Early Stage Life Sciences Pitches—12 Firms Looking for Funding

Children’s Hospital Boston
Carmen Barnes, instructor in surgery
[email protected]

“We will first use our product for research use and to continue our clinical studies investigating the correlation between 2ME2 [2-Methoxyestradiol] levels and complications of prematurity. We then foresee licensing our product as companion diagnostic for complications of prematurity.”

Fission Pharmaceuticals
Charles Hoffman, professor, Boston College
[email protected]

“Fission Pharmaceuticals, LLC is a drug discovery company working in the area of PDE4 and PDE4/7 inhibitors, which have tremendous potential to treat inflammatory diseases, neurological diseases, and HIV infection.”

Nemucore Medical Innovations
Tim Coleman, president and CEO
[email protected]

“Nemucore Medical Innovations…is a preclincal stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing, manufacturing, and marketing proprietary compounds with improved therapeutic index. NMI’s patent pending process is intended to overcome the long-term macro trend in the pharmaceutical industry to discover compounds with improved pharmaceutical activity but poor solubility.”

NKT Therapeutics
Mark Tepper, president and CEO
[email protected]

“NKT Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on developing therapeutics based on a unique subset of immune cells called natural killer T (“NKT”) cells.”

Northeastern University and Draper Laboratory
Dale Larson, director
[email protected]

“The ‘Nanohole Array Calorimetry’ project aims to construct a breadboard device to confirm predicted improvements to calorimetry that will extend its use in the pharmaceutical and biochemistry areas…Initial market estimates are that in five years the photonic calorimeter will have a 20% market penetration worth 161 million dollars…”

P.A. Technologies
Robert Weiss, co-founder
[email protected]

“P.A. Technologies is focused on developing novel methods for the study of signal transduction pathways. Proper cell signaling is critical for proper regulation of cell growth and division.”

Progenestem
Edward Kislauskis, co-founder
[email protected]

“Our vision is to develop enabling technology for the advancement of cell therapy in regenerative medicine.”

SkelScan
Karin Wetmore, president
[email protected]

“SkelScan’s core technology is a novel method and apparatus for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose osteoporosis and other bone diseases, and to monitor their treatment.”

Wesfolk Corp.
Lewis Geffen, president
[email protected]

“The technology platform enables several significant commercial applications in the food and beverage industries, including…a way to mimic the texture and taste of a full fat product.”

Author: Robert Buderi

Bob is Xconomy's founder and chairman. He is one of the country's foremost journalists covering business and technology. As a noted author and magazine editor, he is a sought-after commentator on innovation and global competitiveness. Before taking his most recent position as a research fellow in MIT's Center for International Studies, Bob served as Editor in Chief of MIT's Technology Review, then a 10-times-a-year publication with a circulation of 315,000. Bob led the magazine to numerous editorial and design awards and oversaw its expansion into three foreign editions, electronic newsletters, and highly successful conferences. As BusinessWeek's technology editor, he shared in the 1992 National Magazine Award for The Quality Imperative. Bob is the author of four books about technology and innovation. Naval Innovation for the 21st Century (2013) is a post-Cold War account of the Office of Naval Research. Guanxi (2006) focuses on Microsoft's Beijing research lab as a metaphor for global competitiveness. Engines of Tomorrow (2000) describes the evolution of corporate research. The Invention That Changed the World (1996) covered a secret lab at MIT during WWII. Bob served on the Council on Competitiveness-sponsored National Innovation Initiative and is an advisor to the Draper Prize Nominating Committee. He has been a regular guest of CNBC's Strategy Session and has spoken about innovation at many venues, including the Business Council, Amazon, eBay, Google, IBM, and Microsoft.