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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%.

viDA is a preclinical biotechnology company pursuing the development of first-in-class drugs for the treatment of several inflammatory and age-related conditions of the skin, respiratory, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and neurological systems.Our platform is based on recently identified, specifically extracellular, pathological roles of a family of serine proteases called Granzymes. 

Currently, our focus is specifically on extracellular Granzyme B (GzmB) and its role in a range of disease states involving inflammation and tissue damage. GzmB actively participates in the degradation of key components of the body’s extracellular matrix, which acts as a scaffold for cell binding and provides essential structural integrity for proper function of tissues and organs.

Based on this new mechanism of action, these molecules have shown positive therapeutic outcomes in a number of disease-specific models. viDA has been reviewing MS and the orphan indication of Discoid Lupus specifically.

Our lead compound is in preclinical development and is intended to be a topical treatment for Discoid Lupus. The lead candidate exhibits a high degree of specificity and selectivity for extracellular GzmB. The compound has attractive drug-like properties for topical application and is being assessed for other possible routes of administration amenable to treatment of other diseases.

The Company has developed a library of additional proprietary first-in-class small molecule inhibitors to GzmB. These innovative molecules will have specific properties amenable to treatment of diseases requiring different routes of administration. 

Studies using inhibitors and knockout approaches have demonstrated that GzmB inhibition does not suppress immunity.

Vital Venture Capital, founded in 2007, is a venture capital firm with offices in: Simsbury, CT; Bethesda, MD; Philadelphia, PA; Naples, FL; and Lincolnshire, IL. The firm focuses on B2B, SaaS software, medical devices, and diagnostics. The firm seeks opportunities that provide some degree of investment loss protection through strong intellectual property. The firm’s target investment size is $1-3M for each portfolio company spread over 1-3 rounds. The firm invests in companies that are based in the US. The firm is actively seeking new investment opportunities.

Volcano Capital is a family office/venture capital firm based in New York. The firm manages an evergreen fund that operates free from the constraints of traditional venture capital funds. The firm seeks to make seed, venture, and growth equity investments in early to mid-stage medical device companies, but will also consider secured debt to help revenue generating companies with short term cash flow issues. The firm will also consider pre-seed investments. The firm can allocate anywhere from $1M to $10M per company, but generally allocates around $8M. The firm typically does 3 rounds of financing with an initial investment of around $3M. The firm is geographically agnostic, but highly prefers to invest in companies that are based in the US. The firm seeks to make about 3-4 allocations in the next 6-9 months.

Volcano Capital is currently looking for medical device companies with a strong emphasis on products with a 510(k) regulatory pathway. In terms of subsectors, the firm is looking for products specifically in the areas of interventional radiology and cardiology, spine/orthopedics and minimally invasive surgery. The firm is generally opportunistic in terms of indication.

Our clients are early-stage biotechnology, medical device, diagnostics and pharmaceutical service companies. When we begin working with a client they are frequently looking to complete proof-of-concept studies, secure intellectual property and other critical preliminary tasks. Typically we raise the first round ($1 - $5 million of capital) needed to accomplish these milestones, usually, but not always from angel investors. After key milestones have been achieved using that money, we generally follow by raising a second round of $5-20 million, usually institutional money, for development and growth

By working this way, we increase our clients' success rate raising capital and building their companies and the returns to the investors we bring into those companies. We have raised over $80 million in early stage funding for our clients (in Seed, Series A and Series B rounds) and delivered realized returns, so far, over $500 million—a realized return to date of over 6X—to the investors who provided that early stage capital, with a number of the companies still driving towards an exit that may increase that figure. Realized (cash-on-cash) internal rates of return for a hypothetical investor who participated in each round of financing offered by WG&A to date exceeds 65% annually.

Wellington Partners is a venture capital firm based in Munich, Germany, with an additional office in Zurich, Switzerland. The firm specializes in early-stage and growth capital investments in the Technology and Life Sciences sector. The firm has approximately €800M AUM and is currently investing out of a €100M fund for Life Science companies. Depending on the stage of the company, the firm can allocate up to €10M over the life of the investment. The firm can also lead or co-lead financing rounds of up to €30M or higher with syndicates. The firm focuses on European companies but will consider US-based companies with activities in Europe. The firm is actively seeking new investment opportunities.

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.

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.