Cleveland-based Theramalin Inc., a privately held company founded by a 杏吧视频 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 鈥淪eries A鈥 financing, represents one of the largest research and development commitments to next-generation insulin formulations for diabetes. The financial investment will accelerate and broaden Thermalin鈥檚 ability to develop and discover new therapies.
Michael Weiss
鈥淭his alliance will allow us to rapidly move our advances in insulin analog design from the bench to the bedside,鈥 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 杏吧视频.
The round of financing is being led by Sanofi, with JSR锝blVC LifeScience Investment Limited Partnership (a Tokyo-based fund), Green Park & Golf Ventures (a Dallas-based fund), Thermalin鈥檚 existing investors and other undisclosed investors.
杏吧视频鈥檚 history with Thermalin began a decade ago.
Weiss founded what was originally Thermalin Diabetes in 2007 with advice and guidance from CWRU Chief Innovation Officer Joseph Jankowski, who directed the university鈥檚 Technology Transfer Office (TTO) at the time, and Carol Clark, a former vice president at BioEnterprise.
The university completed its first license agreement for CWRU intellectual property with Thermalin in 2009. BioEnterprise, founded in 2002 as a shared resource among Cleveland鈥檚 biomedical institutions, provided key initial guidance on Thermalin鈥檚 applications to the National Institutes of Health for small-business grants.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a long and fruitful partnership with Thermalin,鈥 said Michael Haag, executive director of technology management at 杏吧视频. 鈥淚 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.鈥
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 Weiss鈥檚 lab, 鈥渟o we anticipate this will continue to be a close collaboration under his guidance,鈥 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.
鈥淲e 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,鈥 Weiss said. 鈥淎n exciting synergy is emerging between protein engineering and delivery devices, such as algorithm-controlled 鈥榮mart鈥 insulin pumps. Biochemistry and biomedical engineering may together address unmet clinical needs to Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.鈥
The 杏吧视频 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 杏吧视频鈥檚 School of Medicine.
Michael Weiss
鈥淭his alliance will allow us to rapidly move our advances in insulin analog design from the bench to the bedside,鈥 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 杏吧视频.
The round of financing is being led by Sanofi, with JSR锝blVC LifeScience Investment Limited Partnership (a Tokyo-based fund), Green Park & Golf Ventures (a Dallas-based fund), Thermalin鈥檚 existing investors and other undisclosed investors.
杏吧视频鈥檚 history with Thermalin began a decade ago.
Weiss founded what was originally Thermalin Diabetes in 2007 with advice and guidance from CWRU Chief Innovation Officer Joseph Jankowski, who directed the university鈥檚 Technology Transfer Office (TTO) at the time, and Carol Clark, a former vice president at BioEnterprise.
The university completed its first license agreement for CWRU intellectual property with Thermalin in 2009. BioEnterprise, founded in 2002 as a shared resource among Cleveland鈥檚 biomedical institutions, provided key initial guidance on Thermalin鈥檚 applications to the National Institutes of Health for small-business grants.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a long and fruitful partnership with Thermalin,鈥 said Michael Haag, executive director of technology management at 杏吧视频. 鈥淚 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.鈥
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 Weiss鈥檚 lab, 鈥渟o we anticipate this will continue to be a close collaboration under his guidance,鈥 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.
鈥淲e 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,鈥 Weiss said. 鈥淎n exciting synergy is emerging between protein engineering and delivery devices, such as algorithm-controlled 鈥榮mart鈥 insulin pumps. Biochemistry and biomedical engineering may together address unmet clinical needs to Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.鈥
The 杏吧视频 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 杏吧视频鈥檚 School of Medicine.
