The second StartUpOC Investor Summit, held on Feb. 22 at The Cove, drew 13 companies, including seven healthcare firms that span medical device, diagnostics and drugs. The event is a joint effort of Aliso Viejo-based lifesciences and technology accelerator OCTANe; UCI Applied Innovation, a University of California-Irvine platform that provides a collaborative work and event space for inventors, entrepreneurs, accelerators and incubators; and the Greater Irvine Chamber.
The forum is intended to be a platform to help emerging companies, connecting them with resources, such as angel investors and venture capitalists.
OCTANe Chief Executive Bill Carpou said the event was more organized this time around––“We have technology [companies] in the morning and healthcare companies in the afternoon” as opposed to the last time, when things were “jammed together.”
Among the more established healthcare companies was Habor MedTech Inc., which develops a treatment for chronic skin wounds, and is seeking $15 million; and ImmunogenX, which has an enzyme-based therapy for gluten processing, and is seeking $10 million to $12 million. The two companies have raised over $10 million combined.
Other healthcare companies included biotechnology firm Bonti; diagnostics and biological testing device company Velox Biosystems; supplemental oxygen delivery device company Oxygen Mobility Solutions; Deton, which makes a cough droplet collector; and JeniVision, which develops a drug for pain associated with dry eye.
About 12 investment firms participated, either in person or by webstream, including Artiman Ventures in Palo Alto, Trinnovate Ventures Inc. in Phoenix, Ariz., Newport Beach-based Mark IV Capital Inc. and Intel Capital Corp. in Santa Clara, according to a UCI Applied Innovation spokesperson.
The hope is that local startups can access resources they need at every stage of their business without having to leave Orange County.
“Let’s find ways to work together so we can bring the right people to listen to the right pitches and bring a higher profile … to Orange County,” said Linda DiMario, vice president of economic development and tourism at the Greater Irvine Chamber. “Orange County doesn’t lack for anything but the will to generate and sustain collaborations among the existing startups, companies and organizations.”
Anti-aging
Irvine-based ChromaDex is working with the National Institutes of Health to explore the pharmaceutical use of its flagship chemical, NIAGEN, as a therapy for Cockayne Syndrome, a rare pediatric disease characterized by failure to gain weight and grow at the expected rate and leading to extreme short stature and delayed development.Â
ChromaDex, which develops and commercializes dietary supplements, has a $108.4 million market cap.
The natural products company received new dietary ingredient status from the Food and Drug Administration for nicotinamide riboside in 2015, allowing the ingredient to be trademarked as Niagen and sold as a dietary supplement.
“[Cockayne Syndrome] patients share the same neurodegenerative traits that are seen in many mitochondrial disorders and diseases associated with aging,” said Chief Executive Frank Jaksch.
One theory holds that the decaying of mitochondria––the powerhouses of cells that produce energy––is a key driver of aging. Niagen contains the enzyme NAD+, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, and ChromaDex says it improves mitochondria activity and thus boosts energy. The product, while labeled as “not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease,” is branded to promote anti-aging via an energy level boost.
Pink
Costa Mesa-based Susan G. Komen Orange County held its second research symposium at Allergan PLC’s offices in Irvine last month. The event featured speakers whose research was funded by the nonprofit organization, including Alan Ashworth, president of the University of California-San Francisco’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and senior vice president for cancer services at UCSF Health, and Devon Lawson, assistant professor of physiology and biophysics at UC Irvine.
“Enhancing research, especially on the most aggressive forms of breast cancer such as metastatic diseases, is one of our top priorities in making our promise a reality,” said Susan G. Komen OC Executive Director Lisa Wolter. The organization last year announced its goal of cutting the nationwide breast cancer death rate in half over the next decade.
Ashworth has received $200,000 per year in funding for the past four years to support his genomics research into identifying breast cancer-causing biomarkers in order to provide more effective treatment options.
Bits & Pieces
Irvine-based Masimo Corp.’s MightySat fingertip pulse oximeter received European CE Mark status for the measurement of respiration. The new metric hasn’t received FDA approval and is not available in the U.S. … Denver-based online hospital and physician information provider Healthgrades Inc. named Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills one of America’s 50 best hospitals based on clinical outcomes.
