The winner of the CLSDF Reader’s Choice Company of the Year, 2007 goes to... GlobeImmune, Inc., who took home a commanding 43% of the vote. ARCA Discovery and ValveXchange came in tied for second place. Congratulations to President and CEO Tim Rodell, MD and the other 60+ folks in Louisville who are doing outstanding work.
For those of you who do not know: GlobeImmune is a biopharmaceutical company pioneering the discovery, development and manufacturing of potent, targeted molecular immunotherapies called Tarmogens for the treatment of infectious diseases and cancer.
Tarmogens (Targeted Molecular Immunogens) are whole, heat-killed recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast genetically modified to express one or more protein targets that stimulate the immune system against diseased cells. The whole heat-killed yeast, with the antigen expressed inside, is the product that is administered to the patient. Tarmogens program the cytotoxic T cells in the patient's immune system to eliminate diseased cells containing the antigen(s). GlobeImmune's patented Tarmogen platform has a number of advantages over current approaches because Tarmogens generate a potent T cell response, are not neutralized by the host immune system upon repeated administration, do not require a custom vaccine approach and are simple to manufacture.
The Company's lead product , GI-5005 a Tarmogen for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection has completed a placebo-controlled, dose-escalation Phase Ib clinical trial. A randomized, placebo controlled Phase II trial in combination with standard of care will begin is underway. GI-4000, a Tarmogen for the treatment of various mutated Ras-mediated cancers, is in a randomized, placebo-controlled, multi-center Phase II trial for the treatment of patients with resectable pancreas cancer in combination with adjuvant gemcitabine.
Interestingly too, the $41.6M Series C financing closed in 2007 ranked among the 20 largest venture rounds in the country. Here is the full list courtesy of the National Venture Capital Association:
- Zogenix - $78.8M
- Ception Therapeutics - $77.7M
- Targanta Therapeutics - $70M
- Portola Pharmaceuticals - $70M
- AVEO Pharmaceuticals - $58.5M
- Cogentus Pharmaceuticals - $55M
- Phenomix Corporation - $55M
- Sagent Pharmaceuticals - $53M
- Microbia - $50M
- Sangart - $50M
- Ambit Biosciences - $49.3M
- Spine Wave - $45M
- Nereus Pharmaceuticals - $45M
- QuatRx Pharmaceuticals - $44M
- Novalar Pharmaceuticals - $42
- MREVA Medical - $42M
- Xcellerex - $41.84M
- Deciphera Pharmaceuticals - $41.5M
- Agensys - $41.31M
- GlobeImmune - $41.16M
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