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Aspect Biosystems uses proprietary bioprinting and cell culture technologies to create high quality living 3D human tissues.  We aim to improve the pre-clinical drug discovery process by providing pharmaceutical companies and researchers with functional living tissues that better predict the human response to drugs.  Our testing platforms will enable pharmaceutical customers to identify failed drugs earlier in the development pipeline, before expensive clinical trials begin.  Aspect Biosystem’s long-term vision is to create human tissues on demand for multiple applications including cosmetics-testing, personalized medicine, diagnostics and regenerative medicine.

ASTEC is a Tokyo-based, accelerator-type investment firm focused on company creation and seed-stage investment. We have been solely investing in Japan but now plans to launch a new fund, together with Tokyo-based FinTech Global Capital, that also invests in other geography leveraging our Japan connection, both academic inventions and pharmaceutical companies. ASTEC deeply gets involved with the management of its portfolio companies and represents some of them for BD activities.

Avisa Pharma™ Inc., (AVISA) is a Point Of Care, In-Vivo Platform Technology Company With An Innovative, Integrated System For The Rapid Detection And Monitoring Of Respiratory Diseases. A paradigm shift away from lab based In Vitro testing; an In Vivo, point of care, breath test that measures the whole lung, live organisms, not a single culture sample in a petri dish or PCR;for non sputum producers - the only test that can detect lung bacteria without a sputum culture; A razor/razorblade Model to Drive Rapid Market Penetration and Growth.

Focused initially on respiratory health, the clinical study strategy is to pursue fastest route to regulatory approvals, the detection of Tuberculosis (TB), followed by Healthcare Acquired Pneumonia (HCAP), Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP), Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and COPD. These applications have the potential to help save millions of lives and millions of dollars in healthcare costs each year, and a multi billion $ market opportunity.  

$6 million Series A1 Preferred round underway, $4 million received from current investors exercising preemptive rights. Q1 2015 Avisa will be launching a 40 patient pilot TB study in South Africa.

Arizona’s bioscience and health care industry benefits from strong relationships with major institutions, hospitals, private firms and the state's public universities. CNBC ranks the state second nationwide in availability of skilled workforce, and biomedical jobs are growing three times faster than the national average.  In addition to our aggressive incentive programs, Arizona is committed to attracting and supporting quality companies through competitive tax policies and has demonstrated a continued trend of reducing property, individual sales and corporate income tax rates.  An example of some of the key programs and incentives for the biosciences includes:

• AZ Innovation Challenge – $3 million ($1.5 million twice yearly) for technology commercialization to the world’s most promising technology ventures. Awards range from $100,000 to $250,000 per company.

• Angel Investment Tax Credit - provides tax credits up to 35% for investors who make capital investment in small businesses certified by the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA).   

• Arizona Innovation Accelerator Fund - an $18.2 million loan participation program to stimulate financing of small businesses and manufacturers by providing debt financing up to $2 million.  Recognized by the US Treasury as a Best Practice model of its kind

• R&D Tax Credit/Refund – refundable and non-refundable programs for increased R&D activities.  Income tax credits up to 34% for qualified expenses. Up to 75% of the excess tax credit can be refunded.