| Name | Title | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|
Nathan Doyle |
Director of Informatics and IT | Profile |
Merrimack is a biopharmaceutical company discovering, developing and preparing to commercialize innovative medicines paired with companion diagnostics for the treatment of cancer. Merrimack seeks to gain a deeper understanding of underlying cancer biology through its systems biology-based approach and develop new insights, therapeutics and diagnostics to improve outcomes for cancer patients. Merrimack has multiple oncology therapeutics in clinical development and additional candidates in late stage preclinical development. Merrimack has a New Drug Application under review for its lead product candidate, MM-398, for the treatment of patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas who have been previously treated with gemcitabine-based therapy.
Armune BioScience, Inc. develops and commercializes molecular diagnostic and prognostic tests for prostate, lung, and breast cancers that will allow physicians and patients to make more personalized treatment decisions. The company was founded by members of the Apjohn Group, LLC, a business accelerator that brings together valuable resources of management talent and angel/seed financing. The company’s corporate headquarters are in Kalamazoo, MI and the laboratory is in Ann Arbor, MI.
At LAVA, we are focused on applying our expertise in gamma-delta T-cell engagers (TCEs) to transform cancer therapy. We refer to our compounds as gamma-delta bispecific T-cell engagers, or gamma-delta bsTCEs. Our platform generates therapeutics that specifically activate a unique and relatively abundant effector gamma-delta T-cell subset called Vγ9Vδ2 (Vgamma9-Vdelta2) T-cells that have the ability to trigger activity of immune cells of both the innate and adaptive immune system. Our gamma-delta bsTCEs have demonstrated superior efficacy and safety profiles compared to other bsTCE approaches in preclinical studies and show preferential activity against tumor cells thereby potentially limiting toxicity in healthy tissue. To date, we are the only company developing bispecific gamma-delta T-cell engaging antibodies for the treatment of cancer. We are building a pipeline of gamma-delta bsTCEs that have applications in both solid and hematologic malignancies. Our lead program, LAVA-051, targets the tumor specific antigen CD1d, which can be overexpressed in multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), among other tumor types. LAVA-051 will enter a Phase I/IIa study in 1Q21.
Minute Molecular Diagnostics was founded in 2017 as a spinout of the Northwestern University Center for Innovation in Global Health Technology (CIGHT). Comprised of a strong management team with extensive diagnostic industry experience, the company has raised $8 million in funding from the NIH and Diagnostic Industry Executives.
PhaseBio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapies to treat orphan diseases, with an initial focus on cardiopulmonary indications. Our lead product candidate is PB2452, a novel reversal agent for the antiplatelet drug ticagrelor, and our second product candidate is PB1046, a once-weekly fusion protein for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. PB1046 utilizes our elastin-like polypeptide technology, which also serves as the engine for our preclinical pipeline. Our proprietary technology platform uses recombinant elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) biopolymers to control the half-life, bioavailability and physical characteristics of molecules for ease of administration. The compounds are engineered for a specific rate of absorption to enhance efficacy and reduce side effects, which may lead to less-frequent dosing and better patient compliance. PB1046 is a vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) receptor agonist that leverages our ELP technology for once-weekly dosing. PB1046 is being evaluated in clinical studies in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and in preclinical studies for the treatment of cardiomyopathy associated with dystrophinopathies. PhaseBio recently concluded a Phase 2a trial of PB1046 in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. We are also evaluating our development candidate PB2452, a reversal agent for the antiplatelet therapy ticagrelor, in clinical trials. PB2452 was exclusively licensed from MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, for global development and commercialization by PhaseBio. PhaseBio continues to explore opportunities to apply our ELP biopolymer technology to compounds that may benefit from its unique properties. We are privately owned, with headquarters and research laboratories in Malvern, PA.