Emergings in Brief (4/04)
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Start-Up showcases the following recently launched companies: Cira Discovery Sciences Inc., Molecular Formulations LLC, PharmaImaging Group Ltd. and Tienta Sciences Inc.
Showcasing very recently launched companies
Cira Discovery Sciences Inc.
3701 Market Street
Philadelphia PA 19104
Suite 340
Phone: (215) 966-6131
Fax: (215) 966-6001
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.ciradiscovery.com
Management: Wade T. Rogers, PhD, President & CEO; Allan R. Moser, PhD, VP Technology; Dennis J. Underwood, PhD, Co-founder, Director & Chair, Scientific Advisory Board
Company Founded: April 2003
Financing to Date: $100,000
Investors: BioAdvance
Employees: 4
Partners/Alliances: Infinity Pharmaceuticals; The Wistar Institute
Industry Segment: Bioinformatics; Molecular Diagnostics; Services
Business: Cira Discovery applies its proprietary computational datamining technologies to its clients' drug discovery and development programs. And, in partnership with The Wistar Institute, it is using its ability to find patterns among the interactions of individual biomarkers to develop next-generation molecular diagnostic tests for lung disease and cancer.
Molecular Formulations LLC
1440 Davey Road
Woodridge, IL 60517
Phone: (630) 739-6754
Fax: (630) 972-0515
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.molecularformulations.com
Management: Sharon W. Ayd, PhD, CEO
Company Founded: January 2004
Financing to Date: Undisclosed seed round
Investors: Flavin Ventures LLC
Employees: 5
Partners/Alliances: Shamrock Structures LLC; Advanced Life Sciences Inc.
Industry Segment: Services
Business: By identifying optimal formulation features early in the drug development process, Molecular Formulations hopes to increase the efficiency of its pharma and biotech clients' downstream clinical development activities. The start-up will offer a broad range of services, from physiochemical characterization of hits through prototype development and stability studies.
PharmaImaging Group Ltd.
Chambers Building
Earls Road
Grangemouth FK3 8XG, Scotland, UK
Phone: (44) 1324 494360
Fax: (44) 1324 494596
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.pharmaimaging.com
Management: Keith McKellar, CEO; Dr. Bernard Ayton, Commercial Director; Brian Williamson, Finance Director
Company Founded: October 2003
Financing to Date: £15 million ($27.4 million)
Investors: Schering Health Care Ltd.; GE Medical Systems; Knight Real Estate; Scottish Executive (through RSA); Scottish Enterprise; Private investors
Employees: 15
Partners/Alliances: GE Medical Systems
Industry Segment: Clinical Research Services; Diagnostics
Business: Scotland's biggest corporate start-up in the last 30 years, PharmaImaging's goal is to become Europe's most advanced pharmaceutical imaging center. It will provide gamma scintigraphy to assist clients with drugs in early clinical development from the second quarter 2004, followed by PET, MRI and ultrasound in early 2005. Medical imaging services for patients will also be available in the first quarter of 2005.
Tienta Sciences Inc.
351 West 10th Street
Suite 352
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Phone: (317) 278-6113
Fax: (317) 278-8190
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.tientasciences.com
Management: Mike Treble, Co-founder & CEO; Raymond DeGrella, PhD, VP R&D David Kolasinksi, Co-founder & VP; Anthony J. Hubbard, VP & CFO; John G. R. Hurrell, PhD, Co-founder & Chairman
Company Founded: October 2003
Financing to Date: Undisclosed
Investors: Inproteo Inc.
Employees: 4.5
Partners/Alliances: Inproteo Inc.; Jobin Yvon Inc.; Purdue University
Industry Segment: Drug Discovery Tools
Business: Tienta Sciences is the first spin-out of Inproteo Inc., the joint venture between Eli Lilly & Co. , Purdue University , and Indiana University . Tienta's proprietary SpectRIM sample substrate technology is designed to increase the sensitivity and utility of Raman, infrared, and mass spectrometry for protein discovery and analysis, and should enable researchers to 'fingerprint' molecules to identify subtle changes in protein structure that other analysis methods can't detect.