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Prize4Life is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 in Cambridge, MA focused on accelerating therapy development for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's disease). Prize4Life uses incentive prizes to attract new minds and drive innovation in ALS drug development. The organization is running the $1M Avi Kremer ALS Treatment Prize4Life challenge for preclinical validation of a novel ALS therapeutic in an ALS mouse model, and submissions to this prize will be accepted until June 6th 2015. In addition to prizes, Prize4Life also runs infrastructure programs to support the ALS research community, such as the ALS FORUM, an online portal of cutting edge research and drug development news in ALS (www.researchals.org).

Prolog Ventures is a venture capital firm based out of St. Louis Missouri that was founded in 2001. The firm is currently making investments out of its vintage 2013 4th fund of approximately $100 million. The firm is looking to make equity investments in companies ranging from $500,000 to $3 million. The firm will invest in companies across the United States and plans to make approximately 3-4 investments over the next 6-9 months.

Promosome is a synthetic biology company founded to commercialize the discoveries of the late Nobel Laureate, Dr. Gerald M. Edelman, and colleague Dr. Vincent P. Mauro of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, CA. Leveraging Dr. Edelman’s and Mauro's unparalleled expertise in the area of mRNA translation and the resulting technologies they pioneered, Promosome offers technology licensing opportunities to biotherapeutic and bioindustrial companies seeking to dramatically improve efficiencies in expression, secretion, and potentially biotherapeutic safety and dose tolerance.

In March 2014, GEHC and Promosome executed an agreement to license a subset of Promosome’s initial technology suite in support of their mammalian cell line development ambitions.

Promosome operates a developmental center in the Torrey Pines section of San Diego which focuses on expanding its mRNA translation-based toolset as well as identifying and developing a pipeline of proprietary proteins which can be differentiated by their unique manufacturing attributes (higher yields, greater homogeneity, etc.) and quite possibly by their safety profile in clinical use.

ProPep Surgical, LLC (www.propepsurgical.com), a privately held, Austin-based medical device company develops interoperative  nerve monitoring technologies for laparoscopic and robotic-assisted cancer surgery. 

 It has been well documented in the literature, that anatomic landmarks are not reliable in identifying the location of nerves hidden in tissue and too small to be seen. For decades surgeons have been using nerve monitoring during surgical procedures to provide real-time, accurate information on the condition and location of somatic nerves vital to a patient’s recovery and future quality of life.  The technology has proven to be so valuable that its use is considered standard of care in maxillofacial surgery, spine surgery, and neurosurgery.  

ProPep Surgical has adapted this proven technology to Laparoscopic and Robotic Radical Prostatectomy. The ProPep Nerve Monitoring system interfaces with the Laparoscopic Bipolar Instrument to enable the surgeon to stimulate the neural tissue. Knowing the location of a nerve enables the surgeon to handle that tissue differently in order to avoid nerve damage.

Additional clinical benefits:

The ProPep Nerve Monitoring System has been used during robotic-assisted prostate cancer surgery to not only identify the location of pelvic nerves critical to urinary continence but, most recently, pelvic nerves critical to erectile function.  This is a significant “game changer” because, although incontinence rates as high as 18% have been reported following “successful” robotic-assisted, prostate surgery, erectile dysfunction rates are conservatively reported to be up to 38% post-prostatectomy.  Obviously, a much bigger problem.

Completion of additional investment capital

On March 8th, 2013 our company completed a new investment round of funding with Stella Maris Capital, a venture capital firm.   This investment round included an immediate funding and additional capital based on milestones achievements. The additional capital is currently being funded based on milestone satisfaction. 

Additional Indications for Use:

We have completed  the Hysterectomy clinical study with Dr. John Crane, Director of Robotic Surgery, Banner McKee Medical Center, Loveland, CO to assess feasibility of performing intraoperative nerve monitoring (IONM) on pelvic nerves during robotic-assisted, radical hysterectomies.  Dr. Crane was able to positively identify the perineal branch of the pudendal nerve that plays a key role in urinary continence control.   The 510-k was filed with the FDA on 10/2014 for the Hysterectomy indication and we are awaiting response.  ProPep has also begun to explore the opportunity in the colorectal market and have conducted initial procedures.

