I received broad training, from clinical medicine (an M.D. degree from the top medical school in China, Beijing University) to biochemistry and molecular biology (a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, under the mentorship of Dr. Mary Sue Coleman) to mouse and human genetics (post-doctoral training under the guidance of Dr. Oliver Smithies, a 2007 Nobel Laureate for the invention of gene targeting and mouse knockout technologies). In addition, I have gained significant research and administration experience in my role as Associate Director, then as Director, of the Gene Targeting Core Facility at University of Iowa for almost 20 years. Over this period, the core generated more than more than $5 million in revenue, secured more than $50 million funding from various sources, including NIH, HHMI, NSF, and many foundations, and created more than 75 lines of knockout mice. While carrying out my duties as the Director of the Gene Targeting Core Facility, I simultaneously served as the Director of the Research Division, in the department of Ob-Gyn, where I expanded my research program to genetic and cell biology studies of gynecologic cancer, including endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancers. In 2014, with three colleagues from the University of Iowa, I formed Immortagen with the goal of seeking to personalize cancer treatment through revolutionary clinical decision support algorithms. I also went through the intensive training of the Venture School at the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Iowa to better prepare myself with the real-world experimentation and mentorship, not only in startup but in business in general. Leveraging my experience as a Director of a core facility and my broad training in genetics, molecular and cellular biology and physiology, I currently serve as the Director for Product Development at Immortagen. In this role, I work to ensure product development and commercialization of predictive algorithms for cancer.
Currently CEO of NeuroLucent, an early-stage, Chicago-based biotech company focused on developing novel therapies for Alzheimer's disease. Our program is based on research that uncovered a novel neuronal target that is dysregulated in AD and has significant potential to be normalized through therapeutic intervention. Our primary focus is on developing a clinical candidate directed against this target.
I am a member of AbbVie global Search and Evaluation team and located in Shanghai to source external innovation from Japan and Asia-Pacific region for licensing or collaboration in oncology, immunology, neurology and other therapeutic areas of interest to AbbVie.
I am the CEO and founder of BLR Bio, an emerging biotech with a platform of therapeutic peptides and a companion diagnostic focused on the treatment of cancer and fibrotic disease. Our first-in-class technology is based on a discovery in an academic laboratory I headed at Rosalind Franklin University, while also Director of R&D at Baxter Healthcare's Renal Division. We discovered that the matricellular signaling CCN3 is a natural regulator of the pro-fibrotic and pro-cancer CCN2 working down multiple pathways. This led us to discover, create, and test unique synthetic peptides which we have now shown to be specific, stable, safe, and effective in animal in variety of human disease models. These include, pancreatic cancer, diabetic kidney disease, endstage renal disease, NASH, scleroderma, and skin scarring. We are now, for the first time, seeking investor/partners to move our lead novel therapies to the clinic.
Immunicum AB (publ), a clinical phase II company, develops cancer immunotherapies. The Company¡¯s two main groups of therapeutic cancer vaccines, in addition to the method for expansion of tumor-specific T-cells, are based on many years of research within the area of transplantation immunology.
Dr. Chengcang Charles Wu, founder/CEO of Intact Genomics, Inc. has over 20 years of research and development experience in 100kb large DNA technology for genomic studies, metagenomics, large-scale natural production and drug discovery, development, including five years as Vice President of Lucigen Corporation. He is one of leading inventors of plant artificial chromosomes at Pioneer/DuPont. Dr. Wu has published a pending patent on fungal artificial chromosome (FAC) technology and several other provisional patent applications at Intact Genomics (www.intactgenomics.com ).
I am building a team of IG Therapeutics, a whole-owned division of Intact Genomics, Inc. We focus on early-stage drug discovery and development by addressing the unmet medical need for novel drugs that can effectively treat infectious diseases. We utilize a transformative metagenomic strategy to unearth medicines from nature that are devoid of the historical major bottleneck of more than 99% re-discovery rate of large-scale natural product discovery by existing culture-based methods. IG Therapeutics’ platform overcomes the problems of more than 99.9% unculturable microbes and at least 90% silent large gene clusters. We have both patents and trade secrets for our novel technologies. We intend to raise investment (about $20M) to advance thousands of new small molecules through pre-clinical development, whereby we can bring our technologies to a key value inflection point where we can then partner with large biotech and pharmaceutical companies at the value of at least $500M within 3 to 5 years.
