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For Immediate Release
Sept. 30, 2003
Bioscience Investor’s Conference announces impressive
lineup
RICHMOND, Va. – Six companies have been selected to
present at this year’s Virginia Biosciences Investor’s
Conference, which will be held Oct. 14 as part of the 2003
Virginia Biotechnology Summit at the McLean Hilton Hotel in
Tyson’s Corner.
“Recently announced acquisitions, combined with renewed
pre-IPO registration activity on Wall Street, are very encouraging
signs for biotech companies seeking venture financing,”
said David Lohr, executive director of the Virginia Biosciences
Development Center (VBDC) and moderator and chair of the Biosciences
Investor’s Conference. “This is an excellent time
for early-stage biotech companies to pitch their business
plans to the venture capital community.”
The companies that will present include:
•Cary Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Great
Falls, Va., which develops pharmaceutical products, including
QuitPak ®, an oral, non-nicotine drug in Phase II clinical
trials, and Tempol, a new class of compounds that treat hypertension
by reducing oxidative stress.
• ContraVac, Inc. of Charlottesville,
Va., which is developing diagnostic and therapeutic products
for reproductive health, including SpermCheck, a line of antibody-based
tests for detecting human sperm. The devices are intended
to help men monitor their fertility by detecting sperm count
and movement.
• G.I. Stimulation of Charlottesville,
Va., which has developed proprietary medical technology for
individuals who suffer gastrointestinal disorders that hinder
movement of food through the digestive tract.
• Intronn, Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md.,
which has developed and patented a technology for gene therapy
that exploits the differential gene expression between normal
and diseased cells.
• Living MicroSystems, Inc. of Richmond,
Va., which has developed non-invasive prenatal screening and
diagnostic tests to provide pregnant women, their physicians
and their genetic counselors with accurate and comprehensive
information in the first trimester of pregnancy.
• Sequella, Inc. of Rockville, Md.,
which has developed three lead pipeline products that target
novel therapeutics for the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis.
The products are in various stages of development, from pre-clinical
to Phase III clinical trials.
The Virginia Biosciences Investor’s Conference is targeted
at regional seed and early-stage life science companies seeking
to raise $500,000 to $5 million in equity capital. The six
companies will present their business plans to an all-star
panel of bioscience-focused venture capitalists and strategic
investors. The panelists will critique each presentation and
provide feedback and suggestions for both the presenting companies
and conference attendees.
Panelists include Douglas Gooding, a principal with The Aurora
Funds, Inc., Durham, N.C.; William M. Gust, managing general
partner of Anthem Capital Management, Baltimore; Sherrill
Neff, managing partner of Quaker BioVentures, L.P., Philadelphia;
Garheng Kong, partner with Intersouth Partners, Durham N.C.,
and John Uhrin, venture partner with Harbert Venture Partners,
LLC, Richmond.
“This year’s investors panel is the strongest
in the history of the program,” said Mark Herzog, executive
director of the Virginia Biotechnology Association, which
sponsors the annual Virginia Biotechnology Summit. “We
were very excited to work with the Maryland Bioscience Alliance,
the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association and MdBio to develop
the Mid-Atlantic’s only industry-sponsored, state biotech
event. The Investor’s Conference promises to be a major
success.”
The investor panel will select two of the best business plans
— one from among the Virginia companies and one from
the Maryland companies. Winners will be honored at the conference’s
Awards Banquet.
The conference audience is expected to include representatives
from the investment community and biotechnology industry throughout
the Mid-Atlantic.
Contact:
Nicky Colomb
Virginia BioTechnology Research Park
Phone: (804) 828-6884
E-mail: ncolomb@vabiotech.com
Web site: www.vabiotech.com
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