Nov 6, 2019 | MNP, Motryx, News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 6, 2019
BioNova Announces Motryx as the Winner of the Ninth Annual BioInnovation Challenge (BIC) at BioPort 2019
Halifax, NS – November 6, 2019 – Today Motryx from Nova Scotia was named the winner of BioNova’s ninth annual BioInnovation Challenge (BIC) business pitch competition at BioPort 2019. Motryx is developing high-resolution, wireless, water and temperature resistant data-loggers with data analysis capabilities.
“The BioInnovation Challenge has positioned us for fast acceleration,” Franziska Broell, of Motryx said, “We have benefitted not only from winning, but from the program and training it provided as a whole.”
Atlantic Canada’s best health and life science innovators participate in the BioInnovation Challenge (BIC) business pitch competition each year. The competition’s goal is to help ease the transition from research laboratory to market. Motryx will receive a prize package that includes $25,000 in seed funding and an advisory services package worth more than $30,000. Motryx was up against SeeChange Biochemistry and Fieldetect.
“Selecting a winner was difficult for our judges panel as all three finalists have what it takes to make their start up a success,” said Scott Moffitt, Executive Director of BioNova. “Congratulations to Motryx.”
The Judging Panel:
Jennifer Hamilton, PhD – Senior Director, New Ventures at Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Advisor to Johnson & Johnson’s Impact Investing team
Arif Aziz, PhD – Senior Manager, National Life Science SR&ED, MNP
Milos Todorovic, PhD – International Business Development Officer, Global Affairs Canada
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Media Contact:
Shana Cristoferi, Marketing Manager, BioNova
902-830-9193
[email protected]
About BioNova
BioNova leads, accelerates, and advocates for Nova Scotia’s growing health and life sciences sector. Since 1993, BioNova has been accelerating the growth of its member companies. By hosting networking and educational events, and providing connections to potential funders and business resources, BioNova helps companies succeed. While these companies commercialize life-changing research to improve healthcare, provide healthier food, and develop sustainable solutions, BioNova advocates on behalf of the sector. BioNova champions the sector’s cluster of world-class research facilities, incubator programs, and companies who, together, bring investment and jobs to Nova Scotia. www.bionova.ca
Sep 13, 2019 | News
Read original article here
IMV Inc., the Dartmouth company developing a delivery platform for immunotherapy drugs, is entering a critical phase of its 16-year history as it will soon learn the results of key Phase 2 clinical trials.
The company is conducting a range of Phase 2 trials for its flagship drug candidate DPX-Survivac, including tests in partnership with the multi-national pharma company Merck & Co. The results of these Phase 2 trials — which establish efficacy, or whether a drug does what its maker says it does – should be known by the end of this year.
If the results are positive, the company will have some key decisions to make in the next year. Should it bring Survivac to market with a partner or on its own? Could it sell Survivac and focus on the development of other drug candidates? Could the whole company be sold? Whatever the outcome, IMV is approaching the juncture that attracted investors when the company launched in 2003.
“Most of the clinical results will be in by the end of the year,” said CEO Frederic Ors in an interview last week. “So in the second half of this year or the first half of 2020, we have really got to think what is the best way forward for the company.”
Developed from a Dalhousie University experiment to deliver birth control to seals on Sable Island, DPX-Survivac uses the body’s immune system to battle diseases by delivering doses of medication over a prolonged period. Often working as a delivery platform for other drugs, Survivac locates Survivin, a substance found in the outer layer of cancer tumors, then attacks the tumors repeatedly.
The most important trials are those into the drugs’ impact on ovarian cancer, an especially lethal affliction, and Ors said the company hopes the drug will be effective in prolonging the lives of people suffering with hard-to-treat forms of cancer.
“It’s one thing to be able to stop cancer but what’s important is how long you are able to maintain that,” said Ors. “In ovarian cancer, we have one patient who has been treated with DPX-Survivac for three years now.”
In its most recent financial statements, IMV said Survivac has displayed “durable clinical benefit” and “positive new data” during clinical trials, which are taking place in six locations. But nothing is certain until it announces the trial results.
In terms of what decisions the company could reach once the results are known, Ors noted that IMV shares are listed not only in Toronto but also on the Nasdaq exchange in New York. That positions the company in theory to raise enough capital to bring the drug to market on its own.
