Biomedical : Innovation + Job News

Multiple sclerosis results when axons -- an extension of brain cells -- lose an essential coating called myelin, which allows neurons to communicate with each other and other parts of the body. While there are drugs available to slow the progression of the disease -- which eventually leaves a person unable to move � there is nothing on the market that can reverse the disease by restoring cells that produce the myelin.

If a Cleveland biomedical company has its way, there soon will be. Renovo Neural, a spinoff of the Cleveland Clinic, is currently helping pharmaceutical companies test new MS drugs by providing exclusive and innovative assays that analyze the potency of promising new drugs to reverse the MS process.

The company was formed in 2008 after the Cleveland Clinic received a $3-million Ohio Third Frontier grant to commercialize Renovo Neural's innovative assays. The technology is based on discoveries by Renovo Founder Bruce Trapp, chairman of the Clinic's Department of Neurosciences, and Wendy Macklin, former staff member at the Clinic's Department of Neurosciences and now professor and chair of cell and developmental biology at the University of Colorado. Trapp is now the company's chief science officer and heads its Scientific Advisory Board.

"We have two existing parts of the company," explains Satish Medicetty, Renovo's president. "In the service part of the company, we have very highly specialized assays to test new drugs for multiple sclerosis. This is the part of the company which is receiving a lot of interest in the industry right now because those are the kind of assays that are exclusively provided by our company."

The other part of the business -- the drug development arm -- is currently taking a back seat to the services side.

"We do have some intellectual property on the drug development side, so we are either looking for some licensing opportunities or partnering opportunities, or perhaps in the future if we get more funding from the state we will pursue that on a separate level as well," Medicetty says.

Renovo has just completed its first contract with a major client in tests designed to evaluate the process of generating new myelin in an animal model. 

"The client was very happy with the study and they came back to us to exend the study," Medicetty says.  Medicetty says the animail model -- which looks at MS-like brain lesions in animals -- is unique to Renovo.

The company has grown to seven full-time and two part-time employees from its initial two. Medicetty says because of interest shown by additional pharmaceutical companies, he expects that number to grow. 

Source: Statish Medicetty, Renovo Neural
Writer: Gene Monteith

As much as modern medicine understands about movement disorders, there's still so much science has yet to unravel about diseases that rob the body of control of over its movement, like Huntington's Disease and Parkinson's Disease.

Great Lakes NeuroTech, a new Cleveland-based spinoff from Cleveland Medical Devices Inc. (CMDI), is hoping to help change that with products that will help researchers unlock the remaining mysteries of the diseases and maybe, someday, help point the way to a cure.

The company, still based at Cleveland Medical's Euclid Avenue campus, was formed with a mandate to market and manufacture the parent company's already burgeoning clinical motor assessment and therapy systems, while focusing on the research and development of the next generation of systems.

"The way Cleveland Medical was set up, there were three divisions -- one for sleep disorder monitoring systems, one for movement disorders and another for research," says Maureen Phillips, sales and marketing manager for NeuroTech. "There were so many disciplines, it was hard for us to concentrate on any one. Being spun off allows us to focus on the work being done on movement disorders, and make an impact there."

The new company's first target is Parkinson's Disease, the degenerative disorder of the central nervous systems that results in uncontrollable tremors and, in extreme cases, tremors so prevalent its victims are unable to move at all. Already, NeuroTech products such as KinetiSense, Kinesia and Kinesia HomeView are in use at leading national research centers and clinics, helping researchers and doctors monitor signals sent from the brain to the body, and the body's reaction to those signals.

NeuroTech products, including portable and wireless monitors, allows doctors to monitor patients both in clinical settings and at home, 24 hours a day.

"They can give doctors the total picture of what patients experience on a day-to-day basis," says Phillips, adding that it also helps current treatments. "Using that information, we're not only learning more about the disease, we're able to change medications, change dosage or change when current patients take medications, depending on how their body reacts to different treatments. The ultimate goal is better and more accurate information, which will allow us to improve the quality of life, even though they're living with this disease."

