Award & Investment Overview
Two startups built on Virginia Commonwealth University research have each received $800,000 from Virginia Catalyst to advance healthcare technologies toward clinical testing.
Pascal Medical Corp. will use its award to advance ClickGel, an injectable surgical biomaterial designed to seal wounds and deliver therapeutics at the surgical site. Perfusion Medical will use its funding to advance PM-208, an intravenous therapy designed to reduce blood requirements during resuscitation for shock and ischemia.
The two companies account for $1.6 million of Virginia Catalyst’s latest $2.4 million funding round. Both awards are nondilutive and support collaborations between VCU and the University of Virginia.
For both companies, the funding addresses a critical translational stage: generating the advanced preclinical and manufacturing evidence required to move university-originated technologies closer to human testing.
Source: https://www.news.vcu.edu/article/two-vcu-born-startups-win-state-grants-to-move-healthcare-innovations-toward-human-trials
Approach & Ecosystem Context
Virginia Catalyst represents a collaborative GAP funding model that combines state-backed commercialization capital with cross-institutional research requirements. The organization is funded by the Virginia General Assembly and five member institutions: VCU, UVA, Virginia Tech, George Mason University, and Old Dominion University.
Importantly, awards require substantive collaboration between at least two member institutions. Pascal Medical and Perfusion Medical are both working across VCU and UVA, coupling commercialization support with specialized clinical and research expertise.
VCU TechTransfer and Ventures has supported both companies as they have progressed from university research toward commercial development.
From a Mind the GAP perspective, these awards demonstrate the role nondilutive translational capital can play after startup formation but before technologies become sufficiently de-risked for clinical development and larger private investment. At this stage, funding is being applied to specific value-inflection milestones including large-animal studies, clinical manufacturing, FDA submissions, and quantification of therapeutic performance.
Pascal also demonstrates how repeated GAP funding can build on earlier milestones. The company previously received Virginia Catalyst awards of $375,000 in 2022 and $800,000 in 2024. According to VCU, the latest $800,000 award has already helped Pascal raise an additional $3 million.
Innovation & Technology
Pascal Medical: ClickGel
Pascal Medical is commercializing ClickGel, an injectable biomaterial that forms a stable matrix inside the body. The platform is designed to seal surgical wounds while enabling therapeutics to be delivered directly where the material is placed.
Barbara D. Boyan, PhD, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Pascal Medical and executive director of VCU’s Institute for Engineering and Medicine, is among the researchers behind the technology.
The Virginia Catalyst funding will support a large-animal study evaluating ClickGel’s safety and effectiveness. It will also support manufacturing of the gel and applicator using processes representative of the eventual clinical product.
These activities are prerequisites for an FDA submission seeking authorization to begin human trials. Pascal is collaborating with UVA neurosurgeon Justin S. Smith, MD, PhD, on the program.
Perfusion Medical: PM-208
Perfusion Medical is developing PM-208, a first-in-class intravenous therapy for shock and ischemia invented by VCU School of Medicine professor Martin J. Mangino, PhD.
The drug is designed to reduce the amount of donated blood required to stabilize trauma patients. This could be particularly relevant in environments where blood supplies are constrained, including rural hospitals, emergency medicine, and battlefield care.
The Virginia Catalyst award will fund animal studies at UVA to quantify PM-208’s blood-sparing effect. The work is being conducted with emergency physician and former Air Force doctor Andrew E. Muck, MD.
Perfusion filed an investigational new drug application in June 2026 and expects it to open in fall 2026, representing an important transition from preclinical development toward human clinical evaluation.
Potential Market Uses and Applications
Potential Surgical Applications
- Surgical wound sealing
- Localized therapeutic delivery
- Spine and neurosurgical procedures
- Other procedures requiring biomaterial-based wound management
Potential Trauma and Emergency Medicine Applications
- Hemorrhagic shock and trauma resuscitation
- Reduction of transfusion requirements
- Rural and resource-constrained hospitals
- Emergency medical care
- Military and battlefield medicine
Potential Commercialization Applications
- Hospital surgical products
- Advanced biomaterials
- Trauma therapeutics
- Emergency medicine
- Department of Defense and military medicine
- Strategic licensing or development partnerships
Related Topics
Virginia Commonwealth University, VCU TechTransfer and Ventures, Virginia Catalyst, Pascal Medical, Perfusion Medical, ClickGel, PM-208, translational research, GAP funding, university spinouts, preclinical development, FDA, medical devices, biomaterials, trauma therapeutics
About innovosource
innovosource tracks GAP programs, including proof-of-concept programs, startup accelerators, translational research initiatives, university venture funds, and commercialization ecosystems that help move university innovations from research to market.
Our coverage is informed by the Mind the GAP initiative and GAP COA consortium activity, providing practical insights into the evolving commercialization landscape.
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