In The News
4 Oklahoma Research Projects Receive $6.2 Million from EDGE
EDGE Provides Critical Help for Oklahoma Companies to Take Products and Services to Market
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Economic Development Generating Excellence (EDGE) policy board today approved four research projects for $6.2 million total funding disbursement from the EDGE fund.
The four funded projects are:
AliveCor, Inc. received $1.5 million. AliveCor has developed a credit card-sized, wireless device that turns smartphones and tablets into clinical-quality, low-cost heart monitors that can be used by patients at home and by physicians and other healthcare providers in a clinical setting. EDGE funding will allow the company to gain clinical validation and FDA approval, launch the technology in the U.S. and global markets and scale the product for different computing platforms, specific professions and languages. The principal investigator is David Albert, M.D.
Heparinex, LLC received $1.6 million. Many drugs are difficult or painful to use. Heparinex and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have discovered a drug delivery technology that uses sugar-polymers to more safely and effectively deliver drugs that are currently on the market to treat cancer and genetic disorders. EDGE funding will allow Heparinex to produce the key material in large scale manufacturing. The principal investigator is Paul DeAngelis, Ph.D.
Altheus Therapeutics, Inc. received $1.6 million. Altheus Therapeutics, Inc. is developing a drug therapy for the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The award will help the company complete a key clinical study and enter a partnership to commercialize the therapy. This new treatment, called Zoenasa, would have the potential to decrease suffering and provide a more active life to approximately 850,000 patients affected by IBD in the U.S. The principal investigator is Richard Harty, M.D.
“The EDGE grant award is a significant achievement for Altheus and its team members,” said Dr. Harty. “These funds will enable us to initiate and complete the Phase 2 study to further establish safety of Zoenasa and to provide evidence that Zoenasa works better than current therapy in treating ulcerative colitis in adult patients. The confidence that EDGE has expressed in Altheus will provide important credibility to potential investors as we move forward in developing Zoenasa to treat inflammatory bowel disease.”
Sigma Blood Systems, LLC received $1.5 million. Sigma Blood Systems will develop a software suite that will allow blood centers and cell therapy manufacturers to automate data collection for manufacturing and quality assurance. The award will help the company develop and validate the software and make it commercially available by 2013. The software will allow blood and cell therapy centers to complete the cycle from donor recruitment to blood and cell products available for patient transfusions. Additionally, it will save blood banks and cell therapy manufacturers significant hours of processing that is currently completed manually to meet regulatory guidelines. The principal investigator is Max Doleh.
The 2011 awards represent the fourth round of funding disbursements from the EDGE fund. In 2010, three awards were granted totaling nearly $5.4 million. In 2009, five awards were granted totaling nearly $7.5 million. In 2008, five awards were granted totaling nearly $10.5 million.
The projects funded in the first two full years have created and retained 266 jobs in Oklahoma and have attracted federal grants and commercial contracts totaling over $23.4 million.
“We’re already seeing results from only two years of EDGE funds. These four new research projects represent incredible opportunities for Oklahoma to increase the formation and growth of advanced technology companies and bring more federal research dollars into our state,” said Dr. Paul Risser, executive director of the EDGE Policy Board. “We didn’t have funding for all of the projects that had merit, and we can’t overlook the need to grow the EDGE Endowment Fund to its full $1 billion total. At that level, we will be able to support many more of the top-tier projects that are going unfunded. Obviously the more innovation and technology EDGE can fund, the more businesses, jobs and wealth we’ll be able to create for Oklahoma.”
The number and size of awards is determined by the EDGE Policy Board, which is chaired by Gary W. Derrick and consists of Thomas Kupiec Ph.D., David Rainbolt, Ken Levit, Gregory McKenzie, Bond Payne and Stephen Prescott, M.D. The EDGE Endowment Fund is managed by a legislatively mandated Board of Investors which certifies the amount of funds available each year to the EDGE Policy Board, which in turn, determines how the money will be allocated.
Established in 2004, the mission of EDGE is to bolster Oklahoma’s long-term economic growth by investing the earnings from the EDGE endowment in the state’s knowledge infrastructure. EDGE investments are specifically directed toward Oklahoma-based projects that have the potential to expand the number of researchers, technicians, support services and related activity within the state; increase the formation and growth of advanced technology companies; leverage additional funding through federal research grants or private investment; and improve the health and quality of life for Oklahoma.
6 Innovative Ideas from Across Oklahoma
Awarded EDGE Funding
Research projects to help get new technology to market
OKLAHOMA CITY– Six Oklahoma researchers and technology-based businesses were awarded funding from Economic Development Generating Excellence (EDGE) through the Innovative Ideas Program (IIP). The IIP was launched by EDGE in 2010 to support highly-innovative, early-stage ideas for one year at a maximum level of $25,000 each.
IIP provides assistance to companies or individuals to develop specific technologies to a stage they can be seriously considered for potential commercialization. The six awards this year were selected on a competitive basis from 35 applications.
“There are many amazing and clever ideas among these applications,” said Paul Risser, executive director of the EDGE Policy Board. “Oklahoma obviously has a large number of very creative people with good technology ideas for growing our businesses. The Policy Board really struggled to limit the number of awards to only six when there were so many other enticing opportunities.”
The 2011 IIP award recipients were decided at the July meeting of the EDGE Policy Board which is chaired by Gary W. Derrick and consists of Thomas Kupiec Ph.D., Ken Levit, Gregory McKenzie, Bond Payne, Stephen Prescott, M.D. and David Rainbolt. Recipients of the 2011 IIP awards include:
CleanNG, LLC, Stillwater (Alex Diamond)
Composite-based Natural Gas Fuel Storage System
Test and commercialize a high-pressure gas storage tank for natural gas, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrous oxide
Next-Gen Wind, LLC, Oklahoma City(Sam John)
360 Degree Rotational Platform for New Ground Based Super Turbine
Improve the wind collector infrastructure for a novel ground-based wind energy super turbine
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater (Robert Taylor)
Internal Cylinder Combustion Pressure Sensor
Develop a real-time internal cylinder combustion pressure sensor for spark plugs to optimize engine performance
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater (Allen Apblett)
Radioactive Strontium Removal from Milk
Develop a nano-particulate calcium tungstate reagent that removes strontium ions from milk
CRISALIS, LLC, Oklahoma City (Kenaz Thomas)
Clinical Biomarker Data Management
Expand web-based software for identification of clinical biomarkers beyond lupus to other multi-factorial diseases
University of Oklahoma, Norman (Jeff Moore)
Software Business Accelerator for Startup Companies
Commercialize software applications for attaching audio messages to locations and an interactive social studying platform
Oklahoma’s EDGE program also makes larger awards to a small number of businesses and research organizations each year. These awards are for technologies that are much closer to commercialization and the creation of businesses and jobs. Awards will be made in November.
Established in 2004, the mission of EDGE is to bolster Oklahoma’s long-term economic growth by investing the annual earnings from the $170 million EDGE endowment into the state’s knowledge infrastructure. All EDGE fund investments are directed toward Oklahoma-based projects that have the potential to expand the number of researchers, technicians, support services and related activity within the state; increase the formation and growth of advanced technology companies; leverage additional funding through federal research grants or private investment; and improve the health and quality of life for Oklahoma. After only two years of distributions, EDGE has helped to create 266 jobs, attract $18.3 million in leveraged grants and helped give six new science and technology companies a start. Established in 2010, the EDGE Innovative Ideas Program is focused on supporting early-stage ideas in which a small amount of funding might produce new technologies that have the potential to be commercialized.
Media Relations
»Click Her for Previous News Worthy Publications
