7 NC Firms in SEBIO Forum
Durham start-up Catena Pharmaceuticals, bootstrapped last year with a $50,000 low-interest loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, will strut its stuff on the main stage of the 2009 SEBIO Investor Forum being held Dec. 3 and 4 in Charleston, S.C.
Catena, which is focused on developing an anti-cancer therapy, is the only North Carolina company picked for a main stage presentation this year. Another dozen firms from the seven-state region also made the cut, from among dozens of applicants.
More than 400 industry leaders from across the region and hundreds of investors from around the world are expected to attend this year's 11th annual SEBIO Investor Forum.
SEBIO is an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the growth of the life sciences industry in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
The forum gives young bioscience companies opportunities to display their wares to potential investors and other supporters.
Cerene Biomedics, also of Durham, and five other North Carolina start-ups are among the 16 chosen for the forum's early-stage company competition:
Cerene, a Duke University spin-out developing a tiny implantable medical device to prevent epileptic seizures, won a major prize in last year's Investor Forum. It beat out three other startups and collected a $100,000 top prize in the second annual SEBIO/Plan Competition.
SEBIO developed the SEBIO/Plan Competition as a year-long program to promote the creation of new, fundable life science companies based in the Southeast.
Other early-stage presenters from North Carolina at this year's forum are:
- EntoGenetics, of Charlotte
- Synereca Pharmaceuticals and Ligamar, both of Chapel Hill
- Nelson Pharmaceuticals, of Cary
- X-Ray Robotics, of Raleigh
Ligamar is a 2008 spinout of North Carolina State University that also landed a $50,000 low-interest Biotechnology Center Company Inception Loan earlier this year. Ligamar and Synerca are both participating in the Biotechnology Center's BATON program.
EntoGenetics qualified last year for a $25,000 Biotechnology Center Business Development Loan.
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