Poster presentation at the American Urological Association’s annual meeting

Dr. Ronald Kuhn, Arkansas Urology, presented a poster at the American Urological Association’s annual meeting entitled Results of a Using a New Technology to Improve the Identification and Preservation of Nerve Tissue during Robotic Assisted Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy.  The presentation summarized the results of a 20 patient study Dr. Kuhn conducted wherein he evaluated whether the use of the ProPep Nerve Monitoring System would allow him to better identify and thus preserve nerves innervating the Levator Ani (LA) muscle known to play a critical role in urinary continence control.  

The results showed Dr. Kuhn was able to identify the nerves innervating the LA muscle in 100% of the cases.  The results also showed a correlation between 8 week post-op continence and the latency of the Compound Motor Action Potential (CMAP) waveform displayed on the ProPep Nerve Monitoring System.  (The appearance of this CMAP waveform indicates the stimulating probe of the ProPep Nerve Monitoring System is on a nerve.)    

ProPep Surgical awarded CPRIT grant award

ProPep Surgical was honored to be chosen for the Product development grant of 4.4MM from the Texas CPRIT ( Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas).  ProPep plans to use the grant to conduct additional clinical studies, specifically, two clinical studies exploring how the use of the ProPep Nerve Monitoring System can help reduce nerve damage related side-effects such as erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence in robotic-assisted prostate cancer surgery and urinary and fecal incontinence in robotic-assisted radical hysterectomy surgery. 

Sales

ProPep received FDA 510-k clearance in June of 2012 and launched in the US Q1 2013.  Since product approval  the ProPep Nerve Monitoring System has been used in more than 1000 prostatectomy procedures.   This was completed with one internal rep marketing the product in the field.  In 2014 , the ProPep Nerve Monitoring System is sold via two US distributors. Outside the United States, ProPep continues to expand its distribution network and currently has 25 distributors worldwide.

Results of user survey

ProPep surveyed its customers (surgeons)  regarding their use of the ProPep Nerve Monitoring System and the benefits they are seeing in their patients’ outcomes.  Some of the key findings were:

1. Surgeons using ProPep System range in experience from less than 200 robotic-assisted, radical prostatectomies (RARP) performed to over 2500
2. Patient Benefits:
   1. 75% of patients achieve better erections as measured by IIEF or SHIM score (validated data collection questionnaires)
   2. 100% of surgeons report better continence as measured by IIEF
3. Surgeon Value:
   1. 100% of surgeons report that using ProPep

1.  
   1.  

      1. changes the way they handle tissue during surgery

      2. makes them more confident of nerve location

1.  
   1. Over ½ of surgeons report that using ProPep adds less than 5 minutes to their cases

1.  
   1.  

      1. the remainder report it adds less than 10 minutes

1. 80% feel it should be standard of care for all RARP

Pulse Infoframe Inc strives to improve workflow using computer-assisted capture of patient data for specialists – our cloud based software enables better local and global sharing of the data for those who need it to make decisions – our end-user driven tools analyze the data to advance knowledge and thus patient care. Data can be directly entered into our system, and because we sit on top of any EMR system we access additional data that is not otherwise easily accessible. Once accessed, the data is de-identified, aggregated and mined producing meaningful information for our end-users. 

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We have applied our solution in various clinical verticals including speciality clinics (Melanoma, Oncology, Neonatology, etc), Imaging and PACS systems (with INFINITT PACS, ClearCanvas, etc) and clinical trials (tracking prostate cancer, Pharmacovigilance, economics, etc). Modules are versatile and can be templated to be used in a variety of systems for achieving the best workflow possible.

PxRadia is applying its HD-mAb technology platform to provide increased therapeutic potency to biosimiliar monoclonal antibodies. These antibodies are directed to validated targets such as Her-2, CD-20 and PD-1/PD-L.  We and our partners will share new IP and rights and differentiation from current products in the marketplace.

Quintessence Biosciences, Inc. is a private, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel anti-cancer compounds based on our patented EVade™ Ribonuclease technology. The lead candidate, called QBI-139, completed a first in human dose escalation Phase I clinical trial in patients with solid tumors. Quintessence is looking for funding for a proof of concept clinical trial (Phase Ib/IIa) with a defined patient population.

RCT Ventures invests in early-stage life science companies including medical devices, drug discovery platforms, and research tools.