Dr. Yoo is the Chief Technology Officer at Systems Oncology. He has over 20 years of experience in advancing cutting-edge biomedical information technology. He is also the CEO of Systems Imagination, Inc., which offers advanced cognitive computing technology to translate big data into valuable insights. Dr. Yoo was instrumental at IBM as Head of Strategy and Planning in the Information Based Medicine group, where he developed initiatives to target the growing field of personalized medicine. He also held other leadership positions at IT and life sciences companies including Cisco, Oracle, and Applied Biosystems.
As a serial entrepreneur, Dr. Yoo continues to create partnerships that accelerate the adoption of personalized medicine through genomics and cognitive computing.
Dr. Yoo received his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from Yale University, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley.
Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) is focused on the development of targeted medicines in the field of cancer. The company has signed strategic partnerships with the leading antibody companies Medarex, Biosite and Amgen to build a broad pipeline of novel antibody therapeutics using its unique OGAP? (Oxford Genome Anatomy Project) platform. OGAP? is one of the world¡¯s largest proprietary human protein databases which contains and combines proteomic and genomic data with related clinical information. OBT also intends to develop companion diagnostics for selected antibody programmes. The company expects to improve disease management and treatment outcomes by integrating diagnostics into product development and commercialisation activities.
Actuate Therapeutics, Inc. is a private biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of small molecule compounds for use in the treatment of cancer, and inflammatory diseases leading to fibrosis.
Led by a senior management and scientific team with decades of industry and therapeutic developmental experience, Actuate Therapeutics is developing novel small molecule agents that target Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3β (GSK-3β).
Competitive analysis shows our lead compound to Best-in-Class. Published studies demonstrate that our GSK-3β inhibitors are active as monotherapy and demonstrate significant synergy in combination in chemo -resistant tumors. Pre-clinical studies conducted across multiple institutions show our clinical lead compound, 9-ING-41, has significant activity across a number of histologies of solid tumors and lymphomas.
We have completed all IND-enabling manufacturing and in vivo toxicology studies. 9-ING-41 demonstrated very favorable pharmacokinetic and tox profiles. We received the FDA approval of our IND in 1Q18. In addition, the FDA has granted us Orphan Drug Designations in Glioblastoma and a Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for Neuroblastoma.
A groundbreaking Phase 1/2 trial across multiple histologies is ready to commence in 2018, with
world-leading clinical sites already recruited and qualified in the US and EU. We anticipate going forward into clinical trials in pulmonary fibrosis and other fibrotic diseases in 2020.
B & Y Technologies has been working on a novel immunotherapy for treatment of chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, obesity, hypothyroidism, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, infertility, aging and more for 17 years.
You must wonder how come our immunotherapy can treat so many major chronic major diseases? The key is the human brain. The aging of brain, in particular hypothalamus and pituitary gland leads to weakened neuro-endocrine system. The malfunction of the neuro-endocrine system leads to many problems in energy metabolism, thyroid gland, adrenal gland, liver, bone density, reproduction, etc. These chronic diseases have limited treatment options with limited efficacy, because the root-causes of these diseases are not adequately addressed.
The importance of brain for biological functions is well known, however, not everybody knows the fact that aging of brain is the root cause of so many chronic diseases, and more importantly, nobody except us knows how to regulate the aging process of brain.
Small-sized, proof-of-principle clinical trials have been conducted in China to prove the immunotherapy is safe and effective. A few hundreds of patients have so far been treated with the immunotherapy with favorable results.
We would like to raise 20 millions of USD for this round of financing and plan to use the funds to complete pre-IND studies for 1.2m, to conduct two phase I and two phase II clinical trials in America, which would cost 15m. The remaining 3.8m is for general administration.
