Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI), a privately-held, Maryland-based biotechnology company, today announced the finalists for their Cancer Discovery Incubator Award:
- Alcamena Stem Cell Therapeutics
- Ibex Biosciences
- Midissia Therapeutics
- miRecule
- TeamedOn International
“We are pleased to announce five finalists for our unique cancer discovery incubator,” said Teri Heiland, Immunomic Vice President of Research and Development. “With a diverse portfolio of promising treatment approaches to examine, we look forward to exciting new cancer treatment solutions being developed right here at our headquarters in Maryland.”
Alcamena Stem Cell Therapeutics. Inc., based in Spencerville, MD, is developing a biologic targeting Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a particularly aggressive cancer and the most common primary brain tumor in adults. Alcamena was founded in 2014 by Edmund Nesti, Ph.D. and Mark Verdecia, Ph.D. & MBA. Drs. Nesti and Verdecia are advised by several leading experts including Johns Hopkins alum Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa and current Johns Hopkins professor Dr. Marc Ostermeier.
Ibex Biosciences, LLC, based in Cumberland, MD, is focused on antibody and gene therapy technologies to address cancer, inflammation, autoimmune disease and retinal disease. The company currently has five employees: Michael J. Karlin, Esq., CPA, CFP — Chief Executive Officer/co-Founder; Alberto Murat Croci — Chief Strategist & Chief Operating Officer/co-Founder; Dr. Norman (Zhennan) Lai — Vice President of Genetic Technology; Tony (Yuebin) Tan – Technician; and Dr. Vidal de la Cruz — Chief Science Officer (Acting) of Fomento Pharma, LLC.
Midissia Therapeutics (“Midissia”) is incorporated in Delaware and based in San Francisco, CA. Midissia is a clinical stage immunotherapy start-up developing therapeutic personalized dendritic cancer vaccines to significantly impact the overarching problems of toxicity, drug resistance and recurrence that plague current modalities of cancer treatment. Midissia is led by President & CEO, Tania Fernandez.
miRecule is an early stage biotechnology company based in Rockville, MD. miRecule focuses on the development of microRNA (miR) based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and invented a novel platform for discovering miR mimetics for treating heterogeneous multi-drug resistant (MDR) tumors. miRecule’s Chief Scientific Officer is Anthony Saleh, Ph.D. who previously spent 14 years focused on RNA therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health. Business Development is managed by Ashwin Kulkarni, M.S. who completed his master’s degree at the University of Maryland.
TeamedOn is developing novel therapeutics to combat leukemia, and has produced encouraging preclinical data. The company has exclusive, world-wide rights to a class of novel small molecules targeting Acute Myeloid Leukemia, as well as an experienced leadership team with expertise in this field. TeamedOn’s Scientific Advisory Board consists of nationally-recognized key opinion leaders.
The Immunomic Therapeutics’ Cancer Discovery Incubator offers the selected innovator the opportunity to develop a proof-of-concept experiment in their laboratories. Additionally, the winner will be awarded funding, lab equipment and a unique mentorship with the Immunomic executive team for one year. The winner will be announced on mid-February 2017.
For more information about the Immunomic Therapeutics’ Cancer Discovery Incubator please visit http://incubator.immunomix.com/.