Presenting Companies
Spring 2020 Infectious Disease
Conference
20/20 GeneSystems pioneers innovative bio-testing and cancer diagnostic tools that address compelling unmet needs. 20/20’s digital diagnostics business develops and commercializes A.I powered cancer screenings tests deliver better tools to improve early detection of the most common cancers globally. Our emergency bio-detection business includes our patented BioCheck which is widely used by emergency responders. We are now distributing a rapid test kit for Covid-19, called CoronaCheck.
4D pharma is a world leader in the development of Live Biotherapeutic products (LBPs), a novel and emerging class of drug. 4D has developed a proprietary platform, MicroRx®, that rationally identifies Live Biotherapeutics based on a deep understanding of function and mechanism. This approach has to date generated clinical-stage candidates in oncology, respiratory and gastrointestinal disease. In Q2 2020 the Company launched a Phase II trial of oral immunomodulatory Live Biotherapeutic MRx-4DP0004 in patients hospitalised with COVID-19.
7 Hills Pharma is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, developing first-in-concept integrin activators to augment immunotherapies for the treatment of drug resistant solid tumors and infectious diseases. Our compounds are novel, systemic integrin activators that have shown in preclinical models to increase and prolong cell adhesion while maintaining the ability to move and migrate. In doing so, 7HP compounds are expected to augment antigen presentation and immune priming to facilitate a productive immune response against a variety of antigens including antigens from solid tumors and infectious diseases. The lead compound, 7HP349 is an oral VLA-4/LFA-1 allosteric activator that will be in Phase I testing for PD-1 refractory solid tumors, COVID-19, and geriatric influenza.
Adarza BioSystems, Inc. is a biotechnology company pioneering a label-free platform technology that enables the simultaneous detection of hundreds of analytes in a single drop of fluid. The technology, arrayed imaging reflectometry (AIR), is a label-free platform that enables the simultaneous detection of hundreds of analytes in a single drop of fluid. Transformed by the company’s experienced leadership team spanning multiple industries, Adarza’s first-to-market products will include a fully automated bench-top instrument with extensive analytical power as well as a suite of protein array assays and custom assay services. Much like the first gene-chips that enabled multiplexed genomics analysis, Adarza’s multiplex protein array platform will fundamentally disrupt the field of proteomics research by providing an easy workflow solution, from assay to analysis, for the drug discovery and clinical research industries. The initial consumable offerings will span large proteomics screening to smaller, validated arrays as well as “made-to-order” custom arrays. Given the flexibility of the technology, detection of nucleic acids, viruses/bacteria and allergens is possible which will help Adarza expand into other industries and clinical diagnostics.
Airway Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of biologics to break the cycle of injury and inflammation for patients with respiratory and inflammatory diseases. We have developed a recombinant human form of Surfactant Protein-D (“AT-100”), an endogenous protein with strong immune-modulatory properties which will serve as a platform for a number of potential indications. We will submit an IND to the FDA late 3Q20 for a phase 1b clinical study in very early preterm neonates for prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia “BPD”, and an IND mid 3Q20 for a novel COVID-19 therapy for the most seriously ill patients in ICU.
Aphios Corporation is a clinical-stage, emerging growth biotechnology company developing green enabling technology platforms for improving drug discovery and manufacturing, nanotechnology drug delivery and pathogenic drug safety. Based on these enabling technology platforms, we are developing enhanced therapeutics for health maintenance and disease prevention, and the treatment of cancers and supportive care such as CINV, infectious diseases such as HIV, and Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Pain and Opioid Addiction. Aphios’ critical fluid inactivation (CFI) technology gives enveloped viruses, nonenveloped viruses and bacterial pathogens the ‘bends,’ inactivating them without damaging proteins and enzymes in human plasma used in transfusion medicine.”
Aptorum Group Limited (Nasdaq: APM) is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel therapeutics to tackle unmet medical needs. Aptorum Group is pursuing therapeutic projects in neurology, infectious diseases, gastroenterology, oncology and other disease areas. With over 70 staff, PI and advisors, and two development sites in Hong Kong and Toronto, Aptorum Group collaborates with a number of unversity hospitals and research institutions to pursue drug discovery and development, specialised in translating early stage research (lead optimisation) to ph2 proof of concept phases.
