PABC announces winner of $250,000 investment
Powered by the Hatch BioFund, the PABC’s 10th Annual Entrepreneur Spotlight featured the event’s first major financial incentive.
Doylestown, July 22, 2024 – A promising biotech startup from Philadelphia was chosen from among three stellar companies presenting at the 10th Annual Entrepreneur Spotlight on July 18 at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) as winner of the highly competitive event.
The choice was determined by a panel of four expert judges and the audience of nearly 100 people, and the vote was quite close.
HULA Therapeutics, which is based in Philadelphia, received the most votes. The early stage company is dedicated to bringing safer and more efficacious therapies for children and adults with solid tumors.
(L-R) Steve Gelone, CEO of HULA Therapeutics; John M. Maris, MD, founder of HULA; Lou Kassa, CEO of the PABC; and Lorenzo Pellegrini, managing partner of the Hatch BioFund.
Leveraging a novel target discovery engine developed at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, HULA Therapeutics aims to be in the clinic in late 2024 with a CAR-T cell therapy for neuroblastoma. Hula Therapeutics also is working on programs for sarcoma, medulloblastoma and gliomas.
Hatch BioFund, which is the venture capital fund affiliated with PABC, will be making a $250,000 investment in HULA Therapeutics, as the result of the exciting competition.
The other two presenting companies, which were chosen from more than 40 applicants, will receive one-year memberships at the PABC and related business developments opportunities. They are:
Eliksa Therapeutics, based at the PABC in Doylestown, which is developing secretome-based therapies to address significant unmet needs in ocular, cardiovascular and osteoarthritic conditions. These therapies have emerged as a promising approach to overcome the traditional limitations associated with cell-based treatments. Eliksa's lead product candidate, ELK-003, is being developed to treat ocular manifestations of Epidermolysis Bullosa and entered clinical trials in 2024.
ThirdLaw Molecular LLC, based in Blue Bell, Pa., which is developing technologies from Temple University. The company is working to advance its Spiroligomer™ molecules as an innovative, patent-protected, new class of targeted medicines. The company’s mission is to create a revolutionary category of molecules that transform how diseases are treated more safely and effectively.
About the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC): Nearly 100 companies belong to the PABC, which is a nonprofit life sciences incubator and accelerator providing a collaborative ecosystem and state-of-the-art laboratory and office space. There are nearly 70 early stage biotech companies onsite at its two locations. Along with its campus in Doylestown, where a new building with labs and offices opened two years ago, the PABC operates B+labs at Cira Centre in University City, Philadelphia. B+labs, which was launched in 2022, is a partnership with Brandywine Realty Trust. The PABC uses a highly successful services-based approach to nurture and guide its member companies to success, advancing biotechnology, maximizing synergies among nonprofit scientists and their commercial colleagues, and launching new ideas and discoveries. PABC companies account for 17% of all National Institutes of Health SBIR grants awarded in Pennsylvania and over the years have created billions of dollars in market value from IPOs, acquisitions and commercial valuations.
About Hatch BioFund: Formed in 2023, Hatch BioFund provides early stage capital to promising life science companies, along with access to deep industry expertise and physical platforms to help them realize their missions. Hatch partners include Brandywine Realty Trusty, Daiichi Sankyo, the Hepatitis B Foundation, the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, the PABC and B+labs at Cira Centre.