PROVIDENCE – Local biotechnology startups Myomics Inc. and CellCure Inc. have merged into one venture focusing on the discovery and screening of new compounds for the treatment of neuromuscular disease, according to the quasi-public Slater Technology Fund.
The merger “brings together two independent ventures with overlap among the respective companies’ scientific founders,” the fund noted. Herman H. Vandenburgh, a Brown University research professor in pathology, molecular pharmacology, physiology and biotechnology, and a member of the medical staff in The Miriam Hospital’s department of pathology and laboratory medicine, had served as chief scientific officer for both firms. He co-founded Myomics with its CEO, Dr. Robert F. Valentini, a biotech entrepreneur and former associate professor at Brown.
“Myomics is primarily a drug-screening company,” Vandenburgh told Providence Business News in September. (READ MORE)
The company had been “focused on the discovery and screening of compounds to treat neuromuscular disease and minimize muscle adverse effects (as seen with statins),” its Web site says. Its Myo-Force Assay System uses human muscle tissue, engineered into lifelike fibers, to provide in-vivo-like evaluation of medications’ long-term effects. The system can be used to evaluate tissue levels of the drug, as well as muscle contraction or hypertrophy.
And for some time, Myomics had been looking to leverage its “MFAS platform” by pairing up with a biopharmaceutical partner or partners.
“All the big pharmaceutical companies have large compound banks for screening for different applications,” Vandenburgh told PBN, “and we hope over the next couple of years to be able to develop some relationships with some of these companies and be able to possibly screen some of their chemical banks for muscle wasting or for cardiac hypertrophy applications.”
Myomics, based at Slater Fund’s biotechnology incubator at Richmond Square, has received funding from Slater, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
CellCure, founded by Vandenburgh in 2004, has been based on Prospect Street. It received NIH research grants in 2005 ($99,992) and 2007 ($250,001), according to the U.S. Health & Services.
The combined company will focus on the discovery and screening of compounds to treat neuromuscular disease indications, the Slater Fund said.
To learn more about Myomics Inc., visit www.myomics.com. Additional information about CellCure Inc. is available at www.manta.com.
The Slater Technology Fund, established in 1997 by then-Gov. Lincoln Almond and the R.I. General Assembly, provides seed capital to technology-based businesses in Rhode Island. Additional information is available at www.slaterfund.com.