Ashvattha Therapeutics holds the exclusive rights to a novel hydroxyl dendrimer technology developed at Johns Hopkins University enabling a new class of targeted therapies previously unachievable with traditional drug moieties. Ashvattha is commercializing the technology through new entities established to develop therapeutic opportunities within specific fields and enabled through the use of our dendrimer platform. For more information, visit: www.avttx.com
BactoByte is developing an IVD (In Vitro Diagnostics) platform with a unique clinical utility of a one-hour total turnaround clinical-grade results along with a highly competitive economic edge. This patent-pending disruptive innovation in direct microbial and antibiotic susceptibility testing is being applied first to the large Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) market. One-hour UTI testing results will save lives through proper antibiotic prescription. It will also slow the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria by lowering misprescribed antibiotics.
Chelation Partners presents its lead product, DIBI, an anti-infective potent against drug resistant organisms, which has strong potential for treating COVID-19 patients. DIBI exploits the absolute requirement of pathogens for iron in order to grow and reproduce. DIBI scavenges the iron required for infections, yet is non-toxic to normal uninfected cells. It has single uM MICs (minimal inhibitory concentration) for bacteria and fungi as demonstrated in published models of infection, and potential synergistic benefits when administered with conventional anti-infective agents. DIBI has potential COVID-19 therapeutic applications: direct SARS-CoV-2 antiviral effects through iron sequestration and/or receptor modulation and potential reduction in COVID-19 mortality due to benefits of DIBI on cytokine storm and secondary pneumonia.
ChipCare is a Toronto based pre-revenue company developing a highly versatile point-of-care (POC) diagnostics platform which will enable an unparalleled sample-to-action workflow in the clinic. Our polyvalent analyzer utilizes a patented approach to analyte detection that can perform multiple key assay classes including nucleic acids, proteins and cell surface markers. From single drops of blood, urine samples or swabs, ChipCare's point-of-care platform, consisting of our analyzer and cartridge, will be able to rapidly and accurately perform lab-quality tests to differentially diagnose or monitor a range of infectious diseases in less than 30 minutes. ChipCare’s patented detection method mimics & miniaturizes flow cytometer and bead array diagnostics methods into a POC platform that can leverage off-the-shelf chemistries for rapid assay menu expansion. ChipCare's initial focus is on the Influenza-Like Illness (ILIs) and sexually transmitted infections (STI) markets in North America, enabling patients to receive true test and treat services at their local pharmacy clinic, urgent care center or student health center, significantly enhancing the overall quality of patient care during a single, convenient visit.
Cofactor Genomics is bridging the precision medicine gap by building diagnostic tools to match the right patient to the right treatment at the right time. Predicting patient response to therapy currently relies on isolated, single-analyte biomarkers that have failed to deliver accurate therapy response predictions, resulting in unnecessary healthcare costs, and most harmfully, negative outcomes for patients. Cofactor’s products use Predictive Immune Modeling, which leverages RNA data and machine learning to combine biological signals, creating multidimensional biomarkers to deliver on the promise of precision medicine. Cofactor Genomics offers its full-service molecular, informatic, and database tools to make drug discovery, clinical trials and therapy selection more successful.
Decoy Biosystems is a private, JLABS San Diego-based company developing a novel, systemic anti-cancer and anti-viral/bacterial immunotherapy. Our broadly patented and clinically validated approach safely “primes” the cellular components of both innate and adaptive immune pathways, allowing the body to efficiently attack tumors, as well as viral and, probably also, bacterial pathogens. Decoy’s products produce significant single agent anti-tumor (colorectal and pancreatic) and anti-viral (HBV and HIV) activity and synergize with existing therapies to safely eradicate established colorectal, hepatocellular and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma tumors with induction of innate and adaptive immunological memory in standard animal models. Decoy is fully funded through US IND and its first product will enter an Oncology + HBV Phase 1 in Q1/2 of 2021. Decoy is seeking angel, private equity and/or VC funding in order to fund its Phase 1 trial.
