First-Place Team Tornado Therapeutics (from Left): Melissa Cipolla, Viren Baharani, Samuel Grondin and Ben Allwein. Gina Tomarchio is not present in photo.
Accelerating BioVenture Innovation (ABI) program Dec. 5 graduated another cohort with its signature pitch finale in Uris Auditorium and a networking reception. The ABI course is one of the anchor programs developed by BioVenture eLab to create a culture and environment of entrepreneurial thinking, as well as resources and industry professionals to spin out companies from Weill Cornell Medicine.
BioVenture eLab director Loren Busby briefly recounted the ABI program’s progression at the beginning of the event. It started as a student club program and evolved into a credit-bearing course. As the program expanded, it became more inclusive and multi-disciplinary. Participants now include not only Tri-I and Cornell Tech graduate students and postdoctoral fellows but also MBA and eMBAs students from Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business. Lecturers represent big pharmaceutical, medical device and digital health executives; service providers; manufacturing groups, regulatory specialists and translation science professionals. Each ABI team has one or more intellectual property attorneys and life sciences experts to aid them in developing a commercialization strategy.
This year’s ABI cohort was comprised of 54 participants and 64 mentors, lecturers and judges from the New York City ecosystem. Five finalist teams competed in front of venture capitalist judges in the finale. Dr. Eva Chmielnicki (Ph.D. ’04) from Bristol Myers Squibb and Dr. Jesse Hwang of Johnson & Johnson, who received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, gave back to their alma mater by judging the final pitch competition. Other judges included Dr. Jared Feldman of Autobahn Labs and Abby Mueller of JP Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital.
Dr. Lisa Placanica, senior managing director of the Center for Technology Licensing at Weill Cornell Medicine, hopes participants would appreciate the perspective of positioning scientific research toward commercial products. “You’ve been exposed to skills that you will use if you decide to be a founder of a company or an entrepreneur starting companies,” she encouraged them. “A lot of these same skills can be transferred to other career paths, which include working in venture capital or investment banking, management consulting, and working on business development whether that’s in pharmaceutical, biotech or on the academic side like Enterprise Innovation. We hope you’ve learned and grown from this course.”
The three prize-winning teams addressed diseases that affect a large population. Tornado Therapeutics, whose name stands for twister optimized RNA for durable overexpression, won first place. Their innovation is a delivery platform technology that generates circular mRNAs and expresses them in virus-like particles (VLPs). With this platform technology, the team proposed developing a norovirus vaccine targeting the VP1 and VP2 viral proteins for generating protective immunity. No treatments or vaccines are currently available in the U.S. for norovirus even though there are 20 million cases each year. Tornado Therapeutics proposed to protect the most vulnerable – older adults and children – in close quarters. When asked about their platform’s competitive advantage, team members explained circular mRNAs can target specific cell types and have prolonged protein expression, which means increased efficacy and less unwanted side effects. Their platform is also applicable to other indications.
Pulmargeutics was the runner-up. They proposed to address a common but severe form of lung disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Inflammation and excessive accumulation of immune cells in the lungs occur in patients with COPD. Pulmargeutics identified a promising target in epithelial membrane protein 2 (EMP2) because it causes the inflammatory cells to infiltrate the lungs. Pre-clinical data shows that blocking EMP2 with a small molecule drug can prevent the entry and excessive accumulation of immune cells. The team believes their patented agents for targeting EMP2 have the advantage of attacking the root cause of COPD over current market players.
The third-place prize went to VisionPro, a company that is developing a portable, quantitative imaging machine that enables accurate diagnosis and management of myopia (nearsightedness). VisionPro’s point-of-care device uses high-frequency ultrasound to track the changes in a patient’s sclera caused by myopia and performs real-time data analysis. It allows ophthalmologists to make decisions and intervention strategies early. In addition, this device makes eye exams more accessible and affordable.
The remaining pitch competitors included: MindSure - a company seeking to employ functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on the brain to categorize a patient into subtypes of depression for effective treatment; and Senecta Therapeutics, which targets senescent (aging) cells that cause fibrosis with Fucoidan nanoparticles combined with drug payloads.