Selected Start-Ups (07/2007)

In Vivo briefly summarizes the technologies of these recently founded companies: Angiologix, Arbovax, MicuRx Pharmaceuticals, OrphageniX, PregLem and Zora Biosciences.

Out of the Blocks Summarizing the technologies of recently founded companies

Angiologix Inc.

1793 San Ramon Avenue

Suite 100

Mountain View, CA 94043

Phone: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.angiologix.com

Angiologix Inc. aims to make endothelial function assessment a routine part of cardiovascular care. The company, which was founded by Alexandr Parfenov, MD, PhD, is developing noninvasive, point-of-care diagnostic and prognostic tools to identify patients at greater risk of heart attack due to endothelial dysfunction.

Arbovax Inc.

617 Hutton Street

Suite 101-103

Raleigh, NC 27606

Phone: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.arbovax.com

Arbovax Inc. aims to develop vaccines against Dengue fever and other mosquito-borne viruses. Its technology platform, developed at North Carolina State University, produces stable mutations that render viruses incapable of replicating in mammalian cells. Arbovax believes that patients injected with these modified viruses will develop immunity to wild viruses. Piedmont Angel Network led the company’s $750,000 angel round.

MicuRx Pharmaceuticals Inc.

29540 Kohoutek Way

Union City, CA 94587

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.micurx.com

MicuRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. will modify validated antibiotics to broaden their treatment spectrum, overcome bacterial resistance, improve dosing regimens and reduce adverse effects. The company, which has R&D facilities in the Bay area and Shanghai, raised a $10 million Series A round from Morningside Ventures of China. Vicuron Pharmaceuticals’ scientific founder and SVP of research Zhengyu Yuan, PhD is MicuRx’s president and CEO.

OrphageniX Inc.

300 Water Street, Suite 204

Wilmington, DE 19801

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.orphagenix.com

OrphageniX Inc. will commercialize patented gene repair technology developed by its scientific founders, Eric Kmiec, PhD, and Hetal Parekh-Olmedo at the University of Delaware. The company will develop drugs for sickle cell anemia, spinal muscle atrophy, and other orphan diseases. Nearer-term revenues will come from outlicensing the gene editing technology—which uses the cell’s innate repair mechanisms to repair disease causing mutations--for diagnostics, research, and animal health markets. Michael Herr is OrphageniX’s president and CEO.

PregLem SA

Chemin des Aulx, 12

1228 Plan-les-Ouates

Geneva, Switzerland

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.preglem.com

PregLem SA will acquire and develop drugs for benign gynecological conditions and infertility. It starts out with three compounds from Ipsen SA: a preclinical peptide for improving ovarian response, and clinical stage candidates for treating endometriosis and boosting efficacy of Assisted Reproductive Technology treatment. [See Deal] Ernest Loumaye, MD, PhD, founded and leads the company, which raised a $26 million Series A round from Sofinnova Partners, NeoMed Management and MVM Life Science Partners LLP. [See Deal]

Zora Biosciences Oy

Espoo, Finland

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.zora.fi

A spin-off of from the Finland’s VTT Technical Research Centre’s quantitative biology and bioinformatics group, Zora Biosciences Oy will provide metabolomics services to biopharma and academic clients. It will also use an integrative biology platform developed at VTT to discover and validate biomarkers for prognostic and diagnostic purposes. Reini Hurme, PhD is Zora’s CEO.