DeepSense Biotechnologies Inc. is a development stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for treatment of immune system mediated inflammatory diseases based on natural products (NPs) and their derivatives. We have discovered that certain flavonoids derived from citrus peels, specifically hydroxylated polymethoxyflavones (HPMFs) possess immune system modulatory, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumorigenic properties. Our research has shown these natural products exhibit a broad spectrum of biological activities against infectious diseases such as COVID-19 as well as chronic inflammatory disease such as liver and prostate cancer, auto-immune diseases such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis and metabolic disease including diabetes and NASH. We have formulated the natural products into patented prodrugs with improved bioavailability optimized for pulmonary, oral and transdermal delivery. The initial focus has been on therapeutics to inhibit the excessive immune response associated with severe COVID-19 infections as well as for use as prophylactics to prevent and mitigate viral infections.
emocha was established in 2014 after our founders licensed a mobile health software created by Johns Hopkins University clinician-scientists. The software that powers emocha’s platform was one of the first mobile health technologies ever developed, and was originally used to assist healthcare workers treating patients in Uganda with HIV. Since then, we have expanded to become a turnkey service to improve medication adherence for patients around the globe for a number of infectious and chronic conditions. emocha is used in public health departments, clinical trials, health systems, and managed care organizations to achieve high medication adherence rates and engage patients in care. COVID-19 Workplace Solution: emocha uses short, virtual check-ins to identify, track, and manage COVID-19 symptoms of employees to enable an effective return-to-work strategy. Through rapid implementation and comprehensive analytics, emocha immediately identifies symptomatic and asymptomatic employees to help make timely decisions. Actionable reporting insights are updated hourly for employers. With a staff dedicated to support and review, our monitoring service focuses on human engagement, providing direct touchpoints with employees.
FZata (www.fzata.com) focuses on developing antibody-based therapeutics. Using two proprietary platforms, the Tetrabody Platform and the Yeast Biotherapy Platform, FZata has generated a pipeline targeting at infectious disease and inflammatory disease. FZata is seeking $10M to develop more products from our Yeast Biotherapy platform and to advance FZ006, an oral yeast biotherapy for Inflammatory Bowel Disease through FDA Phase 1 clinical trial.
GATTACO has a patented and disruptive technology called CAP-RESET™ that simplifies sample collection and processing for rapid and lab-based IVD testing. We are preparing to launch our A-PON™ device that collects and separates antibody-rich liquid plasma from finger-stick capillary blood automatically in under 4 minutes. The A-PON™ will facilitate increased sample availability for high-throughput, high sensitivity clinical lab-based COVID-19 serological testing by bypassing the inefficient and antiquated centralized sample collection and processing infrastructure. It achieves this by enabling home sample collection, with high-purity liquid plasma being delivered to any clinical lab in the United States. Labs no longer need to invest in the infrastructure and processing of complicated and error-prone dried blood samples.
Geneius is a private biopharmaceutical company run by the Former CEO of Bluebird Bio focused on the discovery and clinical development of adoptive T cell therapy products that address the treatment of cancer and infections. The company has created a good manufacturing process, or GMP, for the production of T cells from peripheral blood for infusion into the patient, allowing for manufacturing at a price of 1/10th that of traditional CAR-T. Geneius' targeted DiversiTy™ platform is a novel ex vivo approach that re-educates T cells to become responsive to multiple, previously overlooked tumor antigens. Geneius' lead product candidate, GNS-TEBV-001, is currently in preclinical testing for EBV+, NHL, gastric and nasopharyngeal cancers. Geneius also has two additional products, GNS-TGBM-002 and GNS-TPC-003, in preclinical testing for glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer, respectively. Geneius Biotechnology is developing T cells as a quasi-personalized, off-the-shelf, therapy and preventive measure against COVID-19. The assumption is that by increasing the number of antigen-specific T cells in the body, the patient’s immune system can overwhelm the SARS-CoV-2 virus, halting the disease.
