Biotech Start-up Receives a Grant to Develop an Antidote to a Silent Killer

InteliSpark client, Globin Solutions, Inc. receives a research grant of $249,993 from the National Institutes of Health for their project to develop a novel antidote in the treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning.

In the US, around 50,000 people visit the emergency room and at least 430 people die annually due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Those who survive often experience long-term neurocognitive impairments. The current treatment methods are either breathing pure oxygen or spending time in a pressurized oxygen chamber known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Yet, only 300 hyperbaric oxygen centers exist in the US which greatly reduces access and efficacy of this therapy. 

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have spent years trying to find a better treatment method for this silent killer. Their recent discovery that high affinity heme-based molecules can remove CO from red blood cells to reverse CO poisoning led them to engineer an even better mutant version of the protein. In animal studies, the researchers found that their protein was significantly better and faster than pure oxygen treatment at removing CO.  Their antidote removed CO in only 23 seconds compared to oxygen therapy which removed CO in 25 minutes.

This lab breakthrough led to the founding of the biotech start-up, Globin Solutions, Inc. in 2017. In the following year, the company raised $5 million in funding, which they plan to leverage as cost-share for project expenses in this recently awarded Small Business Technology Transfer grant.  Funding will enable the research team led by Dr. Jesus Tejero Bravo, Chief Scientific Officer at Globin Solutions, to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. FDA and begin clinical trials. This novel antidotal therapy has the potential to significantly decrease the fatality rates and neurocognitive impairments caused from CO poisoning.  

TCPoly Researchers Will Develop New Materials to Cool Electronic Devices

InteliSpark client, TCPoly, Inc., wins a phase I SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant from NSF (National Science Foundation) to develop thermally conductive 3D printing materials for cooling of high-performance electronic devices.

Overheating of compact, energy-dense electronic devices is a growing challenge that results in poor performance and device failure, particularly in the transportation and energy related technologies industries. Standard thermally conductive plastic composites tend to have poor mechanical properties, are high in costs, are unable to 3D print reliably, and have limited thermal conductivity. Dr. Thomas Bougher, Co-Founder and CTO at the start-up TCPoly, will lead a team of researchers in developing 3D printing composite materials that will conduct heat 1000 times higher than standard plastics and will have the ability to be printed on low cost 3D printers.

This project may aid in the creation of a new market for lightweight, corrosion-resistant, and high-performance heat transfer technologies that can significantly increase the performance of electronic devices. Drs. Matt Smith and Thomas Bougher, Co-Founders of TCPoly, were conducting materials research as PhD students at Georgia Tech before launching their start-up in 2017 to develop their novel materials for 3D printing.

Researchers are Developing a Novel Battery for High-Powered Vehicles and Systems

InteliSpark client, Vishwa Robotics and Automation, LLC, secures research funding from the Department of Defense – US Navy for their project, “Advanced Non-Electrochemical Energy Storage Technology.”

Battery systems power unmanned undersea and surface vehicles, marine sensors, propulsion systems, electronics and back-up power systems in support of the United States Naval operations across the globe. The challenge is that current technology is struggling to meet the need for a battery that has both high specific energy and high energy density, two features required for high-powered systems. The US Navy must also consider safety risks, such as fires and environmental and operating risks, and performance across environments with varying temperature and pressure, in powering their vehicles and systems.

Vishwa Robotics, a Massachusetts-based startup, is attempting to address these significant technical challenges through the creation of a novel, non-electrochemical battery that has much higher specific power and energy density than lithium-ion batteries. The US Navy acknowledges the great promise in this new technology by funding phase I of this research project through the competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

Vishwa Robotics’ mission in “engineering robotic systems to create a better future for mankind” aligns to the SBIR’s program goal to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector for broad societal benefits.

Researchers Are Developing Bio-Nano-Chip Technology to Improve Treatment for Opioid Misuse

InteliSpark client SensoDX, LLC, was awarded $760,245 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for phase II of their project, “Next Generation Tools for Onsite Monitoring and Treatment of Drug Abuse-Dependent Persons.”

Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is an enormous economic burden in the U.S. The overall associated costs for OUD have risen from $11.8 billion in 2001 to $78.5 billion in 2016. Even more devastating is the loss of life; over ten million people in the U.S. misused opioids in 2018, and on average, 130 Americans die every day of opioid overdose.