Source: Maureen Phillips, Sales and Marketing Manager
Writer: Dave Malaska

Algae Producers set up shop in 2007 with the idea of developing algae products for the biodiesel market.

It soon became apparent that the more immediate opportunity was in other applications like nutriceuticals, aquaculture, pharmaceuticals,  and other areas.

Since then, the company hasn't looked back. Late last year the company, whose technical and sales teams are based in Madison and which plans to eventually locate the bulk of its operations in the Cleveland area, entered the marketplace with two primary products: a substance that can be used as a fish food in acquaculture, and an astaxanthin product with the same body-cleansing and antitoxin properties attributed to green tea.

"It's kind of a green tea on steroids," says Stan Robinson, the company's CFO.

Algae Producers has developed 10 exclusive partnerships and agreements for manufacture and distribution of its algae products and continues to research new ways of making algae profitable. Robinson says the company expects to book around $250,000 in revenue by the end of the second quarter. Along the way, it has shared in a $3-million Ohio Third Frontier grant with Ohio University and a number of other Ohio partners to further commercialize algae.

While the company currently has three full-time employees, Robinson says the company hopes to increase that number to eight by the end of the year and more as new products hit the marketplace. Primarily self-funded to date, the company is now raising a $2-million second round that will allow it to expand capacity, research and development, employment and a facility in the Cleveland area.

Source: Stan Robinson, Algae Producers
Writer: Gene Monteith

Thanks to an innovative effort by a firm spun off from the Cleveland Clinic in 2009, hospitals can now track their best practices, determine their most efficient use of research dollars and program funding, and monitor best patient outcomes by tapping into trend-spotting software that has long been used by other industries.

Population Explorer, a product of Cleveland-based Explorys Inc., uses data-crunching software similar to the kind of technology used by large, fast search engines such as Yahoo! and Googlem thereby giving healthcare systems a new perspective on the mountains of information accumulated on patient care.

"In almost every other industry, this kind of technology has been in use for a long time," explains Explorys President and Chief Technology Officer Charlie Lougheed. "It allows them to see trends and correlations that you can use to make a difference in patient's lives. It lets hospitals become more efficient, offer better care and in most cases, do it less expensively."

Explorys doesn't examine individual patient information, instead looking at the outcomes of care and how hospitals arrived at decisions that resulted in the best outcomes for patients. The result is a roadmap to improved, efficient care.

Born from a smaller prototype that the Cleveland Clinic started building five years ago, Population Explorer took off when the hospital brought in two "big data" veterans in early 2009. Lougheed and Stephen McHale (now Explorys' CEO) had founded Everstream Inc., a data analytics company focused on media trends, in 1999, later selling it to a Georgia company for $15 million. When the duo took over the new project, they immediately started expanding the scope of the clinic's software. Months later, Explorys was spun off to commercialize the system. Since then, its growth has been explosive.

It now mines trend information from not only the Cleveland Clinic, but University Hospitals and MetroHealth hospitals in Cleveland, Akron-based Summa Health System, as well as MedStar Health in Columbia, Md. Other national health care providers are due to come online soon as well, reports Lougheed.

Others have taken notice, too. Gartner Inc., a leading information technology research and advisory company based in Connecticut, recently named Explorys as one of five of its "Cool Vendors in Life Sciences" winners for 2011.

After starting with 10 employees and a modest budget, Explorys has already expanded to 25 employees. Lougheed expects the company to double its staff again by the end of the year, with further growth planned for next year.

Source: Charlie Lougheed, President & CTO
Writer: Dave Malaska

Since 2007, Thermedx, LLC has added 15 new jobs in Ohio and is hoping to double that number in the next few years.

So far, the success of its first product has it going in the right direction.

The Solon-based comapny develops medical devices used by hospitals and surgery centers for fluid management and patient warming. Thermedx' first product, a surgical irrigation fluid management system, has applications in gynecology, urology and general surgery.

Called "the 375," the device combines five functions into one device. The fluid-warming function helps surgical patients maintain normal body temperature of 37�C, which is targeted by Medicare's Surgical Care Improvement Project. Launched in January, Thermedx is now phasing into national expansion.