All work mentioned above will be done in 5 years and then our investors would have choice of either continuing to stay with us or exiting at an IPO.
I have many years of experience as a gynecologist, cancer biologist, translational cancer researcher and bioinformatician. Prior to coming to the U.S. for PhD studies, I had worked for several years as a gynecologist treating various gynecologic cancers. Subsequent to my PhD training, I have had more than a decade of experience in cancer biology and translational cancer research. My main research focus is understanding molecular mechanisms of tumor progression and drug resistance and developing genetic biomarkers for predicting clinical outcomes. More recently, I received a Master of Science in Informatics. This has given me the knowledge and skill to take advantage of the enormous amount of data from The Cancer Genomic Atlas Project and other "big data" for data mining. I have formed a startup company, Immortagen, with 3 other cofounders, in order to attract private funding to advance the development and validation of cancer predictive algorithms. Taking advantage of innovative tumor tissue processing and advanced algorithms, TEAPOT (Tumor Evolution Assay for Personalized Oncology Therapy) reconstructs tumor evolutionary history of individual patients based upon next generation sequencing data. TEAPOT has three major levels of utility: 1) it quantifies intra-tumor driver mutation prevalence to predict response to a targeted agent; 2) it locates multiple driver mutations in different portions of a tumor for design of an appropriate cocktail regimen; and 3) it determines the role of a mutation through estimating of its fitness in tumor evolution.
As President of Immortagen Inc., I am leading the effort to develop strategic partnership with industry leaders and beta test our various product lines in potential markets.
As Chief Scientific Officer, I am leading a team for the development of TEAPOT , a first-of-its-kind AI-based algorithm platform that empowers existing genetic tests by quantitatively identifying the crucial driver mutations in each tumor, potentially doubling the response rate. The quantitative enhancement in genetic testing reports will allow providers to predict clinical responses and select drugs with increased efficacy.
Dr. Erez Nevo is the CEO of Robin Medical, a small company operating in Baltimore, MD, and a Visiting Scientist in the Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Targeted therapy aims to individualize therapy according to the specific features of each patient’s disease. It is largely based on biomarkers – altered proteins and genetic molecules that are related to the disease in the individual patient. As many of these biomarkers are sensitive to physical and chemical factors, the requirements imposed on the acquisition and processing of tissue samples have become more stringent.
Robin Medical main product is the EndoScout tracking system for MRI-guided surgical interventions. Based on the experience gained in interventional devices we won NIH SBIR contracts and grants, totaling $2.5 Million, to develop new technologies for better preservation of biopsy tissue. This led to the development of the MCBD (multi-core biopsy device), an optimized biopsy device with unique advantages:
- The new device enables rapid, consecutive acquisition and storage of multiple biopsy samples without the need to remove and reinsert the needle to the target.
- All samples fixation is done within the biopsy device – either by freezing or by formalin fixation; there is no time delay to fixation which ensures preservation of labile biomarkers.
- The biopsy procedure is standardized and highly repeatable, with the same very short time delay between tissue cut and fixation for all samples and in all subjects.
- The new device provides innovative dual-mode preservation that fixes part of the sample by formalin for histology and part of the sample by freezing for biomarker analysis.
Shanghai Yirui Biotechnology Co., Ltd. was established in 2010. It was jointly founded by a group of leading scientists in the industry. As a leader in China's genetic testing industry, Yirui Gene has cooperated with Shanghai Jiaotong University, Yale University, and the University of Chicago to establish a high-standard laboratory with international standards in Zhangjiang National Bio-industrial Base. We provide the highest quality personalized health management services based on genetic testing, and are committed to fundamentally promoting the improvement of human health and quality of life.