A dark cloud hovering over the IMV story is the experience of American immunotherapy company Incyte Corp., which had partnered with Merck for trials of its drug Epacadostat. In April 2018, Incyte announced trials showed Epacadostat did not help melanoma patients, hammering the stock of all immunotherapy companies, including IMV.
IMV shares closed Thursday down 2.7 percent at $3.97, meaning they have 44 percent of their value in the past year.
Yet IMV has been able to raise capital. In March, it raised $29.5 million by selling shares to investors, and Ors said IMV now has enough capital to last through 2020.
Though its shares have been on a rollercoaster ride the past three years, IMV as an organization has continued to grow, and now employs 64 people. One highlight of this is that three-quarters of its staff are female, and women make up half of its management team. Ors said he feels good about the company as he awaits the clinical trial results.
“It’s a good thing to be here,” he said. “A lot of companies actually never get the chance to be in this stage of development. We feel very strong about our pipeline and that it has a high chance to succeed.”
Jul 9, 2019 | Coloursmith Labs Inc., News
Read the full Entrevestor article here
Contact lens technology startup Coloursmith Labs has raised $600,000 in seed funding and announced the first two members of its board of directors.
Founded in 2018 by Dalhousie University researcher Gabrielle Masone, the Halifax-based company is developing technology that aims to allow contact lenses to filter certain types of light before it reaches the eyes.
The two board members are Wade Dawe and Rhiannon Davies. Dawe is the president of Brigus Capital, and Davies is a former vice-president and board member of Dutch optometry retailer GrandVision,
“Wade’s dedication to the company all this time has been nothing short of perfect,” said Masone in an interview. “And Rhiannon has a real finger on the pulse of the contact lens industry, and the eyewear industry in general.”
Masone, who Dawe describes as a “true innovator”, met both board members while completing Creative Destruction Labs’ accelerator program in the past year.
Coloursmith’s product works by using “optical filters” to control which types of light pass through contact lenses. This determines what wavelengths the wearer sees.
The technology aims to help reduce the effects of colour blindness and guard against the negative health effects of excessive blue light exposure. Blue light is the light given off by computer monitors, for example.
About one out of every 12 men and one in 200 women with Northern European ancestry suffers from colour blindness, according to the United States government’s National Eye Institute.
The science on whether or not blue light from digital devices harms the eye is not settled yet, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. But Harvard Health warns that it does cause sleep disruptions, and may contribute to obesity and other diseases.
Coloursmith is also considering other applications for the optical filters, including treating migraines and light sensitivity.
The company previously raised $200,000 from startup pitch competitions, such as Innovacorp’s Spark Innovation Challenge and the Volta Cohort Competition, as well as other programs that support early stage businesses.
Masone used the money to build a prototype and file patent applications in all major, global markets for contact lenses.
The latest $600,000 has been provided by investors that include St. John’s-based Killick Capital, PEI’s Island Capital Partners and Dawe’s Brigus Capital.
Jul 2, 2019 | Appili Therapeutics, News
Appili’s multi-drug resistant antibiotic program has the potential to address public health threats for both military and civilian populations worldwide.
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, July 2, 2019 – Appili Therapeutics Inc. (TSXV: APLI) (the “Company” or “Appili”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on anti-infective drug development, announced today that the United States Department of Defense, (DOD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) has completed the contract awarding the Company a $3.0 million USD grant.
Appili will use the funds to continue advancing its ATI-1503 antibiotic program, which targets drug-resistant, Gram-negative bacteria also known as ‘superbugs.’ The ATI-1503 program has the ability to target 4 out of 6 “ESKAPE” pathogens, which are the leading cause of hospital acquired infections worldwide [i]. PRMRP grants support military health-related research that has the potential to make a strong impact on patient care.
“Multi-drug-resistant bacteria continue to spread throughout the world, making them one of the most urgent public health threat we are facing worldwide,” said Kevin Sullivan, CEO of Appili Therapeutics. “We believe that the ATI-1503 program has the potential to address several of the most dangerous superbugs for the military and civilians alike, and we are grateful for PRMRP’s continued support of this promising novel antibiotic class.”
