'Entrepreneur Spotlight' Showcases PA Biotech Companies to Potential Investors
The Baruch S. Blumberg Institute hosted the Shark Tank-style event at the Pennsylvania Biotech Center, and honored founders of Delaware Crossing Investor Group.
- (1888PressRelease) July 24, 2015 - The Baruch S. Blumberg Institute on July 16 hosted the inaugural "Entrepreneur Spotlight" at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center of Bucks County, attracting biotech executives and business leaders from across the region to the Shark Tank-style program and awards ceremony.
The first of what is planned to become an annual event, the evening began with six early-stage biotech companies pitching their technologies to the investors that can help make their novel therapies a reality. The six young companies all are headquartered at the Pennsylvania Biotech Center, which is at full capacity and has a waiting list of potential tenants.
The evening continued with the presentation of the inaugural Entrepreneur Leadership Award, created by the PA Biotechnology Center to recognize those who have made extraordinary contributions to advance entrepreneurship in the region.
The 2015 award was presented to the three founders of the Delaware Crossing Investor Group: Loren D. Danzis, Jeffrey H. Nicholas, and Elizabeth D. Sigety. All three are attorneys with Fox Rothschild LLP in Warrington, Pennsylvania. Dr. Timothy M. Block and Dr. Patrick Lam presented the awards; Block is president of the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute and the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, and Lam is chairman of the Entrepreneur Council of the PA Biotechnology Center and medicinal chemistry and drug discovery consultant with Lam Drug Discovery Consulting, LLC.
"The Delaware Crossing Investor Group has made a huge impact in the region by providing much-needed funding and guidance to early-stage biotech companies," said Block. "The vision of Loren, Jeff and Liz has encouraged investment in young companies that will make possible the research and development of life-saving, and life-changing, therapies that will benefit millions of people worldwide."
Delaware Crossing provides counsel and capital to early-stage and growth-oriented companies, contributing a wide array of industry expertise and support to area entrepreneurs. Since 2005, Delaware Crossing has invested about $7 million in promising, early-stage companies.
"I want to express my congratulations to Loren Danzis, Jeff Nicholas, and Liz Sigety for receiving the Entrepreneur Leadership Award," said state Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, (R-10). "The work they have done by creating Delaware Crossing to advance and invest in innovation in Bucks County is admirable, effective and a true model of success."
The six biotech companies showcased during the event were:
• Forge Life Science - Founded by President and CEO, Lillian Chiang, Ph.D., MBA, Forge was built on break-through concepts in the control of infection, which are now being pursued as broadly effective antiviral therapies.
• JBS Science - Founded by President, Frank W. Song, M.D., Ph.D., JBS Science is developing fast, accurate, urine DNA-based diagnostic technology for the early detection and management of primary liver cancer.
• N-Zyme Scientifics - Co-Founded by Chief Scientific Officer, Anand Mehta, D.Phil., N-Zyme Scientifics specializes in developing and supplying high-performance enzymes for pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biologic applications.
• Flowmetric - Founded by CEO, Ren Capocasale, Flowmetric is a contract research organization focused on providing polychromatic flow cytometry and cell sorting services to bio-pharma and drug discovery companies.
• Atrin Pharmaceuticals - Co-founded by President and CEO, Oren Gilad, Ph.D., Atrin centers its research on modalities that treat solid tumor cancers that currently lack effective therapies, including breast, pancreatic, lung, ovarian and colon cancers.
• EnLiveRx - Founded by Bill Kinney, Ph.D., EnLiveRx focuses on mining the natural products collection of the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute for potential new therapies for the management of viral infections.
About the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute
The Hepatitis B Foundation established an independent, nonprofit research institute in 2003 in order to conduct discovery research and nurture translational biotechnology in an environment conducive to interaction, collaboration and focus. The research center was renamed in 2013 to honor Baruch S. Blumberg, the man who won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the hepatitis B virus. To learn more, visit www.blumberginstitute.org.
About the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center
The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center of Bucks County offers state-of-the-art laboratory and office space to nonprofit research companies and biotech companies. Created by a partnership between the Hepatitis B Foundation and Delaware Valley College and managed by the Blumberg Institute, the Center was funded in part by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The facility opened in 2006 in a formerly abandoned warehouse and has since grown to encompass 110,000 square feet on a 10-acre campus. To learn more, visit www.pabiotechbc.org.
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