"The patent pending 375 is the only FDA 510(k) cleared fluid management device capable of fluid pressure or flow control, on-demand fluid warming, and fluid deficit monitoring," says Executive VP Michael Haritakis.

Since 2007, Thermedx has added 15 new jobs, completed product engineering and development of its first product, obtained FDA approval, raised about $5.2 million in equity and $2 million in debt, including $1.275 million from the Ohio Department of Development Innovation Fund.

"We appreciate the financial support provided by the State of Ohio's Technology Investment Tax Credit Program and Ohio Innovation Fund Loan Program, and we hope to receive a Third Frontier biomedical grant, which would help us to add jobs," says Haritakis.

By 2013, Thermedx plans to add about 30 jobs in engineering, sales, marketing and manufacturing.

Royal Pains on the USA Network, Greys Anatomy and Private Practice have expressed an interest in showcasing the company's 37-5 Fluid Management System.

Source: Michael Haritakis; Exec. VP, Thermedx, LLC
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

 Three entrepreneurial minded doctors, along with their tech partners, are building on the health IT explosion with a new tool designed to cut down on both surgical and billing errors.

eMerge Health Solutions is the latest CincyTech portfolio company, formed in 2006 by three Cincinnati area gastroenterologists, a healthcare provider and IT specialist. Their first product is a voice-driven tool that allows surgeons to make documentation and notes during operations and other medical procedures. The software creates a database from those notes that a doctor can refer to and cross-reference with similar procedures.

The software is designed to improve patient outcomes through more accurate procedure documentation.

"We will be offering a first-of-its-kind-product, the ability to document during a procedure using voice command and control," said eMerge CEO Alex Vidas. "This allows the clinician to gain productivity benefits without taking focus away from the patient's care."

The company was created through collaboration of its founders Dr. Alan Safdi, Dr. Michael Safdi, Dr. Pradeep Bekal and Dan Walker of the Ohio GI & Liver Institute, and Bharat Saini, a former GE Aviation technology manager.

The patent-pending technology has been thoroughly tested in 30,000 procedures since its development. It's now being used in three ambulatory surgery centers and at The Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati. The product is initially targeted for self-contained GI units within ambulatory surgical centers and hospitals.

"We are calculating that gastroenterology represents a $250 million-$300 million market and the total addressable market is $500 million-$700 million across all medical specialty areas. This is a tremendous opportunity," said CincyTech executive-in-residence and eMerge board member Phil Huff.

Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: CincyTech

You can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

This story originally appeared in hiVelocity's sister publication, Soapbox.

In the fall of 2009, CSI - Las Vegas aired an episode called "Death and the Maiden," in which Akron-based NicheVision's SpermFinder had a role. Vic Meles, one of the company's owners, says the filming took more than 4 hours, but the microscope, which is the most important component, appeared in only a few scenes.

"We found out during taping that many of the props on the show are hollow shells, but we can certify this part was the absolute real deal," says Meles.

Meles' company develops software and integrated solutions that automate tedious, time-consuming laboratory tasks so they can be accomplished faster, with less stress and greater accuracy.

Company founder Luigi Armogida, a former microscope salesman with a background in microbiology, started the business in 2006. While working on a project at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations Armogida saw people hunched over microscopes, spending hours looking at slides for rape kits. Workers would spend hours looking for as few as one or two cells. Armogida thought: Why not computerize the task? His employer at the time was not interested in developing his idea so he started his own company.

SpermFinder comprises a microscope, computer and software that identifies the cells. Another product, "Armed Expert," which creates a profile of the person whose cells have been identified, was developed by the U.S. Army and commercialized by NicheVision. A third product, currently in development, called "DNA Express" will remove the sought-after cell from the slide.

"Our customers are crime labs anywhere in the world," says Meles. Surprisingly, the company has only four employees.

Source: Vic Meles, NicheVision, Inc.
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

Imagine an ultra-thin film that's invisible to the human eye. In fact, it's 2,000 times thinner than the plastic wrap you use to store leftovers.

