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For immediate release
March 12, 2007
Park’s Commercialization Center welcomes company
Richmond, Va. – The Virginia Biosciences Commercialization Center recently announced the newest company to establish their U.S. office and join the VBCC program — BioProtect, a bioscience company focused on development of a medical device that increases the effectiveness of radiation therapy.
Headquartered at Israel’s Xenia Venture Capital, a publicly traded technological incubator with which the Park recently reported a strategic alliance (click here to read more), BioProtect has developed what is essentially an inflatable balloon that can be inserted into the body and used to separate tissue during radiation treatment. By moving the healthy tissues from the radiation path, the device allows for the safe delivery of higher radiation dosages. The increased intensity ultimately results in up to 50 percent fewer treatment sessions for the patient.
The BioProtect device also reduces the side effects that result from the involvement of healthy tissues in radiation treatment such as pain, diarrhea, bleeding or impotence. While the company will initially focus on the prostate cancer market, the technology can be used for treatment in rectal, cervical and ovarian cancers as well.
“This represents a very solid technology that has significant medical implications,” stated Donna Edmonds, executive director of the Commercialization Center. “By removing healthy tissues from the radiation equation, we not only decrease treatment time for patients but dramatically reduce the associated heath care costs.”
In addition to radiation therapy, the balloon technology will be applied in the orthopedic setting, as it can also promote healing of certain orthopedic injuries. For example, when a tendon in the rotator cuff is torn, BioProtect’s implantable balloon can be used to reduce post-surgery pain and accelerate the healing process by minimizing friction between the tendon and the bone. For partial tears, the balloon can be an alternative solution to surgery.
In all applications, the balloon can be inserted with a minimally invasive procedure and requires no removal, as the product is completely biodegradable.
About the Park
The Virginia BioTechnology Research Park is currently home to a unique mix of more than 55 public and private bioscience companies, research institutes affiliated with the VCU Medical Center and major state and national medical laboratories. These companies are housed in nine buildings totaling more than 1.1 million square feet of space, representing an employee base that exceeds 2,000. The VBDC is the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park’s business assistance program located in its 27,000-square-foot incubator. Since opening in 1995, 63 companies have started in the Park’s incubator facility; 31 of which have graduated into larger spaces in the Park or greater Richmond community. The Park’s Commercialization Center has been created to take incubator graduates through commercialization to M&A or IPO, giving the Park’s tenants full-scale business assistance.The Commercialization Center is now the home of eight companies from the Israeli life science community and continues to expand its resource base. It has created alliances with leading incubators in Israel. To date, the Park has graduated three companies that are now publicly traded.
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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