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Medicenna is a clinical stage immunotherapy company focused on the development of novel, highly selective versions of IL-2, IL-4 and IL-13 Superkines and first in class Empowered Superkines. Medicenna`s long-acting IL-2 Superkine, MDNA11, is a next-generation IL-2 with superior CD122 binding without CD25 affinity thereby preferentially stimulating cancer killing effector T cells and NK cells. Medicenna`s early-stage BiSKITs™ program, (Bifunctional SuperKine ImmunoTherapies) is designed to enhance the ability of Superkines to treat immunologically “cold” tumors. Medicenna`s IL-4 Empowered Superkine, MDNA55, has been studied in 5 clinical trials including a Phase 2b trial for recurrent GBM, the most common and uniformly fatal form of brain cancer. MDNA55 has obtained Fast-Track and Orphan Drug status from the FDA and FDA/EMA, respectively.
Epitopix LLC is a Willmar, MN-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.
9 Meters Biopharma is a clinical-stage company pioneering novel treatments for people with rare digestive diseases, GI conditions with unmet needs, and debilitating disorders in which the biology of the gut is a contributing factor. The Company is advancing vurolenatide, a proprietary Phase 2 long-acting GLP-1 agonist, for short bowel syndrome (SBS), larazotide, a Phase 3 tight junction regulator in non-responsive celiac disease, and several near clinical-stage assets.
Abeona Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ABEO) is a fully-integrated gene and cell therapy company at the forefront of the rapidly-advancing field of genetic medicine. The Company`s multi-platform expertise across the manufacture, delivery, development, and discovery of novel gene and cell therapies has it uniquely positioned for success. Underpinning the Company`s robust pipeline is its fully-operational manufacturing facility producing therapies and vectors for preclinical and clinical studies. Abeona is also developing the AIM™ Vector Platform: 100+ next-generation AAV capsids for delivering gene therapies targeting a wide range of organs and multiple routes of delivery. A robust and diverse pipeline is led by a novel gene-corrected cell therapy poised to enter Phase 3 in mid-2019 and complemented by one-time gene therapy candidates across four lysosomal storage diseases. Several preclinical discoveries are led by an emerging program in cystic fibrosis that uses the AIM vector platform and a capsid that has shown potential across inherited and acquired retinal diseases.
Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is a chronic, life-threatening disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In the United States, 30,000 new cases are estimated every year with half of those cases diagnosed in young children. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the patient`s immune system goes awry and attacks and destroys the pancreatic beta cells. Beta cells are responsible for regulating blood sugar (glucose) levels by producing precise amounts of the essential hormone insulin. The discovery of injectable insulin in the 1920s changed T1D from a uniformly fatal disease with a life expectancy of months to one that could be carefully managed for decades through multiple daily blood glucose measurements and insulin injections. However, insulin injections are not a cure and patients face a lifetime of difficult disease management and serious complications including kidney failure, blindness and nerve damage. Despite nearly a century passing since the discovery of insulin, insulin injection remains the only treatment available to patients. Semma Therapeutics was founded to develop transformative therapies for patients who currently depend on insulin injections. Recent work in the laboratory of Professor Douglas Melton led to the discovery of a method to generate billions of functional, insulin-producing beta cells in the laboratory. These cells develop in islet-like clusters grown from stem cells. Initial preclinical work in animal models of diabetes has shown that transplantation of these cells are sufficient to control blood glucose levels. This breakthrough technology has been exclusively licensed to Semma Therapeutics for the development of a cell-based therapy for diabetes. Ongoing research at Semma Therapeutics is focused on combining these proprietary cells with a state-of-the-art cell delivery and immune protection strategy that can protect these cells from the patient`s immune system and allow the beta cells to function as they do in non-diabetic individuals. Implantation of the beta cell-filled device has the potential to provide a true replacement for the missing beta cells in a diabetic patient and would not require patient immunosuppression. Semma Therapeutics is working to bring this new therapeutic option to the clinic and improve the lives of patients with diabetes.