Six early-stage technologies, all invented at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centerand being developed through Wake Forest Innovations, will receive a combined $595,000 investment to support their initial development.
The funding was announced Wednesday by Pappas Capital and Wake Forest Innovations, the money coming through the Catalyst Fund, a $15 million technology development program established by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in October 2015.
The proprietary technologies are as follows:
- Primary Hyperoxaluria – Two orally bio-available small molecules targeting a novel metabolic pathway with the potential to prevent and treat recurrent kidney stones in a rare genetic disorder that often requires kidney and liver transplantation. Inventor: William T. Lowther, PhD.
- Mechanical Tissue Resuscitation – Invented by the originators of the successful V.A.C.® technology, Mechanical Tissue Resuscitation applies a novel negative-pressure approach to heal and preserve vital tissue in the heart, brain and spinal cord that has been compromised or injured. Inventors: Louis Argenta, MD and Michael Morykwas, PhD.
- KPC34 – An orally active, small molecule orphan disease therapeutic with a novel dual mechanism of action for the treatment of blood and other cancers that overcomes common cancer resistance mechanisms. Inventor: Gregory Kucera, PhD. Innovator: Timothy Pardee, MD, PhD.
- eCOMPASS – An Electronic Health Record-integrated electronic application for chronic medical conditions, like stroke, that allows health care providers to generate patient-centered care plans based on social and functional determinants of the individual’s health at the point of care. Lead Inventor: Pamela Duncan, PhD, PT. Research team: Cheryl Bushnell MD, MHS; Allison Brashear, MD, MBA; Scott Rushing, BS; Ralph D’Agostino Jr., PhD.
- Fix8 non-migrating stent – A non-migrating stent that uses anchoring hooks to secure the device in a desired location to avoid unwanted migration, promising to improve patient outcomes in a number of clinical applications including colorectal, biliary, ureteral diversion, pancreatic duct, and bariatric surgery. Inventors: Clifford Howard, MD; Philip Brown, MS, PhD.
Each project will receive initial support from the Catalyst Fund of between $50,000 to $150,000 to help advance the technology to the next stage of development. Pappas Capital’s Peter Young, the program manager of the Catalyst Fund, said the program expects to support up to 25 early-stage technologies at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center over the next three to five years.