Imago is revolutionizing imaging analytics allowing both the clinician and artificial intelligence engines to “see” clinically relevant data that is hidden in the original images. Imago’s ICE Reveal technology transforms poorly-differentiated image content into structured data revealing early-stage cancer and other structural abnormalities as small as 1mm in size.
Maxwell is a broad spectrum virucide company. We are currently developing Maxwell Peptoid™ drugs to treat HSV-1 topically (oral Herpes) as our initial target. This is a multi-billion dollar underserved market with only 13% penetration by weak competition. We plan to develop Maxwell PeptoidsTM for multiple additional virus targets in parallel through licensing agreements offering early returns to investors.
Microbion is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing breakthrough therapies for treatment of drug-resistant and life-threatening infections. Microbion's lead drug candidate, pravibismane, is the first in a new class of anti-infective drugs with a novel mechanism of action and extremely low resistance potential. Pravibismane is the first known broad spectrum anti-infective drug with combined potency against a wide range of resistant bacteria/superbugs, highly resistant fungal species, and an unprecedented ability to prevent and eradicate bacterial biofilms. Microbion's drug development program targets specialty markets with high unmet medical need and represent over $4B in peak sales opportunity. The company has recently been awarded over up to $17M in non-dilutive grants from CARB-X and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to fund studies for inhaled pravibismane treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) lung infections.
Mirror Biologics, Inc. (MBI) is a US Delaware company and the commercial development arm of Israeli-based Immunovative Therapies, Ltd founded in 2004 (jointly “the Company”). The Company specializes in the development and manufacturing of next generation immunotherapy technology and products where the active ingredients are living immune cells. The Company has raised over $37 million in angel capital since inception, has over 200 issued patents and has an anti-cancer immunotherapy product in late stage Phase IIB clinical development. MBI has developed a novel immunotherapy designed to modulate the immune system of the elderly so that they can respond and clear viral infections in the same manner as a youthful immune system. This novel pan-viral vaccine technology is being prepared for Phase I/II clinical launch in July 2020.
Mobidiag is a commercial stage, fast-growing Finnish-French biotechnology company. We specialize in the development and commercialization of fast, reliable and cost-effective molecular diagnostic solutions for Gastrointestinal Infections, Antimicrobial Resistance Management, Hospital Associated Infections (HAIs), Respiratory Infections including COVID-19, and Sepsis.
Moleculera Labs is a Precision Medicine company targeting neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders caused by an infection-triggered autoimmune dysfunction. Over 60 million individuals in the U.S. are on psychotropic medications. Through our CLIA/COLA accredited clinical laboratory we provide blood testing that directs treatment for individuals suffering from neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders such as PANS, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADD/AHDH, anxiety disorder and other symptom-classified disorders. Patients who test positive respond to anti-infective and immune modulation therapy who were previously unresponsive to standard psychotropic therapies. We have commercially tested over 10,000 patients and have one of the largest clinically annotated databases of autoimmune neurological and psychiatric specimens.
OTraces has developed cancer blood test software technology that can boost the accuracy of proteomic and other tests to superior levels and can detect and measure cytokine activity in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and thereby achieve real-time diagnosis of tumor progression and immune status in vitro (in a lab test) and without biopsy (in vivo). OTraces technology offers superior active surveillance and screening test economics relative to ctDNA testing (circulating tumor DNA) and other known methods. OTraces' software is compatible with instrument and lab procedures already in common use across the globe, and, is suitable for lab development testing (LDT, not requiring regulatory approval) and scalable for high-volume screening applications where the pressure is high to reduce costs. These attributes will facilitate rapid commercialization. OTraces has filed extensive patents on math-, physics- and artificial intelligence-based, next generation cancer detection technologies.
