North Carolina Biotechnology Center Approves $350,000 In Loans To Advance Four Young Biotechnology Firms
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has approved $350,000 in loans to help four young research-based companies pursue more investment and develop products within the state.
The funding includes two $150,000 Small Business Research (SRL) loans and a pair of $25,000 Business Development Loans (BDLs). Each of the Biotechnology Center's loan programs has different purposes and requirements.
The one-year SRL loans were approved for Addrenex Pharmaceuticals of Morrisville and for Teotten Diagnostics of Research Triangle Park to conduct specific research and development programs important to the advancement of the companies. The BDL loans were granted to Axitare and to BioMedomics to conduct important company inception activities.
"North Carolina continues to be the nation's third-largest biotechnology cluster because of its commitment to help the development of promising young companies," said Ken Tindall, the Biotechnology Center's senior vice president, Science & Business Development.
"The Biotechnology Center has been providing a variety of loans to new biotechnology ventures for some 18 years, primarily targeting start-up company inception, research and growth," said John Richert, vice president of the Biotechnology Center's Business & Technology Development Program.
Addrenex, which had earlier received a $25,000 BDL loan from the Biotechnology Center, is a specialty pharmaceutical company seeking funding to develop Clonicel. That's the company's patented oral extended-release formulation to combat symptoms associated with excessive adrenaline secretion, including hypertension and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Teotten is a start-up biotechnology company developing unique diagnostic tests for life-threatening hospital-acquired infections. The firm plans to use the loan to help it develop its first product -- a test strip for diagnosing invasive fungal disease by detecting specific biomarkers in the blood.
Axitare is developing a technology to screen various libraries of natural compounds for possible cellular modulators capable of enhancing the aroma and flavor of foods. That's expected to lead to development of natural dietary supplements, or food additives, that can help the millions of people experiencing loss of their sense of smell and taste.
BioMedomics is developing medical diagnostics technologies targeting point-of-care personalized genetic testing for specific disease biomarkers. The product line will include reagents, assays, processing and data analysis tools.
The Biotechnology Center is a private, non-profit corporation supported by the N.C. General Assembly. Its mission is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology research, business and education statewide.
Visit the Biotechnology Center's Web site at www.ncbiotech.org.
The North Carolina Biotechnology CenterCONTACT: Jim Shamp, news & publications editor, North CarolinaBiotechnology Center, +1-919-541-9366, jim_shamp@ncbiotech.org; or AtAddrenex - Moise Khayrallah, Ph.D., +1-919-678-9004, mk@addrenex.com; or AtTeotten - Jeff Shuster, Ph.D., +1-919-765-0037, jshuster@teotten.com; or AtAxitare - Jim Passe, +1-919-256-8196, jpasse@passeip.com; or At BioMedomics- Frank Wang, Ph.D., +1-919-360-9620, fwang@biomedomics.com
Web site: http://www.ncbiotech.org/