| GSAS
Harvard Biotechnology Club Business Plan Competition |
May
2003
Sponsored by:
These are the entries to the May 2003, 4th Annual Biotechnology
Business Plan Competition:
*Acceptys* | Agrivida | AstroCell
AvanViva | *Hepatometrix* | Merebeck
Pharmaceuticals
New Biology | Oridis Biomed | RETT
!!!
WINNERS ANNOUNCED !!!
Congratulations to First Place Acceptys!!!
and
Second Place Hepatometrix!!!
Runners-up
included Agrivida, AvanViva, and RETT!!!
Acceptys - ! FIRST PLACE
!
Product/Service:
Drug Discovery and Development
Contact: Daniel K. Devine
ddevine@acceptys.com
Phone: (212) 795-7790
Acceptys is focused on the development of human antibody therapies
in cancer and infectious diseases through the deployment of the Company’s
proprietary technology. Through its I3 Platform, Acceptys can directly
capture and leverage the power of the human immune system and antibody
producing human lymphocytes. This allows the Company the dual benefit
of developing antibodies with the highest human composition available
while simultaneously enabling Acceptys to identify, validate and patent
the unique targets against which such antibodies are directed.
Product/Service: Ag-Biotech
Agrivida turns plants
and agricultural wastes into renewable fuels. We use a novel breed of
corn to manufacture ethanol, an environmentally–friendly and domestically–produced
fuel. Our corn feedstock is essentially a miniature factory. Through its
natural growth process, this corn makes proteins that carry out major
steps in ethanol production, resulting in significant capital and operating
cost savings versus ethanol production using ordinary corn. This patent–pending
innovation is poised for impact in the $3.3Bn (12% CAGR) US ethanol market.
Products in Agrivida’s pipeline include a variety of advanced agricultural
feedstocks with applications in animal feed, pulp and paper, textiles,
and brewing.
Product/Service: Gene Therapy
Contact: Mordecai Rosenblum
Phone: 972 8 976 2677
AstroCell intends to develop gene therapies for Parkinson’s
disease and other central nervous system disorders based on the company’s
stable non-viral technology and unique ability to regulate transgene
expression in vivo through the use of safe drugs. AstroCell is built
on the pioneering gene therapy experiments of two of the Company's founders,
Dr. Gary Weisinger, who serves as the Company's chief scientist, and
Prof. Edmund La Gamma. AstroCell’s scientists demonstrated sustained,
appropriate expression of a desired enzyme in vivo for six months and
in culture for over two years and the ability to increase or decrease
that expression after implantation using a safe non-viral system. The
Company seeks to raise $1.5 million in order to begin pre-clinical studies.
Product/Service: Lead Discovery
Contact: Matthew J. Lockwood Mullaney
mullaney@sloan.mit.edu
Phone: (617) 764-1388
AvanViva has invented a simple system – DarwinDART – for creating
and manipulating vast libraries of proteins to generate leads for new
pharmaceuticals. AvanViva will apply its system to discovering new therapeutics
for HIV/AIDS, selected cancers, and diseases of interest to its corporate
partners. Compared with competing methods, DarwinDART allows the creation
of higher diversity protein libraries; the unbiased selection of promising
proteins from these libraries; and the ability to directly select proteins
that act on cell surface receptors present on live mammalian cells. For
more information, please visit www.avanviva.com.
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Hepatometrix - ! SECOND
PLACE !
Product/Service: Drug Discovery/Toxicology
Contact: Peter Kosa
pkosa@sloan.mit.edu
Phone: (617) 524 6344
Hepatometrix will commercialize a liver cell bioreactor, along with
a related technology for preparing and preserving liver cells which
retain the functional properties of liver cells in an intact human liver.
Our improved liver cell technology will be immediately useful for preclinical
testing of pharmaceutical compounds, and will facilitate rapid and inexpensive
screening of compounds for toxicity, metabolism and efficacy. At present
we are beta testing our products at two large pharmaceutical companies.
Our next generation of products will be devices that utilize these improved
liver cells in applications used for drug discovery and toxicology testing.