Immunovaccine Inc. applies its novel adjuvanting platform to the development of vaccines for cancer therapy, infectious diseases and animal health. The Company¡¯s DepoVax? platform is a patented formulation that provides controlled and prolonged exposure of antigens plus adjuvant to the immune system. Immunovaccine has advanced two DepoVax-based cancer vaccines into Phase I human clinical trials. The Company is also advancing a broad infectious disease pipeline including vaccines in such indications as malaria, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and anthrax. In addition to the Company¡¯s human health vaccine strategy, it continues to capture value from animal health vaccine applications. Immunovaccine has key partnerships in the animal health sector including an agreement with Pfizer Animal Health.
I am co-founder and CSO of Elpiscience Biopharma, a newly established biotech company in Shanghai where we focus in cancer immunotherapy and is supported by Lilly Asia Venture. Before Elpiscience, I was co-Founder and CSO with Zai Lab and head of Neuroimmunology DPU at GSK. Before that I worked at Bayer Schering Pharma at the San Francisco Bay Area. I was trained with Richard Ransohoff at Cleveland Clinic Foundation for my Ph.D work and Richard Flavell at Yale University for my postdoc work.
Dr. Ruth Wu-Wong is currently Vidasym’s President and CSO (www.vidasym.com ). Before joining Vidasym in 2009, Ruth was with Abbott (now AbbVie) for 20+ years where she played a key role in the development of endothelin receptor antagonists including atrasentan which is in clinical studies for diabetic nephropathy. She was the lead scientist on several novel-target projects at Abbott including the vitamin D receptor modulator project until the project’s termination in 2007. Dr. Wu-Wong obtained her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Ohio State University and her M.B.A. in finance and management from University of Illinois.
I serve as the Director of Scientific Research at CellTrans, Incorporated. In my current role, I oversee the good manufacturing practice (GMP) facility for manufacturing of human islets. I lead a team of researchers and technicians to isolate human islets and verify quality upon completion of the manufacturing process. In addition, I oversee rodent and non-human primate islet transplantation studies, which evaluate the efficacy of biomaterials and encapsulation platforms to support islet function in vivo. Our organization collaborates with academic and industry partners to generate preclinical data needed for FDA applications. Our research program is supported by funding from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Helmsley Foundation, and industry clients.
Ascentawits Pharmaceuticals, Ltd is a platform based biotech company, focusing on developing target chemotherapeutic drugs for treating cancers, such as HCC, CRPC and T-ALL. AST-3424 will start enrolling HCC and CRPC patients soon, several others are under development.
Sanhome is a private owned pharmaceutical company focusing on drug innovation. Sanhome was founded in 1996 and is based in mainland China. Sanhome is focusing on the innovation of both small molecules and monoclonal antibodies for oncology, infectious diseases and neurodegeneration, with nearly 400 scientists in R&D Centre. Sanhome has a GMP level manufacturing line, and has more than 1000 employees in marketing and sales team spreading all over mainland China (only except Tibet). I have been trained in Peking University, followed by a Ph.D. training in neuroscience and pharmacology in Cardiff University, UK. After 3.5 years post-doc research in Dalhousie University, Canada, I have joined Sanhome in 2016. Currently, I am leading a research team to develop new molecules for Alzheimer's disease, and I am in charge of all the pharmacology work in neuroscience field as the Deputy pharmacology director. Meanwhile, I am dealing with all the licensing in/out and collaboration for research projects as the Deputy BD director.
Ms. Trokenheim joined our executive leadership team in January 2018. Prior to joining Exicure, Ms. Trokenheim spent 15 years at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, most recently as Vice President of Corporate Development, where she was responsible for global strategic transactions, such as large-scale M&A, divestitures, and strategic partnering. Before that, she served as Head of Global Business Development Strategy and Operations, where she led the creation and implementation of Takeda¡¯s business development strategy, as well as spearheading cross-functional collaborations to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness globally. Ms. Trokenheim began her career as a consultant at ZS Associates, a global management consulting firm. Ms. Trokenheim received bachelor¡¯s degree and an MSBA degree in Business Analysis from San Francisco State University, and an M.Sc. in Management Science from Queen¡¯s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Ms. Trokenheim was awarded as one of 15 Emerging Pharma Leaders by Pharmaceutical Executive magazine in August 2014.
