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Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is a chronic, life-threatening disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In the United States, 30,000 new cases are estimated every year with half of those cases diagnosed in young children. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the patient`s immune system goes awry and attacks and destroys the pancreatic beta cells. Beta cells are responsible for regulating blood sugar (glucose) levels by producing precise amounts of the essential hormone insulin. The discovery of injectable insulin in the 1920s changed T1D from a uniformly fatal disease with a life expectancy of months to one that could be carefully managed for decades through multiple daily blood glucose measurements and insulin injections. However, insulin injections are not a cure and patients face a lifetime of difficult disease management and serious complications including kidney failure, blindness and nerve damage. Despite nearly a century passing since the discovery of insulin, insulin injection remains the only treatment available to patients. Semma Therapeutics was founded to develop transformative therapies for patients who currently depend on insulin injections. Recent work in the laboratory of Professor Douglas Melton led to the discovery of a method to generate billions of functional, insulin-producing beta cells in the laboratory. These cells develop in islet-like clusters grown from stem cells. Initial preclinical work in animal models of diabetes has shown that transplantation of these cells are sufficient to control blood glucose levels. This breakthrough technology has been exclusively licensed to Semma Therapeutics for the development of a cell-based therapy for diabetes. Ongoing research at Semma Therapeutics is focused on combining these proprietary cells with a state-of-the-art cell delivery and immune protection strategy that can protect these cells from the patient`s immune system and allow the beta cells to function as they do in non-diabetic individuals. Implantation of the beta cell-filled device has the potential to provide a true replacement for the missing beta cells in a diabetic patient and would not require patient immunosuppression. Semma Therapeutics is working to bring this new therapeutic option to the clinic and improve the lives of patients with diabetes.
Victor International Mktg Inc is a Morristown, NJ-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.
Cibus is part of the multi-billion-dollar plant seed industry. Cibus leads the new era of high throughput gene editing technology that can develop plant traits precisely at a fraction of the time and cost of conventional breeding. Cibus is not a seed company. We are a technology company that uses gene editing to develop plant traits. Cibus licenses its traits to seed companies for royalties on seeds that use its traits. Cibus` target market is Productivity Traits” that improve yields, lower input costs such as chemicals and increase the sustainability and profitability of farming. We has a pipeline of six productivity traits including traits for pod shatter reduction, disease resistance and nutrient use efficiency. Cibus` focus is multi-crop traits for the major crops: canola, rice, soybean, wheat, and corn. In other words, traits that can impact global agriculture sustainability at scale. Technology: Gene editing in agriculture is a plant breeding technology. The promise of gene editing in agriculture is the ability to develop plant traits that are indistinguishable from traits developed using conventional breeding but can be developed at a fraction of the time and cost. To many, gene editing represents agriculture`s “analog to digital” technology moment. It is a technology that changes the speed and scale of trait development. Cibus is at the forefront of this technology moment. Our Rapid Trait Development System™ (RTDS®) and Trait Machine™ process represents the first end-to-end semi-automated plant breeding system. Vision: Cibus` vision is to be a pure play trait developer; a technology company whose business is to develop and license plant traits to seed companies in exchange for royalties. The licensing of plant traits and germplasm with quantifiable benefits and strong intellectual property is an integral part of the seed industry. Our goal is to be a leader in this segment of the seed industry.
Batu Biologics is a biotechnology-based pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapies that target the “Achilles Heel of Cancer:” the tumor blood vessels. Batu’s flagship therapeutic, ValloVax™, is an angiogenesis targeting cancer vaccine in the late stages of preclinical development. Batu Biologics plans to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ValloVax in Q1 of 2015, seeking clinical approval to treat patients with lung cancer.
Nexus Biosystems is a Poway, CA-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, & Biotech sector.