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Oxford Cancer Biomarkers (OCB) is a newly launched company developing tests that predict which cancer patients will respond favorably to existing and emerging cancer drugs allowing treatment to be tailored to individual patients.

The company, which is a spin out from Oxford University, has a patent-protected and validated platform for discovering proteins that are novel chemosensitivity markers for specific drugs.

OCB is developing its biomarkers tests both independently and in partnership with pharma and biotech companies.

Setting the company apart from the crowd, OCB has already implemented a strategic relationship with Quintiles that provides a route for accelerating its novel biomarkers into clinical trials, overcoming the inertia that can sometimes hamper the companion biomarker business model.

The company has secured initial funding via a $5 million equity investment from Quintiles.

OCB's management team, led by Nick McCooke, former CEO of Solexa (the pioneer of next gen sequencing) and Pronota (protein biomarker diagnostic development), includes David Kerr, Professor of Cancer Medicine at the University of Oxford and a recent President of the European Society of Medical Oncology, and Nick La Thangue, Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Oxford.

PledPharma is a Swedish specialty pharma company that develops a new medicine, PledOx®, for prevention of the severe side effects that patients develop as a consequence of chemotherapy treatment of cancer. Many times the treatment cannot be carried out as planned due to very difficult side effects. The current market for supportive cancer care is some SEK 72 billion. PledOx is a medicine within the patent protected substance class PLED, which protects the body’s normal cells against oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is a condition where an overabundance of harmful oxygen molecules (free oxygen radicals) has been formed. We are also evaluating opportunities with PLED substances for other diseases. PledPharma (STO:PLED) is listed on NASDAQ OMX First North. Erik Penser Bankaktiebolag is the Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit www.pledpharma.se

The PROTAGEN GROUP is a leading provider of solutions for the

Pharmaceutical and Biotech industries, supporting drug development towards

personalized medicines and GMP compliant protein characterization services

of outstanding quality.

The PROTAGEN GROUP consists of PROTAGEN AG with a clear focus on

diagnostics, and PROTAGEN Protein Services GmbH (PPS) providing GMP

compliant protein analysis.

PROTAGEN AG has developed the proprietary UNIarray® platform to support

patient stratification and the development of Companion Diagnostics (CDx)

using the diagnostic power of autoantibody signatures in blood. We combine

our outstanding know-how in biostatistics and expertise in Protein arrays and

Luminex technology for the development of novel diagnostic assays. Our R&D

focus is on chronic diseases, e.g. neurodegenerative disorders, endometriosis,

autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Systemic Lupus

Erythematosus and Multiple Sclerosis as well as selected cancer indications,

e.g. Prostate-, Breast-, Ovarian-, Colon- and Pancreatic Cancer.

PROTAGEN Protein Services GmbH (PPS)

is a reliable partner for GMP compliant characterization of biotherapeutics

(NBEs) and biosimilar comparability, including stability and release testing.

PPS combines unique expertise in bioinformatics for protein mass spectrometry

with a long track record in protein chemistry and protein analytics in order to

provide the best quality available. In addition, we provide customer support for

all relevant regulatory issues to match with current regulatory requirements

(FDA, EMA, KFDA) for protein drugs.

PSites Pharma is developing the next generation of protein kinase inhibitors. Based on our discovery of a new non-ATP competitive, regulatory  binding site we had build up during the last 12 years a whole proprietary development platform, consisting of a focused library, a special screening and a crystallography platform. This allows us to develop clinical candidates for kinase inhibitors with specificities unknown for small coumpounds for any given ACG kinase target within 3 years.

Psites´s own lead compounds for oncology indications (lung and prostate cancer) had been successfully tested in mice and show a very good safety profile.

Our next financing round which is supported by a EUR 3 M. grant by the German governement will enable us to bring 2 compounds into the clinic and we are looking for partners who will share part of the development costs.

Alternatively we are also offering development collaborations for industrial partners who are interested in getting allosteric compounds for their specific target.

Scancell is an AIM listed UK based company developing novel therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of cancer based on its groundbreaking ImmunoBody® and Moditope™ technology platforms. Scancell’s first cancer vaccine SCIB1 is a DNA vaccine being developed for the treatment of melanoma and is in Phase 2 clinical trials.

Treating cancer by vaccination allows small non-toxic doses of a vaccine to be administered to a patient, stimulating an immune response. Effective cancer vaccines need to target dendritic cells to stimulate both parts of the cellular immune system; the helper cell system where inflammation is stimulated at the tumour site; and the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte or CTL response where immune system cells are primed to recognise and kill specific cells.

