OKLAHOMA SUPPORT FOR BIOSTARTUPS The Oklahoma Bioscience Association and i2E have collaborated to send four up-and-coming Oklahoma bioscience companies to the 2014 Biotechnology Industry Organization convention in San Diego. “We’re happy that we can provide these scholarships to send some of Oklahoma’s most promising emerging companies to BIO,” said Scott Meacham, CEO of i2E and the Oklahoma Bioscience Association. “The BIO convention brings together potential research partners, investment sources and service providers from around the world to one location. It’s important that these Oklahoma startups can access these educational and networking opportunities.” Meet the companies that were each awarded $3,000 BIO scholarships: Cope Technology Affiliates – Provides sales of instrumentation and fee-for-service for Surface Plasmon Resonance technology used in biomolecular interaction analysis. Cope Technology Affiliates represents SensiQ Technologies, Inc., in the sale of instrumentation and complementary services. Drik, LLC – Provides toxicology testing of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, cosmetics, nanomaterials, nanotechnology compounds and drugs of abuse using in vivo and in vitro approaches that include 3D organotypic slice culture technique. EpimedX, LLC – The company was formed specifically to commercialize gene regulation therapy, a promising technology that is expected to provide a safe, cost-effective and permanent treatment for Sickle Cell Disease, beta-thalassemia and malaria without dangerous or harmful side effects. VADovations Inc. – The company’s Right Ventricular Assist Device is a platform technology for creating miniaturized, implantable hear assist pumps that are smaller, safer and cheaper than products currently in use.
OKLAHOMA BIO SELLING POINTS > High quality, affordable and available facilities > University of Oklahoma University Research Park > Incentives available for qualifying companies > Oklahoma’s bioscience sector: • Contributes more than $6.7 billion in economic activity • Supports more than 51,000 Oklahoma jobs • Has annual revenues more than $4.1 billion > Significant pockets of research excellence: • Dean McGee Eye Institute • Laureate Institute of Brain Research • Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation • Oklahoma State University • Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation • University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
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> Innovative service providers are growing Oklahoma bioscience: • Accele BioPharma • Emergent Technologies • i2E, Inc. • OKBIO Association • Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology • Oklahoma Life Science Fund > Oklahoma’s cutting-edge research strengths: • Autoimmune Diseases and Immunology • Biofuels • Cardiovascular Research • Glycobiology and Carbohydrates • Infectious Disease and Microbiology • Plant Improvement • Natural Products for Health • Value-Added Food Products • Vision Research
8. i2E, Inc. invested over $2.1 million in 6 Oklahoma bioscience companies in 2014 and $10 million over the past 15 years. 9. VADovations, who has developed the world’s smallest implantable blood pump, won a $3 million NIH Fast-Track SBIR award in 2012 and recently received the Phase I portion of a second Fast-Track for up to $6.75 million. 10. Caisson Biotech LLC, a biopharmaceutical company with a patented heparosan-based drug delivery technology, HEPtuneTM, announced that it has expanded the scope of its partnership with global healthcare leader Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO). 11. In 2012, Selexys Pharmaceuticals completed a $23 million Series A Equity Financing Round led by MDM Capital and entered into an acquisition agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals with a potential value of $665 million.
OKLAHOMA BIOSCIENCE FAST FACTS 1. The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), has funded 2,461 projects at more than $249 million, attracting $5.1 billion in private sector and federal dollars for a return on investment of 21:1. 2. The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center is dedicated to both basic and translational research, with resources such as a Phase 1 Clinical Trials Program in the Cancer Center, a comprehensive Diabetes Center, and the only Oklahoma NIH grant to enhance collaboration between clinical and basic research missions. 3. The 27-acre, $100 million University Research Park, adjacent to the OU Health Center complex, is home to 37 science-based companies. 4. The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, in Ardmore, is the largest private foundation in the country conducting plant science and agriculture research. 5. A drug to treat glioblastoma multiforme, developed by scientists at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, is currently in clinical trials. 6. The Dean McGee Eye Institute has had 19 uninterrupted years of coveted “Unrestricted Grant” support from Research to Prevent Blindness. 7. The Bioenergy Center at Oklahoma State University has identified regulatory and signaling genes that are important for a high tiller number in switchgrass – critical for increasing switchgrass biomass – by using gene expression profiling in inbred lines with a contrasting tiller number trait.
12. Moleculera Labs, which recently closed a $700,000 investment round, has developed a series of tests, the Cunningham Panel, which predicts a patient’s likelihood having Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococci (PANDAS). 13. In 2014, the fast-growing Cytovance Biologics, Inc. announced plans for a multi-million-dollar expansion in Oklahoma City. The projects involve expanding its manufacturing operations by 10,000 square feet and good manufacturing practice (GMP) warehousing by 20,000 square feet of climate-controlled and monitored space. 14. In little more than a year, Accele Biopharma, a bioscience business accelerator, has invested in 4 bio companies: Pamlico Biopharma is developing an antibody mixture that treats pneumonia; Jortan, is founded on the research of Dr. Jordan Tang at OMRF and is a promising diabetes technology; Synereca is creating a compound to fight drug-resistant bacterial infections; and Otologics, which is advancing a compound that protects people who are exposed to high decibels from hearing loss.