Now imagine that film is embedded with performance properties to make it scratch resistant, anti-static, stain resistant, anti-reflective, non-stick, or water and soil resistant. Finally, imagine coating a commercial product with that film.

Scott Rickert, Ph.D., president and CEO of Nanofilm, refers to the process as "nano-izing," and it's what his Valley View company does every day in its labs.

"We develop coating formulas, embed them with the characteristics our customers want, and create the processes that enable them to apply the coating to their product," he explains.

Nanofilm specializes in coatings for glass, plastics, metals, concrete, fabric and wood for several worldwide markets, including electronics, architecture, transportation, and optical and consumer products.

When LensCrafters introduced non-glare plastic lenses for its eye glasses, they came to Nanofilm to create a coating to protect the non-glare surface. Cleveland company Ferro turned to Nanofilm to create a scratch-resistant film for a line of porcelain restaurant dinner ware.

Nanofilm developed an effective, long-lasting auto glass coating that's water resistant and provides "a huge advantage in heavy rain and snow," Rickert says. "It's Rain-X on steroids." The product's name is "Defender," and it's available through Amazon.com.

According to Rickert, with nanotechnology, less is more. "For example, if you make a surface coating super slippery, it requires less frequent and less aggressive cleaning. That means fewer harsh cleaning chemicals, like phosphates and ammonias, so it's better for the environment and costs less to clean."

Nanotechnology also has applications in the medical field, Rickert notes.

"Work is under way to make surfaces of body implants, like joints or heart stents, more biocompatible."

Future advances in nanotechnology may lead to more efficient solar energy and smaller, more powerful computers as well, he adds.

Source: Scott Rickert, Nanofilm
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Calling the last week of April the "best in the 10-year history of the investor group," Cincinnati-based Queen City Angels announced the successful exits of two portfolio companies.

In an April 25 news release, Queen City Angels (QCA) noted the sale of Blue Ash Therapeutics' technology to Forest Laboratories and Healthcare Waste Solutions' acquisition by Stericycle.

As an investor of both angel capital and Third Frontier funds, Queen City says "QCA received significant returns" on the transactions.

Last year, QCA and its affiliated QCA First Fund III invested in Blue Ash Therapeutics, along with CincyTech, several individual investors and an east coast investment fund. A little over a year later, Blue Ash has now sold its key technology, Azimilide anti-arrhythmia drug, to New York-based Forest Laboratories, providing QCA with a return of almost 10 times its investment. The news release says QCA was the largest local investor and contributed more than $380,000.

Healthcare Waste Solutions has a national presence in the medical waste disposal business with plants in more than 15 metropolitan areas, QCA says. Stericycle, a Lake Forest, Ill.-based company in the same industry, acquired Healthcare Waste for $237 million.

"We firmly believe that Cincinnati is a great place to invest, and this successful outcome further validates our efforts," says Tony Shipley, QCA's chairman, in the release. "Our group has been actively funding startup companies since 2000, and we continued to pursue deals through the recessions of 2001 and 2008 with the belief that the long-term prospects of Cincinnati startups are outstanding. The real credit for these successes goes to the hard working entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risks of creating start-up ventures.

Source: Queen City Angels

JumpStart Ventures has added yet another company to its investment portfolio, committing $250,000 to SPR Therapeutics of Beachwood.

The investment represents JumpStart Ventures' 76th investment in its 54th company.

SPR, a year-old spinoff of NDI Medical, LLC, is commercializing its proprietary neurostimulation therapy for pain relief, JumpStart says. The company's first product, the SMARTPATCH System, will serve the pain market using its Intramuscular Nerve Therapy. The external stimulator delivers an electrical signal to the SMARTPATCH electrode to stimulate the target nerve within the muscle, thereby exercising the muscle to treat the pain.

In the announcement, Michael Lang, the JumpStart Venture Partner working with the company, noted that "Neurostimulation is a growing market being driven primarily by technology advancements that enable improved clinical outcomes. This field is of considerable interest to medical device manufacturers and, since the leadership of SPR Therapeutics is well-versed in neurostimulation, the company is positioned to move quickly down the commercialization path."