John Freshley is the CEO of ONL Therapeutics, an emerging biopharma focused on protecting the vision of patients with retinal disease. ONL will initiate FIH studied in 2018.
Abbisko Therapeutics is an biopharmaceutical company in Shanghai focused on discovery and development of innovative oncology therapies.
Lee is SVP of Business Development at Systems Oncology.
Systems Oncology is focused on developing breakthrough therapies for cancer. We do that by applying advanced computational research to accelerate the discovery and development of novel drugs - with a focus on innovative drugs that have new mechanisms of action.
We have a library of assets that we invest in and amplify the most promising experimental agents to demonstrate their therapeutic potential. Finally, we partner with pharmaceutical companies to transform these innovative new agents into breakthrough cancer therapies.
Mr. Groeschl has over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience at three large research mid-west research institutions: University of North Dakota, University of Iowa, and Ohio University. Lee co-founded Dakota Venture Group and is currently an active entrepreneur and investor. Lee has significant experience with technology transfer, new technology venture development, and venture and angel capital transactions
Hello Dr. Zhu, Congrats again on escaping from Abbvie. Could you please create a badge for Michael Xie? He would like to join me & Michael Sushan representing Teledyne ISCO. Thank you for recognizing Teledyne ISCO with an upgraded Gold sponsorship this year. Looking forward to seeing you again as a private citizen.
Hello Dr. Zhu I found your office abandoned the other week. I guess you have moved on from Abbvie. My congratulations my brother - but why am I always the last to know? I have two colleagues from Teledyne ISCO interested in joining me in at the Yao Yuan at the end of this month. Could I ask you to create badges for them as well? Michael Sushan & Michael Xie are both Teledyne ISCO employees representing our syringe pump & Chromatography products. What are the hours of the exposition? What is a good time to set up on Thursday & break down on Friday? Best Steve Paeschke 773-562-3882, steven.paeschke@teledyne.com
Conceivex, Inc. is a privately-owned, Michigan-based medical device company that has developed the Conception Kit® at home system, a patented and FDA-cleared infertility treatment system for use at homeOne of the key components of the Kit, the Conception Cap, makes use of silicone technologies to improve a conventional reproductive treatment, a cervical cap, which has been used since the 1950’s. Unlike traditional cervical caps, the Conception Cap does not have to be fitted by a physician, can be placed on the cervix by the patient and worn up to six hours while the patient goes about her normal life. This is important as the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) market is expected to double by 2020 due to declining sperm counts associated with drugs in our water supply and societal trends of delayed marriage and childbirth. Our low retail cost of $403 for a three-month treatment and ease of use in a home environment offers an option for millions of people who cannot afford or access ART and makes us the “aspirin” of fertility treatments.
Varian Medical Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services medical devices and software products for treating cancer and other medical conditions worldwide. It operates through two segments, Oncology Systems and Varian Particle Therapy. The Oncology Systems segment provides hardware and software products for treating cancer with radiotherapy, fixed field intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, and brachytherapy.
I serve as the Associate Director of Scientific Research at CellTrans, Incorporated. In my current role, I manage and execute rodent and non-human primate islet transplantation studies to restore normoglycemia in diabetic subjects, with a particular focus on biomaterials and encapsulation. Our organization collaborates with academic and industry partners to investigate novel bioengineered platforms to advance islet transplantation from bench to bedside. Our current project portfolio also includes assessment of alternative sources of islets in vivo. Our research program is supported by funding from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Helmsley Foundation, and industry clients.
Dr. Seungpyo Hong is President and Cofounder of Capio Biosciences Inc., and is Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Hong obtained his Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan in 2006 (advisors: Profs. Mark Banaszak Holl and James Baker, Jr.), focusing on understanding biological interactions of nanocarriers such as dendrimers. Dr. Hong??s expertise
Had participated in several projects in the CNS area and brought them to clinical trials, with deep knowledge of medicinal chemistry and drug design. Recently I pay much attention in Deep learning and the applications in drug design. I am looking for angle funding to develop new drugs by applying Machine learning techniques and focus on the repositioning targets, as well as to collaborate with other companies to develop their projects.