NIBEC is established as a spin-off venture from Seoul National University, The company's main technology is based on target-oriented peptide therapeutic discovery (TOPscovery) platform for drug discovery and development. The company’s focus of therapeutic area are inflammatory diseases (Pulmonary fibrosis, NASH, IBD) and oncology with new mode of action. One of anti-inflammatory peptide from the TOPscovery platform has been proved to be effective as anti-COVID-19 modality. In addition, NIBEC has target tissue/cell penetrating peptide delivery platform to deliver protein/antibody into the target tissue such as cancer, inflammatory macrophage, and infected cells. The company has two research institutes and one manufacturing facility with fully granted GMP.
NovaBiotics Ltd is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the design and development of first-in-class anti-infectives for difficult-to-treat, medically unmet diseases. NovaBiotics’ proprietary technology platforms have been generated through rational drug design principles, using a ‘smart immunology’ approach. NovaBiotics extensive patent estate encompasses the composition, formulation and medical use of our therapy candidates derived from our peptide and aminothiol platforms.
PathoQuest, a spin out of Institut Pasteur, is a genomic expert company offering game changing NGS-based solutions for a better diagnosis of infectious diseases. PathoQuest has developed iDTECT® Blood, a metagenomic assay able to identify simultaneously directly from a single blood sample 1.600 species of pathogens (bacteria, DNA and RNA viruses like SARS-CoV2). This innovative solution has a major positive impact on bloodstream infection and sepsis diagnosis.
Phagelux (www.phagelux.com) is a clinical-stage ready platform company that utilizes bacteriophages and lysins and related delivery technologies to create adjuncts or alternatives to antibiotics, particularly targeting the prevention of infections from topical antibiotic resistant (AMR) pathogens. The products primarily target large unmet medical needs where few, if any, alternatives are now under development. Phagelux has research and scale up GMP manufacturing facilities in Montreal (bio-engineering and phages) and Wuhan (lysins). Key investors include: (1) WuXi AppTec; (2) the management team; and (3) Fosun.
pHion Therapeutics is a therapeutic vaccine development company, utilising its patented peptide based drug delivery system (DDS) termed RALA that, when combined with mRNA, generates a uniquely potent therapeutic CD8+ response, without provoking an innate immune response. pHion’s therapeutic vaccine development is initially focused on viral infections as it evokes a strong interferon gamma response. We believe that the RALA/mRNA technology marks the advent of a new generation of therapeutic vaccines that could clear infectious diseases on a global scale.
Endemic and emerging infectious agents, and antimicrobial resistance can cause significant consequences to our health and economy. Primal Therapies’ SMMRT (Selective Microbial Metabolism Regulation Technology) pipeline of bioactive molecules is a novel and clinically validated approach to infectious disease prevention, treatment and management. Initial areas of focus are in the selective elimination of harmful infectious strains present in existing: (i) dental biofilms, (ii) epidermal biofilms, and (iii) oropharyngeal biofilms. The Company licenses and supplies its SMMRT bioactive ingredients and API’s to its partners and subsidiaries.
RedHill Biopharma (NASDAQ: RDHL, mkt cap ~$250m) is a specialty biopharmaceutical company. RedHill promotes three gastrointestinal drugs in the U.S. and a robust clinical late-stage pipeline with several Phase 3 programs, a planned pivotal Phase 3 study for NTM infections and additional Phase 2-stage programs for Covid-19 and oncology indications.
SciTech Development, LLC (“SCI”) is a clinical stage, biopharmaceutical company that has developed unique nano-delivery systems (SciTech Drug Delivery Vehicle - SDV) to enable intravenous (IV) delivery of water-insoluble drugs. One such challenged drug is fenretinide which has been shown in extensive clinical trials* to be a safe and effective anticancer therapy with targeted cancer destroying activity. The combination of the new SDV and fenretinide has led to SCI’s first drug product, ST-001 nanoFenretinide, that holds the promise of improving and saving many lives.
