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Trevena, Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and intends to commercialize innovative therapies that use a novel approach to target G protein coupled receptors, or GPCRs. We are dedicated to providing value to patients and healthcare providers by improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs. We have identified four biased ligand drug candidates: TRV130, an FDA-designated Breakthrough Therapy, is currently in phase 3 testing for the intravenous treatment of acute moderate to severe pain; TRV027 was evaluated in a Phase 2b study for the treatment of acute heart failure; TRV734 has completed phase 1 testing for oral treatment of acute and chronic pain; and TRV250 is in preclinical development for the treatment of migraine. In addition, Trevena has an early stage portfolio of drug discovery programs currently in lead optimization.
Allogene Therapeutics is a biotechnology company with a mission to catalyze the next revolution in cancer treatment through the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy directed at blood cancers and solid tumors. Founded and led by former Kite Pharma executives who bring unrivaled clinical development acumen in cell therapy, Allogene is well-positioned to further the potential of allogeneic cell therapy for patients. Allogeneic CAR T therapies are engineered from cells of healthy donors and stored for “off-the-shelf” use in patients. This approach eliminates the need to create personalized therapy from a patient`s own cells, simplifies manufacturing, and reduces the time patients must wait for CAR T treatment. The Allogene portfolio includes 16 pre-clinical T cell therapy assets and UCART19, an allogeneic CAR T therapy currently in Phase 1 development for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Through its notable partnerships, Allogene leverages pioneering technology platforms, including TALEN® gene editing technology, to progress its portfolio of immuno-oncology therapies. Allogene, with headquarters in San Francisco, California, is a Two River portfolio company formed with one of the largest Series A financings in biotechnology from an investment consortium that includes TPG, Vida Ventures, BellCo Capital, the University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer and Pfizer, among others.
PaxVax is a privately held, fully integrated vaccine company, based in Redwood City, California, USA. Established in 2007, in response to the global threat of the H5N1 pandemic, our founders set out to develop and commercialize an innovative vaccine technology in a socially responsible manner for global impact. Our founding principles were to enable geographically distributed manufacturing of affordable, self-administered oral vaccines against infectious diseases such as influenza. Since then, we have expanded our capabilities and technologies to address unmet vaccine needs against endemic diseases in developing countries, for travelers to disease-laden areas and in biodefense. Our clinical stage portfolio today includes vaccine candidates for cholera, avian influenza (H5N1), anthrax, and HIV. We are committed to providing both attractive financial returns and social returns, without a significant trade-off between the two. As a double bottom line business, we will measure our financial success in terms of return on equity and we will assess our social returns by access to our vaccines globally, particularly to the poor and otherwise disenfranchised. We strive to develop and deliver vaccines that are affordable and deliverable anywhere in the world regardless of the state of medical infrastructure or supply chains. We utilize investment capital as well as R&D grants and contracts to fund the development of our vaccines. We exploit the inherent synergies in our proprietary oral vaccine technology platform to research and develop multiple vaccine candidates in a timely and capital efficient manner. We strive to make an impact on infectious disease morbidity and mortality throughout the world and on the global vaccine industry through our successes. To date, we have raised more than $75 million (USD) from investors including Ignition Ventures, Ignition Growth and the Wellcome Trust. We are supported by R&D grants and contracts from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) through both its National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Division of AIDS (DAIDS) as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Our most advanced vaccine is a single dose oral cholera vaccine, which entered final or Phase III clinical trials, and whose study should be completed in 2014. Following this candidate is a vaccine ready for Phase II (Pandemic Influenza), two caccines in current Phase I studies (HIV and anthrax), and multiple candidates in preclinical research (HSV, dengue, malaria). PaxVax is headquartered in Redwood City, California and is incorporated in Delaware. Our laboratory and manufacturing facilities and the majority of our 80 employees are located in San Diego, California.
TScan is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of T-cell receptor (TCR) engineered T cell therapies (TCR-T) for the treatment of patients with cancer. The company’s lead liquid tumor TCR-T therapy candidates, TSC-100 and TSC-101, are in development for the treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies to eliminate residual leukemia and prevent relapse after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The company is also developing multiplexed TCR-T therapy candidates for the treatment of various solid tumors.
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.