According to the World Health Organization, drug-resistant bacteria, particularly the superbugs that are resistant to most or sometimes all available anti-infectives, are among the highest threats to human health worldwide. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that they are responsible for more than 2 million infections and 23,000 deaths each year in the U.S. alone. In addition to the widespread civilian vulnerabilities that they present, these superbugs pose serious challenges in both internationally deployed troops and domestic military personnel in veterans’ hospitals. The significance of these threats, and their prevalence worldwide, have made solutions to multi-drug resistant bacteria a priority research area for the Department of Defense (DOD).
Appili’s ATI-1503 program is a new class of antibiotics based on the negamycin scaffold, which is a naturally occurring compound with intrinsic Gram-negative antibacterial activity. The class has broad spectrum activity, which allows it to potentially address the deadliest Gram-negative bacteria, including the superbugs Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobactor baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These are high priority pathogens for the CDC and WHO because of the lack of effective antibiotic treatment options for the most resistant strains [ii][iii].
About the PRMRP Grant
This work is supported by the DOD Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs through the PRMRP under Award No. W81XWH1910308. As previously disclosed, Appili was informed of the PRMRP grant in February 2019, but such grant remained subject to finalizing the definitive agreement.. Under the terms of PRMRP grants, the investigators conducting this research will adhere to the laws of the United States and regulations of the Department of Agriculture, as well as the CDC-NIH Guide for Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories. For more information, visit http://cdmrp.army.mil.
About Appili Therapeutics
Appili Therapeutics, Inc. was founded to advance the global fight against infectious disease by matching clearly-defined patient needs with drug development programs that provide solutions to existing challenges patients, doctors, and society face in this challenging disease space. Appili has built pipeline of assets designed to address a broad range of significant unmet medical needs in the infectious disease landscape. This diverse pipeline aims to address some of the most urgent threats in global public health. Via an in-licensing program, Appili acquired the rights to ATI-1701, a vaccine for tularemia, being developed to mitigate the risks of a very serious biological weapons threat. ATI-1503 is a drug discovery program aimed at generating negamycin analogue candidates, which are a novel class of antibiotics with broad-spectrum activity against Gram-negative superbugs. ATI-1501 employs Appili’s proprietary, taste-masked, oral-suspension technology with metronidazole for the growing number of patients with difficulty swallowing. Headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with offices in Mississauga, Ontario, Appili is pursuing worldwide opportunities in collaboration with science and industry commercial partners, governments and government agencies. For more information, visit www.AppiliTherapeutics.com.
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” which reflect the current expectations of the Company’s management future growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company’s proposed development plans with respect to ATI-1503 and the proposed use of proceeds from the PRMRP grant. Wherever possible, words such as “may “, “would “, “could “, “should”, “will,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “potential for” and similar expressions have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs with respect to future events and are based on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions including with respect to the ability of the Company to adequately fund and implement its development plans and business strategy. Many factors could cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including, without limitation, those listed in the final prospectus of the Company dated June 12, 2019 and the other filings made by the Company with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities (which may be viewed at www.sedar.com). Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. These factors should be considered carefully, and prospective investors should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in the press release are based upon what management currently believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure prospective investors that actual results, performance or achievements will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to revise forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange, nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the exchange), accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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Media Relations Contacts:
Andrea Cohen, Sam Brown Inc.
T: 917-209-7163
E: [email protected]
Investor Relations Contact:
Kimberly Stephens, CFO
Appili Therapeutics
E: [email protected]
Jun 26, 2019 | Appili Therapeutics, NeuroQuest, News
See full Entrevestor article here
Shares of Halifax drug discovery company Appili Therapeutics Inc. begin trading on the TSX Venture exchange today.
The company, whose long-term goal is to produce drugs that can combat antibiotic-resistant viruses, issued a statement Monday evening saying the Toronto Stock Exchange had accepted its application for an initial public offering.
Appili is not raising new funds in the listing as it meets the TSX Venture requirements for capital, with enough money in the bank to last until mid-2020. The company raised $3.6 million earlier in the year via a sale of warrants. Since inception, the company has raised a total of $15.4 million in equity funding and $19 million in non-dilutive funds, and decided last autumn that its best long-term route to capital would be found in public markets.
“This public listing is an important part of our evolution as we look to continue to build our pipeline of products that treat the most serious threats to human health,” said Appili CEO Kevin Sullivan in an email Monday night. “It really is an exciting part of our life cycle/growth strategy that we are keen to show the markets.”
