NCBiotech News

Avalo, a Durham startup using artificial intelligence to help develop climate-resistant crops, has secured $11 million in a Series A investment round. Founded in 2020, Avalo has developed an AI-powered platform to create more resilient and sustainable seeds and plants. One example is new sugarcane varieties that consume less water and fertilizer. Avalo says it’s working on a non-tropical sugarcane aimed at reducing deforestation in regions that historically have produced sugar. Agtech venture capital firm Germin8 Ventures and life sciences firm Alexandria Venture Investments led the round. Among the other participants is the venture arm of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, which plans to use Avalo’s low-water, low-nitrogen sugarcane to help reduce emissions from sugar production.

Sara Imhof, Ph.D., vice president of the focused initiatives team at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, has been honored by a regional business publication for her inspiring work to lead North Carolina residents into jobs and careers in the state’s life sciences sector. Imhof is among 27 winners in Triangle Business Journal’s 2025 Women in Business Awards program. This program recognizes Triangle-area women who have proven to be dynamic and outstanding leaders with established track records of significant accomplishments in business and/or community service. Imhof and other award winners were recognized during an awards luncheon on March 12 at Embassy Suites in Cary.

Doron Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Chapel Hill, has received a Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for MOTYS, the company’s lead osteoarthritis biologic drug. The FDA also granted MOTYS Fast Track designation. "Securing RMAT designation is a significant milestone for MOTYS that underscores the promise of our clinical evidence and the potential for this technology to improve the life of millions of patients whose lives are limited by the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis," said Alessandra Pavesio, CEO of Doron Therapeutics.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s KickStart Commercialization Grant program hosted a luncheon last month to celebrate seven innovative startups awarded a combined $326,000 from the program in 2024. The Innovate Carolina KickStart Grant Awards Program provides up to $50,000 per company to help early-stage companies based on UNC intellectual property meet commercial milestones. Grantees also receive access to internal and external business experts to assist with commercial translation. “The KickStart Grant Awards help de-risk these technologies by establishing a collaboration agreement between the startup company and UNC, enabling the work to progress to a stage where it can secure further funding, whether dilutive or non-dilutive,” said Mireya McKee, director of KickStart Venture Services.

A Research Triangle Park startup is making progress in its quest to revolutionize sample preparation – a monotonous, time-consuming process that’s essential in the laboratory. Redbud Labs, with 21 employees in the Frontier complex in RTP, has developed a sample prep platform that’s now available commercially. Unlike robotic systems often used to manage sample prep in the lab, Redbud relies on microfluidics technology to make smaller, more nimble devices. “Sample prep is a mature industry,” said Ricky Spero, the company’s CEO. “We’ve developed the first new automation platform for sample prep in the last 20 years.

Flourish Research, a multi-site clinical trials company based in Apex, has acquired a California clinical research facility. The purchase of Diablo Clinical Research in Walnut Creek, Calif., expands Flourish’s therapeutic areas and geographic reach. With clinical trial sites in 10 states, Flourish enters the Bay Area market with the deal. Flourish Research logo “For 30 years, Diablo has built its reputation as a premier regional site, delivering high participant diversity, top enrollment-to-target statistics and participant retention,” Flourish CEO Reinhold Schulz said in a news release.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Chimerix, a Durham-based biotech company, have entered into a definitive agreement for Jazz to acquire Chimerix for $8.55 per share in cash, representing a total consideration of approximately $935 million. The transaction has been approved by both companies and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, the companies said. At the acquisition’s center is Chimerix’s lead clinical asset, dordaviprone, a novel first-in-class small molecule treatment in development for a rare, high-grade brain tumor that most commonly affects children and young adults. There are no therapies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration specifically for patients with this brain tumor, called H3 K27M-mutant diffuse glioma; radiation is the most common treatment approach.

Kineticos Life Sciences, a Raleigh investment firm, has formed a startup to develop a new generation of antibiotics that can overcome drug-resistant infections. Kinvard Bio has been formed through a licensing agreement with Harvard University. Kineticos is licensing research from the lab of Andy Myers, a professor in Harvard’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology whose work has shown promise in preclinical studies on antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Inceptor Bio, a cell therapy company based in Morrisville, has dosed the first patient in a clinical trial of its potential treatment for a type of kidney cancer. To help fund the development of that therapy and others, the company has also closed a $21 million Series A2 financing, led by a syndicate of investors including Raleigh-based Kineticos Life Sciences. Inceptor Bio’s lead therapy, known as IB-T101, is intended to treat patients with clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common type of kidney cancer. Over 300,000 new cases of the cancer arise annually worldwide, and treatment options are limited.

Laura Rowley, Ph.D., vice president of the Life Sciences Economic Development group at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, is a recipient of the 2025 Economic Development 40 Under 40 Award, the biennial award recognizing rising stars under 40 years old in the economic development industry. The awards program is hosted by Development Counsellors International (DCI), a New York-based integrated marketing firm that works with economic development and travel organizations around the globe, and Jorgenson Pace, Inc., a leading national executive search firm specializing in economic development, community development and non-profit sectors.

Monroe Biomedical Research (MBR), a dedicated clinical trial site, is growing its footprint to enhance early-phase clinical trials and attract more research opportunities to North Carolina. Construction is underway on a new 12,000-square-feet facility adjacent to MBR’s existing 7,000-square-feet space in Monroe. Set for completion in June 2025, the new facility will include 15 beds and accommodations for study volunteers requiring extended stays. MBR’s two buildings will be registered as a dedicated private research campus, enhancing the state’s capacity for early-phase clinical trials and attracting more studies to the region.

Two pharmaceutical companies with operations in North Carolina are joining forces for a greater impact on women’s health.

Cosette Pharmaceuticals, based in Bridgewater, N.J., with a pharmaceutical production plant in Lincolnton, N.C., will acquire the Australian pharmaceutical company Mayne Pharma Group, which has its U.S. headquarters in Raleigh. Cosette will pay about $430 million for Mayne, or $7.40 Australian per share.

When Oderah Udemadu started studying chemistry as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, he had no idea his journey would take a different turn. It wasn’t until friends introduced him to the Biomedical Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) at North Carolina Central University in Durham that he discovered an opportunity too good to pass up. 

That decision ultimately set him on a path that led to a career at Merck.

A 30,000-square-foot Charlotte R&D and manufacturing facility opened in 2019 by Illinois-based medical device company Medical Murray is under new ownership. Tempe, Arizona-based Aptyx, a global developer and manufacturer of complex components and devices for the life sciences, bought the facility for an undisclosed sum and says it will retain the existing workforce of approximately 80 people. Both firms are privately held. Medical Murray will continue to operate separately through its two remaining facilities in the Chicago suburbs of Lake Zurich and North Barrington.

Two large philanthropic efforts announced this month are expected to boost healthcare research and education at North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

The Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, a collaboration between NC State and UNC-CH, received a $20 million contribution from Ross W. Lampe Jr., an NC State graduate. The funds will be used to further the department’s mission of combining engineering and medical research to improve lives, the department said in a statement.