SPR Therapeutics has received federal Small Business Innovation Research grants and a $100,000 grant from the Innovation Fund of Lorain County Community College.

Source: JumpStart Ventures

Your body depends on trillions of little bacteria to help you digest your food and keep your immune system ticking along. Trouble is, stress, illness and diet can reduce the numbers of those bacteria and throw your body out of whack.

Consequently, a whole new industry called probiotics has sprung up to restore the bacterial balance of your body. And Mayfield Heights-based Ganeden Biotech has emerged as a leader.

Formed in 1997, Ganeden sprang from research that identified a new family of bacterial strains with unique properties, says Mike Bush, the company's VP of business development.

In 2001, the company moved its headquarters from La Jolla, Calif., to northeastern Ohio. By 2003, Ganeden had launched a number of over-the-counter products and in 2006 began licensing its bacteria to other firms.

Today, Ganeden's Digestive Advantage and Sustenex products are sold in 55,000 stores around the country, making the firm the largest or second largest seller of over the counter probiotics at any given time, Bush says. Not only will you find Ganeden's products at your neighborhood grocery, but its patented flagship strain -- GanedenBC³⁰ -- is being used in everything from dairy products to oatmeal � even your tea and muffins.

How can bacteria survive the heat required to bake a muffin? Bush says the GanedenBC³⁰ strain is introduced into consumables as spores, which are heat resistant and more stable than cultured bacteria like that in yogurt.

"It germinates once it gets into the human body," Bush explains.

Ganedan recently announced a partnership with the Agostoni Chocolate, of Italy, to market a probiotics chocolate disk.

Meanwhile, the company continues to grow within a market that Bush says could become a $19-billion industry by 2015. He says the company's over-the-counter sales are growing at 30 percent a year and its licensing operations are moving at a 100 percent annual clip.

The company has 30 employees, 25 of whom are located in the Cleveland area. It also operates an R&D facility in Miami, Fla.

Source: Mike Bush, Ganeden Biotech
Writer: Gene Monteith

Christopher Hadad, a chemistry professor at The Ohio State University, is developing a drug that could ease the effects of a frightening world threat: a deadly chemical nerve agent attack.

Such an event is rare, but not just theoretical. One of the most memorable is a 1995 sarin gas release on Japanese subway lines that killed a dozen people and sent more than 6,000 to hospitals. These poisons can be released deliberately or by accident and have the potential to kill and severely injure thousands of unsuspecting people.

Hadad is working on a therapeutic remedy to the effects of certain nerve agents which, left untreated, cause uncontrolled secretions from the mouth, eyes and nose as well as severe muscle spasms that could lead to a quick death. This work, which is its early stages, is in partnership with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

"We are developing a therapeutic for someone who's been exposed to a nasty chemical agent that creates biological aging effects that could lead to death," says Hadad, who has been working on the project for about a year.

Hadad's work relates to common organophosphorus (OP) nerve agents Tabun, VX, VR, Sarin, Soman, Cyclosarin and Paraoxon. There are treatments that can be used for these agents today, but they don't always work because of the short time frame required for effective treatment.

Using the Ohio Supercomputer Center resources in Columbus, Hadad is working on a molecular fix that could make treatment more effective.

"We are using a computational chemistry approach which could lead to rapid development of a good, viable drug that has the best chance of success and efficacy," he said.

Source: Christopher Hadad, Ohio State University
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

You can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

Thermalin Diabetes, a JumpStart Ventures portfolio company, recently closed $2.85 million in Series A investments, paving the way to the further development of short, medium and long lasting insulin analogs by Case Western Reserve Medical School Dr. Michael A. Weiss.

The announcement includes a second $250,000 investment from JumpStart, and exceeds Thermalin's original target by $1 million.

"Having this round closed is great," says Thermalin CEO Rick Berenson. "I'm very excited about the progress. I'm looking forward to being able to report further progress."

The company is now moving immediately into Series B, in which the hope is to raise another $8 million.

