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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.
Vera Whole Health is a market-leading healthcare service that delivers comprehensive, intelligent primary care to employees via employer-funded worksite clinics. At the core of our philosophy is the belief that behavior change is the only sustainable way to help people live healthier. And we’ve found through experience and research that a person’s peer group is the primary motivator to that behavior change. That is why Vera Whole Health, in addition to offering primary care and health coaching to individuals, invests time and resources into helping companies change their health culture.
Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is developing innovative medicines for oncology, with a pipeline that includes several product candidates in later-stage clinical development. Progenics` first-in-class PSMA-targeted technology platform for prostate cancer includes an antibody drug conjugate therapeutic which completed a two-cohort phase 2 clinical trial and a small molecule imaging agent that has also completed a phase 2 trial. Among other assets in its pipeline of targeted radiotherapy and molecular imaging compounds is Azedra™, an ultra-orphan radiotherapy candidate currently in a phase 2 study under an SPA. Progenics’ first commercial product, RELISTOR® (methylnaltrexone bromide) for opioid-induced constipation, is partnered with and marketed by Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., a Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.
PhaseBio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapies to treat orphan diseases, with an initial focus on cardiopulmonary indications. Our lead product candidate is PB2452, a novel reversal agent for the antiplatelet drug ticagrelor, and our second product candidate is PB1046, a once-weekly fusion protein for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. PB1046 utilizes our elastin-like polypeptide technology, which also serves as the engine for our preclinical pipeline. Our proprietary technology platform uses recombinant elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) biopolymers to control the half-life, bioavailability and physical characteristics of molecules for ease of administration. The compounds are engineered for a specific rate of absorption to enhance efficacy and reduce side effects, which may lead to less-frequent dosing and better patient compliance. PB1046 is a vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) receptor agonist that leverages our ELP technology for once-weekly dosing. PB1046 is being evaluated in clinical studies in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and in preclinical studies for the treatment of cardiomyopathy associated with dystrophinopathies. PhaseBio recently concluded a Phase 2a trial of PB1046 in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. We are also evaluating our development candidate PB2452, a reversal agent for the antiplatelet therapy ticagrelor, in clinical trials. PB2452 was exclusively licensed from MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, for global development and commercialization by PhaseBio. PhaseBio continues to explore opportunities to apply our ELP biopolymer technology to compounds that may benefit from its unique properties. We are privately owned, with headquarters and research laboratories in Malvern, PA.
Pacific Biosciences is developing an environment in which scientists can seamlessly integrate multiple data types from multiple sources and deploy advanced bioinformatics methods to elucidate the complexity of living systems. Therefore, we are committed