What differentiates OUD from other substance use disorders is the physical dependence on opioids within a very short period of time. Also, people have difficulty quitting due to extreme withdrawal symptoms which only encourages continued use.

Medications that reduce withdrawal systems such as methadone, buprenorphine or naltrexone show promise in treating addiction, but current drug testing tools that practitioners use to monitor patient progress have significant limitations. Existing drug tests are slow in yielding results, require tedious sample processing, are non-quantitative, and have limited capacity in detecting multiple opioids at once.

To meet this need for improved drug testing as part of comprehensive services to support patient recovery, SensoDX has developed a drug of abuse testing-on-a chip technology that is highly sensitive and capable of detecting multiple drugs in one test. In this phase II funded Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project, researchers will expand the test’s capability to detecting seven drugs and will validate its clinical efficacy in patients undergoing medication-assisted treatment.

Dr. Robert Mehalso, CEO of SensoDX and nanotechnology expert, is leading this research effort. If Mehalso and the research team are able to bring this drug screen platform to market successfully, it may have tremendous social and economic benefits on society.

Combatting the Opioid Overdose Crisis through Research on Innovative Pain Treatment

InteliSpark client, Young BioPharma, LLC, wins an award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct research on a novel drug to treat chronic pain.

Around 100 million Americans live with chronic pain and pay a high price for it in direct medical treatment costs and lost productivity. Chronic pain is linked to decreased mobility, dependence on opioids, anxiety and depression, and reduced quality of life. The use of opioids to treat chronic pain has amplified drug abuse and addiction, culminating in the drug overdose deaths of 70,237 Americans in 2017.  

To meet this critical need for alternative pain treatment, Young BioPharma, has explored safe and effective, nature product-based therapies for the treatment of chronic pain. Researchers have discovered a novel compound that can be employed at higher doses in clinical trials through more effective intravenous and oral administrations in comparison to other plant-derived medicines. 

In phase I of this Small Business Research Innovation (SBIR) project, the research team led by entrepreneur Dr. Young Shen, will test this revolutionary drug in animal studies. With the hope of eventual approval by the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), Young BioPharma will potentially provide millions of patients with alternative, safe, and effective treatment of chronic pain. Bringing such a drug to market has profound implications not only on improved quality of life and health outcomes, but also on the drug abuse and addiction crisis that persists in the nation.

Pharmaceutical Startup Will Test Novel Drug Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer

InteliSpark client, Avenzoar Pharmaceuticals, wins a research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a new drug for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Around 80% of the estimated 56,770 people that will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019 will die within in a year.  Only 9% of patients survive past five years, making pancreatic cancer the fourth leading cause of cancer death in men and women. Chemotherapy, the standard treatment for pancreatic cancer, is costly and only delays death by an average of 8.5 months.  

To meet this critical need for improved treatment methods, the pharmaceutical startup, Avenzoar, has developed a new chemical compound that may inhibit metastasis and chemo-resistance signaling pathways. The low toxicity of the chemical compound and the potential to reverse immunodeficiency disorders caused by cancer could significantly improve prognosis of the disease.

Dr. Mouad Edderkaoui, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Avenzoar, will lead phase I of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project to develop dosage levels and test the drug in combination with standard treatments in animal studies, to eventually inform the design of clinical trials.

Federal Funding Advances New Test to Detect and Determine Risk of Rupture for Brain Aneurysms

InteliSpark client, Neurovascular Diagnostics wins a research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for phase I of their project to develop a “one-stop” diagnostic test that can detect intracranial aneurysms, as known as brain aneurysms, and determine the risk of rupture based on biomarkers in the blood.

Ruptured brain aneurysms are devastating for patients and may result in cardiac arrests, permanent neurological problems, brain damage, hemorrhaging, and death. Treatment costs are far more costly for ruptured than unruptured brain aneurysms. Therefore, diagnosis of unruptured brain aneurysms is crucial.

But not all aneurysms lead to rupture. So, healthcare providers attempt to measure the risk of rupture prior to any invasive or costly medical intervention. Yet, current imaging procedures that measure the risk of rupture, via the metric of size, are invasive, expensive, require the use of X-rays, and may lead to medical complications.

The New York based startup, Neurovascular Diagnostics, has identified gene expressions in the blood to identify dangerous brain aneurysms and hypothesize that these expressions may serve as a biomarker to determine rupture risk.  In this phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project, researchers will develop a “one-stop” test for both diagnosing and determining risk of rupture of brain aneurysms. 

