Search 

20/20 GeneSystems is a revenue stage diagnostics company that markets a blood test for the early detection of lung cancer.  Several marketing partnerships entered in late 2014 should permit a nationwide expansion in 2015.  A JV with a multi-billion dollar Chinese company is expected to lead to commercialization of the lung cancer test in China in the near term.   20/20 also is developing companion tests to targeted cancer therapies.   

In 2014 we raised $1.2 million from our existing shareholders and members of the Keiretsu Forum, the nation's largest network of Angel investors.   A Term Sheet and Due Diligence package has been prepared by Keiretsu Forum members with expertise in healthcare investing and molecular diagnostics.  

AbCellera has developed a next generation technology for the analysis and screening of naturally derived immune repertoires. This platform uses high-throughput single cell analysis to enable the discovery of naturally derived monoclonal antibodies with unmatched speed, efficiency, and assay flexibility. By eliminating the need to culture cells this approach may be applied to antibody discovery from non-traditional host species, including rabbits and llamas, and achieves industry-leading capabilities in isolating antibodies from patient samples, with applications in infectious disease and autoimmunity.

AbCellera is engaged in antibody discovery projects with early partners, including biotech and pharma companies, and is also initiating internal programs aimed at using immune profiling for target identification and lead molecule discovery.

We are looking for Series A financing from strategic investors, as well as new partnerships with antibody drug development companies.

Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Direct to Brain Soluble Aβ Oligomer Selective Immunotherapy

First/Best in Class Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease

Right Target - Right Patients - Right Delivery.  ACU-193 is Acumen’s monoclonal antibody drug candidate that targets soluble amyloid-beta oligomers (sAβo) with high affinity and selectivity.  Acumen is developing ACU-193 for direct intrathecal delivery to the brain via a device collaboration designed to increase the probability of early clinical success and enhance long term commercial potential.

The Only Alzheimer’s Immunotherapy Specifically Targeting Toxic sAβo Using Direct Brain Delivery.  ACU-193 is a late-preclinical, fully humanized monoclonal antibody that selectively targets sAβo, the primary pathologic agent in Alzheimer’s.  Composition of matter and use patents for ACU-193 run through 2030; and further IP protection is available.

Acumen is establishing an exclusive collaboration for access to FDA/CE approved chronic infusion pump systems for direct to brain drug delivery.  ACU-193 and direct brain delivery positions the program as a scientifically and clinically differentiated approach to Alzheimer’s with attractive long-term commercial and therapeutic potential.

Program Profile & Positioning

Scientific Background & Program History.  SAβo are widely recognized as the primary neurotoxins responsible for the acute cognitive deficits and progressive neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease.  SAβo are non-fibrillic assemblies of Aβ peptides, and are distinct from protofibrils, fibrillar Aβ, and β-amyloid plaques.  Brain levels of sAβo are 3-8 orders of magnitude lower than levels of β-amyloid plaques or monomeric Aβ.  They are elevated in the Alzheimer’s brain, and studies suggest a correlation between levels of sAβo and cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s.  SAβo bind with high affinity to mature synapses, most likely to a small number of highly selective neuronal receptors.  Binding to these receptors interferes with normal neuronal function leading to memory loss and neurodegeneration.  Because sAβo are present at concentrations that are 3-8 orders of magnitude lower than non-toxic monomeric and fibrillar Aβ, they are an optimal immunotherapeutic target.  However, because only approximately 0.1-0.2% of peripherally administered antibodies cross the blood-brain-barrier and reach the brain, brain exposure of peripherally administered antibodies may limit their therapeutic efficacy.  Acumen is pursuing intrathecal delivery of ACU-193 to ensure therapeutic levels of the drug candidate reach the brain and achieve effects.

Effects of sAβo.

Acumen pioneered research on sAβo.  The company’s anti-sAβo antibody program was licensed to Merck & Co. in 2003 for significant upfront and milestone payments.  ACU-193 is a third generation product of the ~8 year/~$70M partnership with Merck.  Merck advanced the program to a late preclinical development stage.  In November 2011, as part of Merck’s restructuring following its merger with Schering Plough, Acumen reacquired all rights to the program including ACU-193, backup molecules, and substantial IP with no financial or take-back rights obligations to Merck.

ACU-193 Details.  

• Humanized, affinity-matured, IgG2 monoclonal antibody with uniquely high selectivity for sAβo.

• Prevents binding of sAβo to neurons and sAβo toxic effects at synapses.

• Brain penetration, target engagement and robust biochemical and behavioral efficacy demonstrated in mouse models of Alzheimer’s.

• Excellent pharmacokinetics, bio-distribution and brain penetration demonstrated in 4 animal species.

• Excellent safety profile in exploratory studies in rhesus monkeys.

• GMP production cell lines and the necessary analytics established.

• Drug delivery collaboration with Medtronic for direct brain delivery.

• Companion diagnostic biomarker assay established.

• Composition of matter and use patent protection through 2030.

“AdeTherapeutics’ approach has potential to become standard of care,” says Dr. Greenberg, Vice Chair Obs & Gyn at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School.