I am representing BrainXell (www.brainxell.com ). It offers human stem cell-based products and services in drug discovery for neurological and psychiatric diseases. Core technologies were developed in the lab of Steenbock Professor Su-Chun Zhang at the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison. He is a pioneer in neural stem cell and one of the founders of the company. The technologies are further optimized at BrainXell to direct human iPSCs to subtype-specific neuronal progenitors for expansion followed by rapid maturation. This reliable approach allows for large-scale production of highly enriched functional neurons with consistent quality for drug discovery and cell therapy. We have dual business model leveraging our common technological assets. While our neural cell products and services in preclinical market have been growing nicely to be profitable, we are raising fund to adapt our cell production technologies to a cGMP environment. We will produce large numbers of high-purity neural cells efficiently that could be used for Parkinson’s disease (PD) and multiple sclerosis (MS)/spinal cord injury (SCI).
15 years of experience in business and market development, process and product development, investment and R&D strategy
MDI Therapeutics (MDI) has discovered a new class of small molecule inhibitors of plasminogen activator inhibitor-type 1 (PAI-1) for the treatment of fibrosis.
I am the CEO and Co-founder of Transnostics LLC, a company provides the service of integrative and quantitative analysis of preclinical and clinical biopsy tissue samples in pharmaceutical industry and clinic.
I am CEO and Founder of Aspace Pharmaceuticals. Aspace is committed to discover and develop innovative new medicines in oncology, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Aspace has established an innovative R&D pipeline consisting of seven drug candidates, including 2 clinical stage, 3 IND enabling stage and 2 discovery stage. We are running series A fundraising to support further program development.
Teresa is the Director of Marketing at Systems Oncology. She is looking for license in/out opportunities in oncology space.
Teresa has over a decade of experience in the healthcare industry across the US, China, and Taiwan. Her experience includes oncology research, marketing, and public relations.
More than 25 years in pharma (R&D, marketing, business development): Aventis predecessors, Pfizer-Pharmacia, CyDex-Ligand, Oakwood Labs, and Verenta. Venture investor with Kansas Bioscience Authority. B.S., pharmacy-Ferris State University, PharmD-University of Utah, fellowship University of North Carolina.
I¡¯m the financial advisor at Cathay Bank Wealth Management division for the Chicago region. I entered into this industry in 2011 to help families, business owners, and accomplished professionals preserve and grow their wealth in order to fund their retirement. I believe financial planning is about more than a person¡¯s money ¨C it¡¯s about his/her value and goals. I believe that every client is unique, so should his/her financial plan. Depending on the client's specific needs, a financial plan can focus on income, growth, or both.
Barricade Therapeutics is a privately held company based in Houston, TX. We are developing TASIN and THIO, two novel, targeted small molecules, in multiple Oncology indications. Currently in preclinical stage. We are in process of completing the Families and Friends round (deadline: June 30), and are now beginning planning the next rounds (Q4 2018, followed by Q4 2019)
TASIN is a unique, first-in-class compound with a mechanism of action targeting truncated APC (adenomatous polyposis coli), one of the earliest and most critical mutations occurring in colorectal cancer (CRC). Truncated APC has a dominant role in CRC initiation and cancer progression and is expressed in 80% of those CRC tumors. Extensive preclinical work on TASIN demonstrates highly potent and selective targeting of truncated APC, resulting in significant inhibition of CRC tumor growth with no apparent toxicity to normal cells, which will make it easily combinable with existing therapies. Given APCtrunc is an early occurrence in CRC that persists throughout the treatment continuum, TASIN will become the backbone of therapy in CRC. Other disease states where APCtrunc plays an important role and TASIN will be developed are Gastric Cancer, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Prostate, Melanoma, Uterine, NSCLC, Breast, Bladder, Pancreas, GBM, Head and Neck, and Ovarian Cancer.
