Cleveland-based Theramalin Inc., a privately held company founded by a 窪蹋勛圖厙 diabetes researcher, has partnered with Sanofi, a multi-national pharmaceutical firm, in a collaboration that involves $17.5 million in venture-capital financing for new insulin therapies.
The partnership with Sanofi, which led the round of Series A financing, represents one of the largest research and development commitments to next-generation insulin formulations for diabetes. The financial investment will accelerate and broaden Thermalins ability to develop and discover new therapies.
Michael Weiss
This alliance will allow us to rapidly move our advances in insulin analog design from the bench to the bedside, said Thermalin founder Michael Weiss, MD, PhD, the Cowan-Blum Professor of Cancer Research and professor of biomedical engineering, biochemistry and medicine and director of the Institute for Therapeutic Protein Engineering at 窪蹋勛圖厙.
The round of financing is being led by Sanofi, with JSR嚚叮blVC LifeScience Investment Limited Partnership (a Tokyo-based fund), Green Park & Golf Ventures (a Dallas-based fund), Thermalins existing investors and other undisclosed investors.
窪蹋勛圖厙s history with Thermalin began a decade ago.
Weiss founded what was originally Thermalin Diabetes in 2007 with advice and guidance from 窪蹋勛圖厙 Chief Innovation Officer Joseph Jankowski, who directed the universitys Technology Transfer Office (TTO) at the time, and Carol Clark, a former vice president at BioEnterprise.
The university completed its first license agreement for 窪蹋勛圖厙 intellectual property with Thermalin in 2009. BioEnterprise, founded in 2002 as a shared resource among Clevelands biomedical institutions, provided key initial guidance on Thermalins applications to the National Institutes of Health for small-business grants.
Weve had a long and fruitful partnership with Thermalin, said Michael Haag, executive director of technology management at 窪蹋勛圖厙. I am excited for Dr. Weiss and the entire Thermalin team. Moreover, I am excited for Cleveland; Thermalin has and will continue to invest in personnel in the Cleveland area.
Thermalin is engineering new forms of insulin to lower the burden of insulin use, increase patient adoption of and adherence to insulin therapy and lower the cost of caring for people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.
With the new round of investment, Thermalin will invest in ongoing research in Weisss lab, so we anticipate this will continue to be a close collaboration under his guidance, Haag said.
Weiss, who began studying insulin more than three decades ago as a student in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences & Technology, foresees a renaissance in the field.
We are just beginning to learn how targeted modifications of the insulin molecule can tune both its own properties and the downstream signaling functions of the insulin receptor, Weiss said. An exciting synergy is emerging between protein engineering and delivery devices, such as algorithm-controlled smart insulin pumps. Biochemistry and biomedical engineering may together address unmet clinical needs to Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
The 窪蹋勛圖厙 research team also includes Faramarz Ismail-Beigi, MD, PhD, professor of medicine in the Division of Clinical and Molecular Endocrinology, and Nelson Phillips, PhD, an associate professor in biochemistry, who will work closely with Thermalin and Sanofi. Both are with 窪蹋勛圖厙s School of Medicine.
Michael Weiss
This alliance will allow us to rapidly move our advances in insulin analog design from the bench to the bedside, said Thermalin founder Michael Weiss, MD, PhD, the Cowan-Blum Professor of Cancer Research and professor of biomedical engineering, biochemistry and medicine and director of the Institute for Therapeutic Protein Engineering at 窪蹋勛圖厙.
The round of financing is being led by Sanofi, with JSR嚚叮blVC LifeScience Investment Limited Partnership (a Tokyo-based fund), Green Park & Golf Ventures (a Dallas-based fund), Thermalins existing investors and other undisclosed investors.
窪蹋勛圖厙s history with Thermalin began a decade ago.
Weiss founded what was originally Thermalin Diabetes in 2007 with advice and guidance from 窪蹋勛圖厙 Chief Innovation Officer Joseph Jankowski, who directed the universitys Technology Transfer Office (TTO) at the time, and Carol Clark, a former vice president at BioEnterprise.
The university completed its first license agreement for 窪蹋勛圖厙 intellectual property with Thermalin in 2009. BioEnterprise, founded in 2002 as a shared resource among Clevelands biomedical institutions, provided key initial guidance on Thermalins applications to the National Institutes of Health for small-business grants.
Weve had a long and fruitful partnership with Thermalin, said Michael Haag, executive director of technology management at 窪蹋勛圖厙. I am excited for Dr. Weiss and the entire Thermalin team. Moreover, I am excited for Cleveland; Thermalin has and will continue to invest in personnel in the Cleveland area.
Thermalin is engineering new forms of insulin to lower the burden of insulin use, increase patient adoption of and adherence to insulin therapy and lower the cost of caring for people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.
With the new round of investment, Thermalin will invest in ongoing research in Weisss lab, so we anticipate this will continue to be a close collaboration under his guidance, Haag said.
Weiss, who began studying insulin more than three decades ago as a student in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences & Technology, foresees a renaissance in the field.
We are just beginning to learn how targeted modifications of the insulin molecule can tune both its own properties and the downstream signaling functions of the insulin receptor, Weiss said. An exciting synergy is emerging between protein engineering and delivery devices, such as algorithm-controlled smart insulin pumps. Biochemistry and biomedical engineering may together address unmet clinical needs to Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
The 窪蹋勛圖厙 research team also includes Faramarz Ismail-Beigi, MD, PhD, professor of medicine in the Division of Clinical and Molecular Endocrinology, and Nelson Phillips, PhD, an associate professor in biochemistry, who will work closely with Thermalin and Sanofi. Both are with 窪蹋勛圖厙s School of Medicine.