In addition to human liver cells, our technology has applications in
animal liver cells as well as other cell types of interest, which amount
to a potential annual market opportunity of more than
$350 million.
Product/Service: Drug Delivery
Contact: Doryen Bubeck
Merebeck Pharmaceuticals has produced a novel multifunctional platform
for drug delivery providing targeted distribution of therapeutics to a
wide range of cells and tissues. The first application of our technology
line will be in partnership with existing liposome companies to deliver
known chemotherapy agents to cancerous cells; specifically to prostrate
and breast cancer tumors. Our product offers a competitive advantage over
existing treatments through preferential delivery and direct penetration
of the cancer cell. Our treatment will alleviate toxicity issues and associated
side effects of chemotherapy allowing us to capture this $10 billion market.
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Product/Service: Ag-Biotech
Contact: Justin Michael Scheer
Phone: (650) 266-3691
New Biology is a research driven plant biotechnology company that will
employ plant polypeptide hormones for the enhancement of natural insect
resistance. Using a patented biofunctional-biochemical isolation method
we intend to identify novel poylpeptide hormones, which control a broad
set of defense genes, thereby uncovering new technologies for enhancing
the natural defenses of important crop plants. Our polypeptide hormone
technology offers unique advantages to current genetically modified crop
plants including resistance to an array of insect pests and the use of
naturally occurring plant components. Furthermore, our technology platform
provides the potential to isolate polypeptide hormones regulating other
physiological processes. We believe in a targeted search for regulatory
molecules with high value potential, ultimately tapping hidden skills
and helping plants help themselves.
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Product/Service: Drug Development
Contact: Charles Buck
Phone: +43 316 325776-18
Oridis was founded in July 2001 as a spin-off company of the Institute
of Pathology,
University of Graz to develop new therapies from a research focus
on analyses of human
tissues. The founders provide pharmaceutical industry experience as
well as medical and
scientific expertise in human pathology, especially pathology of the
liver. Oridis has access to, and exclusive rights for commercial exploitation
of, one the world’s largest and highest quality collections
of diseased and normal human tissues to which high end genomics and
proteomics research platforms are applied to identify and characterize
medically relevant new therapeutic targets. The disease focus is further
supported by a strategy of parallel drug target development with early
incorporation of target structural information and lead compound identification,
designed to reduce target attrition rates and shorten preclinical
drug development times by 2-4 years. In addition to driving these
R & D efforts, Oridis takes advantage of its established gene
and gene product expression technologies, including a proprietary
tissue microarray system, to provide partner companies with research
on human tissues in collaborative projects and on a fee-for-service
basis.
Product/Service: Drug Discovery/Development
Contact: John Maclennan, Ph.D.
Phone: (508) 876-9949
In traditional drug development, a candidate drug is first exposed to
the complexity of a living organism during animal trials. Current
in vitro tests do not mimic the complex in vivo environment
leading to high failure rates in clinical trials or significant side
effects when launched. RETT has developed in vitro tests that
accurately mirror the complex environment of the whole organism, enabling
the Company and its customers to “find failure faster”.
This will save time and money. RETT’s technology also can be used
in drug discovery programs to identify novel drugs that bind to targets
within target classes associated with more than 50% of all diseases.
|
| 2003 Judges |
Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D.
CEO of Flagship Ventures
Ted T. Ashburn, MD, PhD
Associate, Oxford Bioscience Partners
Brian Atwood, MBA
Managing Partner, Versant Ventures
Thomas Boehm, MD
Senior Associate, Techno Venture
Management
Peter Finn, J.D.
Senior Partner, Head of Biotechnology Group, Rubin
and Rudman, LLP
Jerry Johnson
Vice President, Fleet
Development Ventures
Michael Lytton, M.Sc., J.D.
General Partner, Oxford Bioscience
Partners
William S. Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Executive Director, CVIP, University
of Massachusetts
David Steinberg, MBA
Project Manager, Puretech
Ventures
Nader Yaghoubi, MD, PhD
Senior Analyst of Zero Stage
Capital |
|
