Selected Start-Ups (3/06)

In Vivo briefly summarizes the technologies of these recently founded companies: Asuragen, Auxetica, EndGenitor, Genophrenix, Pharmagic, ViewRay.

Out of the Blocks

Summarizing the technologies of recently founded companies

Asuragen Inc.

2150 Woodward Street

Austin, TX 78744

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.asuragen.com

Personalized medicine play Asuragen Inc. is emerging fully-formed from the diagnostic and service business units not included in Applied Biosystems Group's buyout of Ambion Inc. Ambion's founder Matt Winkler, PhD, heads the new company, which will develop RNA-based products for early cancer detection and to predict treatment outcomes.

Auxetica Ltd.

Canada House

9 Walton Gardens

Shenfield, Essex CM13 1EJ, UK

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.auxetica.com

Auxetica Ltd. thinks that its novel polymeric auxetic structure will form the next platform for the development of cardiovascular stents. The company claims that stents made from its technology will be as strong and flexible as metal stents with less risk of migration and fracture; moreover, that these auxetic stents will be able to carry larger and more versatile payloads and be compatible with imaging technologies. Entrepreneur Dennis Cox is Auxetica's CEO.

EndGenitor Technologies Inc.

351 West Tenth Street, Suite 223

Indianapolis, IN 46202

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.endgenitor.com

Based on the work of Indiana University School of Medicine researchers Mervin Yoder, MD and David Ingram, MD, EndGenitor Technologies Inc. will use allogeneic endothelial progenitor stem cells to develop therapies for patients with peripheral vascular disease. Early revenues will come from the sale, to a large national tissue collection and distribution agency, of various types of adult stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

Genophrenix Ltd.

Sheffield Bioincubator

Gell Street

Sheffield, S3 7QB, UK

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Genophrenix Ltd. is built around the University of Sheffield's neurologist Jamal Nasir, PhD's discovery of proteins involved with a biochemical pathway implicated in schizophrenia. The company--the second formed as a result of Biofusion PLC's pipeline agreement with Sheffield to commercialize its IP--plans to either co-develop with or outlicense its proprietary targets and compounds to Big Pharma partners for development and commercialization.

Pharmagic Inc.

6450 Lusk Boulevard

Suite E7 San Diego, CA 92121

Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected] Web Site: www.pharmagicinc.com

Genomics pioneer Glenn A. Evans, MD, PhD, sold his last start-up, Egea Biosciences to J&J's Centocor division in 2004. In his new company, Pharmagic Inc. , Evans will use synthetic biology expertise gained at Egea and in his earlier academic career to develop therapeutics for undisclosed indications. ViewRay Inc.

Suite 201-D

101 South East 2nd Place

Gainesville, FL 32601

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.viewray.com

ViewRay Inc. 's Renaissance device combines MRI real-time volumetric tumor and patient imaging simultaneous with beam-on precisely targeted radiation delivery. It is designed to enable attending physicians to track where the radiation is actually going in the patient and to assess whether tumor targets are being appropriately dosed. Risk of damage to surrounding tissue and treatment errors related to patient movement should be reduced.

A preview of the emerging health care companies profiled in the current issue of START-UP: Windhover's Review of Emerging Medical Ventures

This month's profile group: Cardiac Regeneration Start-Ups Look to Repair, not Replace

Arteriocyte Inc. has proprietary technology for selecting and harvesting combinations of multiple stem cell types that, when injected into the arterial system, generate new blood vessels to revascularize ischemic cardiac tissue. The company is starting out with autologous stem cells from patient's bone marrow. It intends to move quickly into products made from allogeneic cells sourced from umbilical cord blood, thus providing physicians with a standardized, off-the-shelf therapy.

Celladon Corp. aims to reverse the downhill spiral of cardiomyocyte damage in heart failure. Its first product is a form of gene therapy, delivered by a recombinant adeno-associated viral vector, designed to augment SERCA2a-mediated calcium transport in HF patients. The SERCA2a pathway is pivotal in controlling the heart's pumping ability, and numerous studies have correlated heart failure progression with declines in SERCA2a levels.

NanoCor Therapeutics Inc. spun out of Asklepios Biopharmaceutical to commercialize cardiovascular disease applications for Asklepios' platform technology, an AAV gene therapy delivery system. Having secured rights to a novel gene that it believes will help protect and repair damaged heart tissue, NanoCor is currently developing preclinical data to support an IND to use its inhibitor-1 gene to treat heart failure patients awaiting a transplant.

Theregen Corp. 's Anginera is a cell-based epicardial patch designed to promote blood vessel growth in ischemic cardiac tissue. Numerous animal studies have demonstrated that Anginera—which is based on the Dermagraft wound repair patch--promotes angiogenesis and arteriogenesis in ischemic tissue, and may also preserve or repair cardiac function in the failing heart.