Our platform technology which KOL’s have pointed out as a game changer in the area of preventing post operative fibrosis, is poised to create significant value.  The pipeline contains a phase II drug for prevention of post operative fibrosis following pelvic and abdominal surgeries, med devices (collaboration with DSM Biomedical) for spinal surgery and additional opportunities in orthopedics.  

The Company has built a world class team, utilized a capital efficient, highly targeted and focused approach and brought on the necessary strategic partners to bring first-in-class products to the market and establish standard of care for millions of surgeries worldwide.Key value propositions:

•             useful in more procedures than current medical devices

•             significant higher efficacy vs market comparators

•             attractive safety profile & accelerated regulatory pathway

Key Milestones achieved:

• Phase II trial started
• Key markets patents issued: USA, EU, Japan
• Efficacy shown in different tissues areas
• Two peer reviewed publications in 2014

AdVax is an inter/multi-disciplinary team of individuals who have developed major paradigm-shifting science, research, technology and new clinical data sets demonstrating previously unidentified bacterial infections are able to translocate to the brain and be linked to the induction of Alzheimer’s disease.

We have developed novel and proprietary real time molecular diagnostics to identify these non-culturable bacteria and then apply novel immune refocusing technologies to create both monoclonal antibodies that could be used in treatments and a first of its kind vaccine for the prevention of both cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease.

Our program is well on its way to identifying the major disease-inducing bacteria, which are then ready to be put into the immune refocusing technology for the derivation of human monoclonal antibodies and vaccines.

Altravax is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing first-in-class biological products to fight infectious diseases or treat other indications. The Company has a robust pipeline of candidates at various preclinical stages of development including a therapeutic vaccine against chronic hepatitis B infection. Altravax seeks investment opportunities to develop these lead candidates for clinical testing.

apceth is a privately held German Biotech company focused on the development and clinical implementation of innovative biopharmaceuticals based on cell and gene therapy in the field of oncology.

Enabling platform technology for genetic modification of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) to be used as drug shuttle to target tumors or other areas of interest.

Clinical development:

phase I with modified MSC in gastro-intestinal tumors completed (12/2014)

phase I/II with MSC for vascular disease completed

strong clinical pipeline based on genetic modification of MSC

Implementation of allogeneic cell bank system to accomodate off-the-shelf production of cell-based pharmaceuticals.

Strong network and IP,

interesting preclinical pipeline addressing oncology, lung disease, inflammation.

Secure financing by German Family Offic. Looking for partner/ cofinancing for ongoing clinical development (phase II/III)

Aperiomics, Inc. is a next generation sequencing service company with a mission to detect virtually any pathogen from any clinical, agricultural, or environmental sample.  This service platform uses a combination of next-generation sequencing and advanced bioinformatic data analysis to identify pathogens in various samples.  Aperiomics’ proprietary service platform focuses on pathogens of public and animal health importance, satisfying the increasing need for more robust and more efficient next-generation sequencing data analysis.

The impact of Aperiomics’ technologies is broad due to our unique approach to pathogen detection. Instead of blindly probing for a proverbial ‘needle in a haystack’, Aperiomics’ approach analyzes the entire ‘haystack’ using next-generation sequencing and harnessing the power of bioinformatics to identify all ‘needles’. This approach is transformative compared to current pathogen detection methods. Aperiomics’ proprietary service, Absolute*NGS Pathogen Detection Platform, screens samples (clinical, environmental, etc.) for the presence of any microbe (fungal, viral, bacterial, eukaryotic parasite) – including pathogens that have never before been identified. This platform technology has broad application across diverse markets such as health care, agriculture, environmental, industrial, and veterinary testing.

Armune BioScience is a medical diagnostics company formed to develop and commercialize unique technology for diagnostic and prognostic tests for prostate, lung and breast cancers. The technology is unique because it utilizes autoantibodies created by the body’s own immune system to detect cancer at an early stage. When the immune system recognizes a cancer antigen it creates an autoantibody to the antigen which is replicated by the immune system. Armune’s technology can be used to detect these autoantibodies in serum.

Early detection and prognosis of cancer is critical not only in selecting appropriate treatment protocols, but also in increasing 5-year survival rates among cancer patients. Cancer detection in early stages is typically performed by detecting cancer-specific serum antigens. Unfortunately, cancer serum antigens are present at very low levels in early stage disease. Also, a single detectable cancer antigen may not be present in all patients due to heterogeneity of the disease and therefore multiple biomarkers are needed. Detection of serum autoantibody responses to tumor antigens provides more reliable serum marker(s) for cancer diagnosis. Serum autoantibodies are more stable than serum antigens and may be more abundant than antigens, especially at low tumor burdens characteristic of early stage cancer. The technology does not detect cancer per se, but looks for the immune response to cancer.

Armune’s initial focus is on a prostate cancer diagnostic test. The PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test is currently used as a prostate cancer diagnostic test and it has good sensitivity (~86%), but very poor specificity (20 to 30%) resulting in high false positive rates (70 to 80%) and many unnecessary biopsies and costs.

Artery Therapeutics is a San Francisco Bay Area based translational biotechnology company with worldwide collaborations. Artery's novel peptide library derived from Apolipoprotein E shows promising results in various animal studies for diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Diabetes mellitus, and Acute Coronary Syndrome.