"With that we should be able to get through [the first] phases of studies."

The patents on existing insulins on the market are due to expire in 2013 and 2014, so the interest in Thermalin's developments is huge worldwide. Weiss' work centers around developing insulins that are more stable and effective on a more timely basis.

Thermalin has developed about 40 different analogs. The funding will allow the company to continue testing to determine which analogs to commercialize.

Insulin is a $14 billion a year market -- the largest volume drug market in the world. Insulin sales are expected to double in the U.S., triple in Europe and increase 12-fold elsewhere in the world as the disease reaches epidemic levels.

Thermalin employs six full time scientists at the Cleveland Clinic's Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. The investment allows for additional key hires, including a senior scientist.

Source: Rick Berenson, Termalin
Writer: Karin Connelly

This story originally appeared in Fresh Water Cleveland.

A Juventas Therapeutics spin-off is working to simplify therapies needed for wound repair, helping the patient and bringing down the cost of the treatment.

SironRX Therapeutics develops therapies under license from Juventas and The Cleveland Clinic. Its main product, clinically tested JVS-100, encodes Stromal cell-Derived Factor-1 (SDF-1), which is produced by the body in response to tissue injury. SDF-1 activates natural repair processes that prevent cell death and recruit stem cells to the damaged organ.

"In the process of developing the product for Juventas, we discovered the same product had an application in dermal healing . . . We spun that off into a different company in 2010," says Rahu Aras, CEO of Siron RX.

"There are a lot of companies out there, developing drugs based on extracting your cells and re-delivering them to damaged tissue. This process of isolating and re-delivering those cells is quite expensive and logistically challenging. What we're doing is delivering a drug to the organ that's damaged that gets your body to send its own stem cells so we no longer have to go through that extraction and re-delivery process," says Aras. FDA approval for the new treatment may not come for another four or five years.

SironRX will initiate a Phase II clinical trial this year to evaluate the efficacy and safety of JVS-100 in accelerating wound repair and preventing scarring. Clinical studies have shown that the drug is well tolerated and safe. The company is raising funds for a Phase II clinical trial in 2012.

The company has already raised $10.5 million in venture capital and grant funding, according to Aras. SironRX has only 1.5 FTEs  and Juventas 5, but both companies together could soon employ as many as 15 to 20, Aras says.

Juventas Therapeutics was formed in 2007.

Source: Rahu Aras; CEO, SironRX
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

AssureRx, a Mason-based personalized medicine company, has just closed on an $11 million Series B round of financing.

The company, founded in 2006, was formed to license and commercialize personalized medicine technology research from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Mayo Clinic.

Claremont Creek Ventures and Sequoia Capital led the round, which included existing investors Cincinnati Children's, Mayo Clinic and CincyTech. A new investor has joined as well, Allos Ventures.

AssureRx is developing next-generation medicines, recently bringing to market its first product GeneSightRx, a test that measures and analyzes genetic variants in psychiatric medicine - in other words, how individuals respond to the drugs they get. The test, administered through a cheek swab will help doctors determine the appropriate drug and dosage for each patient's individual needs, which could lessen side effects in patients.

The test is based on pharmacogenetics, or the study of how genetic makeup influences a person's reaction to drug treatments.

This financing will allow the AssureRx to expand sales and marketing for GeneSightRx, and fund other product development work.

"Our goal is to build the leading medical informatics company providing pharmacogenetic and other treatment decision support products to help physicians individualize the treatment of patients with neuropsychiatric and other disorders," said James S. Burns, president and CEO of AssureRx.

Sequoia Capital, is a Menlo Park, Calif., start-up venture capital fund for seed stage, early stage and growth companies. Claremont Creek Ventures is based in Oakland and invests in healthcare/ IT, energy conservation and security markets.

"AssureRx has enormous potential as an early leader in the transformation of neuropsychiatric treatment toward individualized patient treatment. GeneSightRx and future treatment decision support products hold the promise for faster, better patient outcomes and less costly care for psychiatric conditions such as clinical depression, anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia."

Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: CincyTech

You can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

This story originally appeared in Soapbox.