up.

TMI has raised $500K in private funding to date, is seeking additional seed funding of $1 million and series A funding of $6 million. 

Seed Funding will allow for completion of concept development & design freeze, pre-clinical development, testing, in vitro & in vivo studies, and first in human experience. Full Series A Funding will support European clinical trials (FDA Compatible), clinical product manufacturing & readiness, CE Mark approval & European pre-commercialization launch, strengthen IP and Filings, and general operation & administration.

Tutela Industries is a Health IT startup developing patient-centric mHealth solutions to reduce readmissions and significantly enhance patient engagement. Tutela has developed a proprietary and breakthrough low cost, secure framework, TutelaConnect™, for hospital-based clinicians to communicate (voice, video, and data) securely to remote caregivers, both outside and inside the hospital environment. Even though a majority of hospitals have implemented electronic health records for identifiable patient data exchange within the hospital, the secure HIPAA compliant capture and exchange of unstructured patient information outside the hospital remains a challenge, impacting decision making, care coordination and informed consent.

In a recent benchmark data security report, over 90% report that their number one security risk is the unsecure exchange of patient information (phone, text. email) initiated from inside the hospital. 88% of hospitals attribute data breaches to employee negligence and the lack of mobile device security. The cost of these breaches exceeds $5.6 Billion per year, averaging $1M per year per hospital. Most hospitals are still struggling to create a unified communication strategy that meets stringent security, HIPAA compliance requirements while meeting clinical workflow and ease of use demands. Ubiquitous solutions are not cloud-based which makes the use case for patient engagement costly, complicated and difficult to scale. Ultimately, restricting the use to the few and not the many. The worldwide available market for interactive patient engagement solutions exceeds $2.3B and the initial target market, the high-risk Neonatal Intensive Care is estimated at $160 Million. The TutelaConnect™ Platform, can enter the market within current reimbursement and regulatory environments, and is ready to launch H2 2015 through sales to the first  pilot hospitals.

The competitive landscape includes large players in adjacent markets; Cisco/PolyCom for enterprise video solutions; Phillips, medical device manufacturer for remote monitoring, and electronic health record companies, Cerner and EPIC. Small niche players, Mommy’s Ear, Angels Eye and NICView offer limited pieces of a unified patient engagement communication tool.  None to date provide a cloud-based, platform agnostic, secure and HIPAA compliant method that eliminates costly licenses, expensive hardware and ongoing endpoint configuration and IT support requirements.

A strong competive position, highly differentiated use cases, a clear Freedom to Operate and patent potential, as well as, a highly experienced management team, early traction and favourable regulatory trends provide a great opportunity for success.

Twin Cities Angels is an angel group that was founded in 2006 that is based in Minnesota. The group has raised two funds that are The Twin Cities Angels Fund I and II. The second fund is currently looking to invest in emerging companies. The group typically provides seed and venture capital ranging from $ 25.000 to $2 million to life science companies. The group plans to invest in 4 to 6 companies per year. Twin Cities Angels seeks to invest in companies based in the Twin Cities Area of Minneapolis/St. Paul, the state of Minnesota and within a reasonable distance, such as Western Wisconsin, Northern Iowa, and Eastern Dakotas.

We are focused on Valley Fever, an orphan disease that kills 150 people a year. Thousands are taking drugs for life, and many others have no effective drug therapy options. Nikkomycin-Z is a new, first in class antifungal ready for Phase II testing. Teliable animal models suggest NikZ will be effective. 

With our guidance, the NIH is funding two Phase II trials starting about late 2015. We would like to run a third, sweet-spot-of-market trial as soon as we secure funding. Our Chief Medical Officer is lead author on an NIH study on standard of care drugs for this disease. We plan to try NikZ under a simlar protocol as soon as we secure support. 

Valley Fever Solutions has made our API at pilot scale. The process is robust and repeatable. We are ready to make a large batch as soon as we secure funding. We expect the proof of concept trial can reach at least early readout within 18 months of funding. This can be achieved for less than $10M.

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%.