A limitation of many cancer vaccines currently in development is that they cannot specifically target dendritic cells in vivo. Several groups have demonstrated successful vaccination by growing dendritic cells ex vivo, pulsing them with tumour antigens and re-infusing them. However, this procedure is patient specific, time consuming and expensive. Scancell has developed its breakthrough patent protected ImmunoBody® technology to overcome these limitations.

The Immunobody® technology can be adapted to provide the basis for treating any tumour type and may also be of potential utility in the development of vaccines against hepatitis, HIV and other chronic infectious diseases.

Scancell has also identified and patented a series of modified epitopes that stimulate the production of killer CD4 that destroy tumours without toxicity. The Moditope™ platform could have a profound effect on the way that cancer vaccines are developed.

SuppreMol, a privately held biopharmaceutical Company, is developing novel proteins to treat autoimmune diseases. SuppreMol has developed a novel therapeutic concept for the treatment of autoimmune diseases that relies on naturally produced Fc gamma receptors (FcγRs). The Company was founded in 2002 as a spin-off from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry.

The Company is developing SM101 for the treatment of Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) in Phase II clinical trials. SM101 is designed to be a specific, early onset, long lasting and well tolerated treatment for autoimmune diseases such as ITP, SLE, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Further building its platform of selective immunoregulators, SuppreMol is working on antibody programs targeting Fc receptors and other immunomodulatory molecules for alternative treatment strategies in autoimmune conditions.

Launched in 2007 and backed by Santé Ventures, Terapio is a biopharmaceutical company developing clinical applications based on the naturally-occurring RLIP76 protein. RLIP76 is a membrane-associated cellular transport protein that is an integral part of the cell’s normal process of removing toxic metabolites formed by oxidative insults. However, in cases of elevated oxidative stress, such as occurs with exposure to radiation and chemical toxins, the endogenous RLIP76 system can be overwhelmed, leading to cell death. Supplementing cellular levels of RLIP76 through exogenous administration of Terapio’s liposomal formulation of the RLIP76 protein promotes protection by relieving this cellular stress and allows recovery by tissue cells. This mechanism of action has broad applicability to a variety of additional clinical indications, including the treatment of the toxic side effects of therapeutic radiation and chemotherapy in oncology patients and CNS diseases – a key part of Terapio’s commercial pipeline.

For biodefense applications, Terapio has accumulated a large body of data demonstrating that the protein is effective in protecting and rescuing animals exposed to otherwise lethal exposures of whole body radiation. Therefore, the company is pursuing the prevention and treatment of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) as a lead indication. No effective countermeasures for ARS exist today, making this a highly unmet need.

Terapio has performed multiple 30-day survival studies with the RLIP76 protein in animal models of ARS and demonstrated that administered either before and/or after exposure to lethal doses of radiation results in greater than 90% survival of treated animals, versus 20% survival of controls.

Terapio is seeking a lead or syndicate investors to participate with Santé Ventures in Terapio’s Series B financing. Terapio plans at least $10M in Series B financing where Santé Ventures, the Series A lead investor, will participate on a pro rata basis. The use of proceeds for Series B will be primarily used for drug development, preclinical and nonclinical programs, and regulatory activities required to fund the company to the valuation inflection point associated with completing the pivotal nonhuman primate efficacy trial under the FDA Animal Rule.

Virometix is a privately held young innovative Swiss Biotech company developing a new class of vaccines, which should overcome limitations of current biological vaccines in terms of safety, efficacy, speed, stability and manufacturing cost. Virometix Synthetic Virus-Like Nanoparticle (SVLP) technology platform offers the following value propositions:

Safety. Virometix SVLP-based vaccines avoid the use of life pathogens and the safety concerns associated with the biological manufacturing processes used for conventional vaccines.

Quality. SVLPs are based on a proprietary lipopeptide self-assembly process that leads to atomically defined nanoparticles with a constant size and number of lipopeptide monomers per particle, which increases the specificity and quality of the elicited immune response and assures lot-to-lot consistency.

Efficacy. SVLPs efficiently deliver antigens to antigen presenting cells for optimal B- and T-cell responses and induce antibodies that bind with very high affinity to the native target antigen.

Convenience. SVLPs do not require sonication, refolding, extrusion or similar processes. SVLPs can be prepared by simply dissolving freeze-dried lipopeptide monomers in a buffer suitable for injection shortly before use.

The protective potential of Virometix nanoparticles has been demonstrated for various targets in in vitro and in vivo. Virometix currently develops vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer and offers collaborative research and licensing partnerships for selected vaccines in these areas, and licensing opportunities for selected areas outside Virometix core focus.