THIO specifically targets tumor cell DNA and causes damage to DNA ends (telomeres), resulting in the selective death of tumor cells. This approach targets an almost universal driver of tumor growth and is supported by extensive preclinical work showing very significant antitumor activity across a broad range of tumors refractory to I/O-, BRAF-, EGFR-targeted therapies, as well as chemotherapy. Currently, patients failing these treatments have a poor prognosis and few alternative treatment options. THIO utilizes a novel mechanism of action, which successfully circumvents those resistance mechanisms, without relevant toxicity. Development of THIO will be in SCLC, NSCLC, Melanoma, Bladder, Prostate, Brain, Head and Neck, Bone, and CRC.
James Franck Professor
Depts of Chemistry and Radiation & Cellular Oncology
University of Chicago
Chairman of the Board
RiMO Therapeutics and Coordination Pharmaceuticals
RiMO Therapeutics, Inc. (RiMO), is a privately held, clinical stage oncology drug development company that aims to address unmet medical needs and improve patient care. Our proprietary Radio-immuno Metal-Organic (RiMO) technology platform greatly enhances the efficacy of X-ray radiotherapy via the unprecedented radiotherapy-radiodynamic therapy (RT-RDT) mode of action. RiMO clinical candidates are intrinsically non-toxic and greatly reduce X-ray doses needed to eradicate local tumors in mouse models. The RiMO technology also allows to combine multiple therapeutic modalities to increase efficacy while simultaneously reducing toxicity. RiMO products are especially potent in combination with checkpoint blockade inhibitors by increasing T cell infiltration into lowly immunogenic solid tumors.
Coordination Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPI) is a privately held oncology drug development company that aims to address unmet medical needs and improve patient care. Its key technology, licensed from the University of Chicago and developed in the research group Prof. Wenbin Lin, is based on nanoscale coordination polymers (NCPs) which are constructed from metal-connecting points and organic bridging ligands via self-assembly processes. NCPs can combine the advantages of both organic and inorganic nanoparticles to afford an entirely new family of nanotherapeutics that overcome many drawbacks of existing drug delivery systems by virtue of tunable compositions, sizes and shapes, high drug loadings, ease of surface modification, and intrinsic biodegradability. NCPs allow for the co-delivery of synergistic chemotherapeutics and/or biologics with disparate physical and chemical properties; such chemotherapeutic and or biologic combinations cannot be delivered with existing nanotechnologies. The NCP technology enhances therapeutic efficacy while reducing general toxicity and overcoming drug resistance in several cancer models.
JW is a leading clinical stage biotech focusing on bringing the most advanced cell based therapy tratment in China and globally. The COMPANY is established with funding from Juno (a Celgene company) and Wuxi Apptec, and Just completed a $90 MM Series A fund raising. Its lead CART product is in clinical study. I am responsible for all business development and partnership activities.
President, Dupage Medical Technology, Inc (DMT). DMT is a faculty start-up company dedicated to developing a new type of potent anti-platelet drugs, which unlike the current anti-platelet or other anti-thrombotic drugs, do not have the adverse effect of bleeding.
I am co-founder of Nami Therapeutics and Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics at the University of Connecticut. I am the inventor of the key technologies that Nami Therapeutics is advancing. My research is focused on nanoparticle-based drug delivery platforms for improving cancer diagnosis and therapy.
Nami Therapeutics Corp is revolutionizing the science of nanotechnology by employing a targeted delivery platform to improve cancer patient survival. The limitations of current cancer nanomedicines include low tumor delivery efficiency, no significant benefit in treatment efficacy, cancer relapse when stopping treatment, and challenges in the manufacturing process. Our experienced team is focused on tumor-specific nanoparticle platforms to largely improve delivery efficiency, treatment efficacy and product safety. One novel product is radiotherapeutic nanoparticles containing the beta particle-emitting isotope holmium-166 (166Ho) for the treatment of peritoneal metastasis through intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration. The 166Ho nanoparticles are produced by a neutron activation process that minimizes the handling of these highly radioactive nanoparticles. We have demonstrated the predominant accumulation of 166Ho nanoparticles in tumors after i.p. administration to ovarian tumor-bearing mice, resulting in a reduction in tumor burden and prolonged survival. There are no current FDA approved radiotherapeutics for treating peritoneal metastasis. Regulatory approval of the 166Ho-nanoparticle product is anticipated through the Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) route. It is also expected that 166Ho-nanoparticles will be eligible for FDA Humanitarian Device approval.