This low-cost novel medical technology will provide greater access for at-risk patients and potentially save millions of dollars in unnecessary imaging procedures and treatments for brain aneurysms.

Discarded Kidneys Increase and Why a Messaging App May be Part of the Solution

InteliSpark client, OmniLife, formerly HealthTech Solutions, Inc., wins a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for phase II of their project in developing a mobile application for secure team communication, tailored specifically for kidney transplant teams. Researchers will also utilize machine learning (ML) to incorporate clinical decision support for surgeons in the app’s capability.

Kidney transplants are life-saving and cost-effective for many patients suffering from kidney disease and diabetes. But the kidney discard rate in the United States has significantly increased from 5.1% in 1988 to 19.2% in 2009. Over 100,000 patients remain on the kidney transplant waiting list, but 3,159 donated kidneys were discarded in 2015.

Co-founders of the startup OmniLife, Dalton Shaull and Eric Pahl, both of whom witnessed the organ donation process in their personal lives, set out on a mission to discover the reason for discrepancy between number of organs donated versus the number of organs utilized. By shadowing transplant coordinators, surgeons, and physicians, Shaull and Pahl were able to better understand the organ transplant process and find areas to significantly improve communication between Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) and Transplant Centers. They realized that poor communication was one of the biggest challenges in the organ transplant process.

This led to the creation of a secure messaging app to streamline communication between stakeholders. Dr. Robert Emery led a team of researchers to tailor the app specifically for kidney transplant teams in phase I of their NIH funded, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project. 

In phase II, researchers will test and evaluate the app’s ability to improve donor management, coordination processes, and kidney utilization outcomes. Advancing to phase II funding is a key milestone in bringing this potentially life-saving technology to market. 

Discoveries in the Lab May Lead to New Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes

InteliSpark client, Senseion, LLC., wins a competitive research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to research a possible, new treatment for type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. Around 90 to 95% of Americans with the disease have type 2 diabetes which puts them at high-risk for heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, going blind, and losing toes, feet, or legs. Type 2 diabetes is also incredibly costly for millions of families and the U.S. health care system.

Type 2 diabetes is a disease that occurs when either the body does not make enough insulin or resists the effects of insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps keep glucose, as known as blood sugar, levels from getting too high or too low. Lack of or inefficient use of insulin, therefore, causes blood sugar levels that are too high.

A research team, led by Dr. Susheel Kumar Gunasekar, has discovered a signaling pathway that regulates both insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion. They have also identified a small molecule modulator that appears to normalize both glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. Researchers believe by modulating the signaling, they may develop new drugs to treat the disease.

In phase I of the project, researchers will test the feasibility of this treatment in the lab and will develop an initial class of drugs for further testing, ultimately leading to clinical trials. The hope is to advance into phase II of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding for drug development efforts.

This new drug, based on a unique mechanism for treating type 2 diabetes, could have a profound effect on millions of Americans suffering from the disease.

Life-Altering Research for Patients Suffering from Painful Vein Condition

InteliSpark client, InnoVein, Inc., was awarded $726,664 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a first-of-its-kind valve replacement for chronic insufficiency of the veins (CVI). As no cure currently exists for CVI, this innovative medical technology could be life-changing for CVI patients.

CVI is a painful and disabling condition that occurs when the valves in leg veins do not allow blood to flow properly back up to the heart. Blood can flow backwards and collect in the legs, creating pain, swelling, skin thickening, varicose veins and ulcers in the legs of millions of patients suffering from the condition.

Austin Walker, biomedical engineer and co-founder of the startup InnoVein, Inc., is developing a prosthetic valve to address the underlying cause of the disease. This novel valve replacement treatment is less invasive compared to existing treatment technology. It also avoids the costs associated with CVI such as wound care, hospitalizations for infections, related surgical procedures, and rehabilitative care.

In phase II, researchers will improve upon the design created in phase I and conduct animal testing to assess the safety of the medical device and prepare for future clinical trials. Not all NSF-funded, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants advance to phase II. This is no small achievement for InnoVein, Inc. and reflects the tremendous potential to transform their innovative idea into commercial technology with societal health benefits.

This groundbreaking research offers hope to millions of patients that await a cure for this painful condition. Additionally, the commercialization of this new device will significantly reduce health care costs.