Discoveries Draw Investors to UAMS BioVentures Forum
| 
UAMS’ Brooks Gentry, M.D., outlines plans for InterveXion Therapeutics, a UAMS start-up company, to potential investors.
Oct. 28, 2011 | The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) BioVentures recently unveiled some of its most promising startups and discoveries to venture capitalists from across the United States.
The Oct. 6 and 7 UAMS Private Equity Roundtable, hosted by UAMS BioVentures, was the fifth since 2005.
The event, held at the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, drew about 120 invited guests, about half of whom were potential investors. Venture capitalists from Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas and Utah heard brief presentations on the technologies and discoveries during the two-day event. This year’s forum was live-streamed over the Internet for the first time, making it available worldwide. The presentations can be viewed at http://arcapital.com/videos.
“We have some great companies, and I think there was more investment interest this year than in previous years,” said Mike Douglas, Ph.D., director of BioVentures. “This year we have companies that are more professionally developed, more mature and lower risk. The feedback has been outstanding.”
Two of the more promising investment opportunities are medical devices that were developed at UAMS. One is a uterine pressure monitor designed by researchers in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The device, which measures uterine contractions during labor, is disposable – unlike existing pressure monitors – and it is much less expensive.
Another device is an arm restraint system for patients who undergo robotic-assisted surgery. The device, a biodegradable foam tube that can be customized to fit any patient, was designed by UAMS nurses. It would replace materials like pieces of foam, tape, and metal or plastic slate that are now being used in robotic surgeries.
“These are devices that won’t have difficult regulatory hurdles to surmount,” Douglas said. “There’s a good market for them.”
Those attending the roundtable included Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., Jay Chesshir, president and CEO of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Lawrence Cornett, Ph.D., UAMS vice chancellor for research.
The UAMS technologies and startups presented (in chronological order) were:
- Stroke Warning Device (In Vivo Flow Cytometry)
- PhytoTEK: Biofilm Busting
- Mitogene, LLC RedoXFormula 501
- Uterine Pressure Monitor
- Arm Restraint Surgical Solutions
- InterveXion Therapeutics, LLC
- Lung Function Device Development
- NuvOx Pharma, LLC
- RxResults, LLC
- EZRA Innovations, LLC
Formed in 1997, UAMS BioVentures assists researchers with patent applications, licensing of new technologies and business startups.