Xuefei Huang is a professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering at Michigan State Univ. He has founded Iaso Therapeutics to develop innovative anti-cancer vaccines.
Accendatech focuses on discovery and development of "First-in-class" drugs targeting cancer stem cells(CSC). Metastases and relapse are the cause of 90% of human cancer deaths, and CSC plays a key role in the initiation, resistance, relapse and metastasis of many types of cancer, the tumorigenesis capability some CSCs are over 1000 times of that of regular cancer cells. Targeting CSCs holds hope to significantly prevent the relapse and metastasis of many types of cancers, however, it is very difficult to selectively ablate the CSCs, since CSCs have multiple resistance mechanisms, and up to date, the types of natural products targeting CSCs are very limited. Accendatech is one of pioneer bio-companies on R&D of anti-CSCs drugs, based on our understanding of structural and mechanism characteristic of compounds targeting CSCs, our screening platform successfully provides dozens of natural products scaffolds, which may reduce the population of CSCs with selectivity up to 30 folds, and our medicinal chemistry platform efficiently improve the druggability of those natural products. We have establish pipelines with the indications of targeting glioblastoma(GBM), acute myeloid leukemia(AML) and pancreatic cancer. Our first product in clinical trial is ACT001, it can selectively ablate the CSCs in GBM and AML cells, and the concentration of ACT001 in brain is higher than that in blood. In Sept. 2016, clinical trial of ACT001 in Australia started to enroll recurrent brain tumor patients with no standard treatment options. Based on the preliminary results in human, ACT001 was issued the orphan drug designation by FDA in Sept. 2017, and the phase I result was disclosed in this May 16th in ASCO abstract web site: http://abstracts.asco.org/214/AbstView_214_226097.html. The conclusion is following: At well-tolerated doses, ACT001 showed satisfactory bioavailability and preliminary evidence of anti-tumor activity in a subset of patients. The best responses to ACT001 was a partial response in 1 GBM patient (ongoing after 10+ months of treatment). Since the best GBM drug in market(TMZ) can only extend the OS by 2.5 months, our preliminary results of ACT001 as a second line therapy for GBM is very promising, and warrant further investigation with a global phase II trial. Moreover, in the near future, we will also initiate the clinical trial for pediatric DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma), a highly deadly brainstem glioma with no approved drugs. If we successfully launch ACT001 into market as a pediatric orphan drug, we will apply for the PRV(priority review voucher) from FDA. The revenue of drug sales and transfer of PRV may support our further investigation of ACT001 in other brain tumors, including the commonly observed intracranial metastatic tumors in lung cancer and breast cancer patients.
I am a tenured Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences?and Experimental Therapeutics, College of Pharmacy at the University of Iowa. I have over two decades experience in organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry and drug discovery and development. InnoBioPharma, LLC is a drug discovery and development company I founded in Iowa in 2014. InnoBioPharma is dedicated to developing the next generation of anticancer drugs. We have developed several novel drug candidates (two first-in-class drug candidates in preclinical studies) based on natural molecules found in plants and marine sponges. These drug candidates are particularly effective against aggressive and metastatic cancers that lack effective drug therapies, e.g. triple negative breast cancer, brain cancer, and melanoma. We also have a robust pipeline of novel cytotoxic payloads for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) that are being marketed and are available for licensing.
FZata is a biotech company focusing on development antibody-based therapeutic & preventive medicines. Our current leading drug candidates target on clostridium difficile infection. I hope to contact more VC through this symposium and learn how other companies do their roadshow.