(Charlotte, NC, November 14, 2011)- SoyMeds, Inc., a University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) biotechnology, spin-out life science company, won the North Carolina Technology Association’s (NCTA) 21 Award in the category of Technology Industry as Life Science Company of the year.
SoyMeds President and Co-founder Kenneth J. Piller, PhD, accepted the award on November 10 in a ceremony in Raleigh, NC attended by over 850 business and state leaders. The award recognizes a life science company, whether biotech, pharmaceutical, healthcare or medtech, that has “achieved a milestone of innovation or measurable success over the last year.”
“We are deeply honored to receive this award,” Piller said. “Building a life science company takes so many types of expertise. We are fortunate to have a strong team and great support from so many in the Charlotte-region and throughout the state. Together, that has enabled us to build a strong company based on solid science.”
SoyMeds is developing and validating soybean seed-derived therapeutics to diagnose, treat and prevent disease. A biodefense vaccine, a potential treatment for Multiple Sclerosis and a diagnostic for use in ELISA kits to screen for thyroid disease are products in development. The platform technology developed by Piller and Chief Scientific Officer and Co-founder Kenneth L. Bost, PhD, has the potential to provide safe, low-cost treatments for a number of diseases.
Key advantages to SoyMeds’ technology are that the resulting products are stable at ambient temperatures offering extended shelf life, which eliminates the need for a cold chain to preserve the products during delivery and storage. The proprietary technology separates production from downstream purification allowing a soy powder to be stored until purification is needed. This benefit substantially lowers the cost of manufacturing and distributing new therapeutics.
Piller, a plant biologist and an adjunct research associate professor of biology at UNCC, and Bost, an immunologist and Belk Distinguished Professor in the UNCC Department of Biology, merged their research interests to form SoyMeds, and, since 2007, have raised over $1.5 million in private and federal funding to further research, development and commercialization. SoyMeds employs a total of four people.
SoyMeds was selected as the winner over five other finalists in the life science category. “To be recognized as one of the best life science companies in the state over others who are themselves developing groundbreaking technologies is almost beyond belief,” Bost said. “This recognition validates what we’ve felt all along. That we have a winning technology and business plan that will prevent and treat diseases giving people healthier and longer lives.”
For more information about SoyMeds, visit www.soymeds.com.
For more information about NCTA, visit www.nctechnology.org
