OBI & OTRADI June 2021 Newsletter

John Harkness, PhD, Founder & CEO of Rewire Neuro

Rewire Neuro Wins Angel Oregon Tech 2021!

Big congratulations to OBI client company Rewire Neuro for winning Angel Oregon Tech 2021 and receiving a $125,000 equity investment from AOTech investors. Out of 90 companies who went through the program, nine were selected to pitch at the final AOTech at TechFestNW event on May 21, and Rewire Neuro was the judges’ top pick. Kudos!


OBI Client Company Wins


Welcome New OBI Client Companies

Founder Thomas Buchanan, MD and his company, Buchanan Science, joined the OBI in May. Buchanan Science is developing a rapid COVID-19 immunity test using whole blood or saliva. 

In June, we welcomed Oncol Drug Discovery Service, with founder Franklin Yu, PhD. Oncol DD Service is focused on CAR-T immunotherapy research and reagent development, CAR-T cell generation, and T cell activation and proliferation assays for IO drug discovery, among other things.


Mentor of the Month:
Keith Daellenbach

Keith Daellenbach is one of our current OBI mentors. He has a BSME from Oregon State University and a MSME from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Keith’s experience with startups includes working with startups as part of Principles of Entrepreneurship course while in graduate school, working at the startup Ora Innovations, Inc. developing a high speed dental drill as a Product Development Engineer, serving on the BioPro Workforce Training Steering Committee with Oregon Bioscience Association to create a workforce training program, and serving as an Advisor with the OBI/OTRADI.

Keith is enjoying monthly meetings with his mentees to help them reach their goals, and plans to participate once again in next January’s mentoring cohort. Thank you, Keith, for all you do!


Sparrow Pharmaceuticals

OBI graduate Sparrow Pharmaceuticals recently secured $50 million in Series A financing led by OrbiMed with participation from RiverVest Venture Partners and U.S. Venture Partners.

Funds from this investment will be used to further develop Sparrow’s proprietary HSD-1 inhibitor, SPI-62, for treatment of disorders of corticosteroid excess.

Congratulations to Sparrow Pharmaceuticals!


FDA Office of Minority Health and Health Equity

The FDA’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity (OMHHE) was established in 2010 with the mission of protecting and promoting the health of racial and ethnic minority and other diverse populations through research, outreach, and communication of science that addresses health disparities. The office’s dedicated staff in the Research and Collaboration and Outreach and Communication programs work with a wide variety of public and private stakeholders to address the needs and concerns of diverse communities through developing tailored educational, outreach, training, and scientific initiatives that advance health equity. Please read Richardae Araojo, Pharm.D., MS, the Associate Commissioner for Minority Health Director, Office of Minority Health and Health Equity, U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s guest post on The Catalyst. 


Events

Join Us For These Upcoming OBI Events

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Accelerating Global Pharma Licensing & Financing

June 22, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

 

Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health
Virtual Happy Hour

July 8, 2021
5:00-6:30 PM
Save the date

 

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Biotech and Biomed Patents by USPTO

July 14, 2021
12:00-1:30 PM
Save the date

 

More Community & Partner Events

 

BIO Digital International Convention
June 10-11 & 14-18, 2021
More information here

 

TAO Member Mix: June
June 16, 2021
4:30-5:30 PM
Register here

 

Techlandia Summit ’21
June 21 through June 24, 2021
9:00 AM-12:00 PM
Register now

 

Invent-a-Thon Social Hour – FemTech,
Featuring Holly Rockweiler from Madorra
July 13, 2021
4:00-5:00 PM
Register here