Servare Biologics is developing and manufacturing therapies and immunoprophylactic against some of the most important pathogens we face. Servare is a joint venture of Mapp Biopharmaceuticals and Partners Biotechnology. The developer of ZMapp, the first treatment against Ebola Zaire, Mapp engineer’s proteins against Ebola Zaire, Sudan, Marburg and other filoviruses, Coronaviruses and other dangerous infectious agents. The executive team at Partners Biotechnology is responsible for the development and manufacture of over 40 different biologics medicines used in human patients. Servare’s mission is to develop and manufacture low cost medicines affordable for patients not just in high resource countries, but in moderate and low resource countries as well. Our corporate structure combines for-profit drug development with non-profit cGMP Drug Product manufacturing which will result in an industry appropriate ROI for private investors and low-cost drugs for patients.
SIWA Therapeutics, Inc. has developed a humanized monoclonal antibody (318H) that selectively targets cells with an abnormally high level of glycolysis (Warburg effect) and oxidative stress; i.e., cancer cells, senescent cells, and virally-infected cells, including those infected by SARS-CoV-2. The 318H biomarker is an oxidized side product of glycolysis; it is associated with excessive inflammation and aging conditions as well as with immunosenescence and immunosuppression. As we are primarily a cancer therapy-focused company (an in vivo PDX pancreatic cancer study with 318H in humanized mice is in process), we are seeking a licensee/partner to further develop 318H as a viral disease therapy, while we focus on cancers, including virally induced cancers. We are working with Charles River Laboratories on completing pharmacokinetic and tolerability studies for an IND application. In February 2020, SIWA was named a “key player” in Anti-Aging Drugs by the MIT Technology Review in its prestigious list of the 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2020.
Soligenix is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need. With three Phase 3 product candidates in our Specialized Biotherapeutics segment, we have recently announced positive Phase 3 topline data for our Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL) product SGX301, and are expecting Phase 3 topline data for our Oral Mucositis product, SGX942 in 4Q 2020. Soligenix, through its Public Health Solutions segment, is also a world leader in development of a ricin toxin vaccine and is leveraging its thermostabilization platform in the generation of a COVID-19 vaccine, as well as continuing to pursue a novel Innate Defense Regulator for emerging and antibiotic resistant infectious disease.
Tetra Bio-Pharma (TSX-V:TBP) (OTCQB:TBPMF) is a biopharmaceutical leader in cannabinoid-based drug discovery and development with a Health Canada approved, and FDA reviewed and approved, clinical program aimed at bringing novel prescription drugs and treatments to patients and their healthcare providers. The Company has several subsidiaries engaged in the development of an advanced and growing pipeline of Bio Pharmaceuticals, Natural Health and Veterinary Products containing cannabis and other medicinal plant-based elements. With patients at the core of what we do, Tetra Bio-Pharma is focused on providing rigorous scientific validation and safety data required for inclusion into the existing bio pharma industry by regulators, physicians and insurance companies. Could we work in “existing regulatory standards of safety and clinical evidence for pharmaceutical products”.
Thrive Bioscience is commercializing a family of instruments and software that provide date, imaging, analytics and automation for cell culture for use in biomedical research and cell therapeutics. Thrive is currently selling the CellAssist, which collects 1000’s of images of live cells in culture, analyzes them, provides guidance and builds a database. The applications of Thrive’s instruments include drug discovery/development, cancer research, assay development and validation, in vitro toxicology, infectious disease research growing stem cells (including iPSC’s) and regenerative medicine.
Virion Therapeutics is developing novel T cell-based immunotherapies for cancers and infectious diseases using a first-in-class genetically encoded checkpoint inhibitor of early T cell activation that is coupled to a disease-specific antigenic stimulus. This platform technology produces best-in-class disease-specific CD8+ T cells that are highly potent, durable and more resistant to immune exhaustion thereby providing access to diseases with high unmet medical need. The Company’s lead programs are for the treatment of chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-induced cancers and precancerous infected tissues.
Weinberg Medical Physics Inc. is an incubator in Rockville, Maryland specializing in medical imaging and image-guided therapy. We launch spin-offs with specific missions of interest to specific investors, that have attained valuations of more than $100 million. We have constructed custom shape-defined magnetic particles and MRI systems suited for imaging and manipulating these particles in the body. We have collaborated with many academic institutions and funding agencies from the USA and other countries.