NEWS RELEASE
Contact:
Kevin Sullivan, Automated Cell, (voice) 412-826-5203
Tim O’Brien, O’Brien Communications, (voice) 412-854-8845
Charlotte Rapkin, Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, (voice) 412-201-7483
Automated Cell, Inc. Receives $100,000 Investment
Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse Provides Investment in Early Stage Company through its Pittsburgh Biomedical Development Corporation affiliation
Pittsburgh, April 30, 2004 – Automated Cell, Inc., (ACI), a company focused on the development of antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, and the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), a partnership to put the region’s life sciences industry on a fast track for growth, today announced that PLSG, through its affiliate, the Pittsburgh Biomedical Development Corporation (PBDC), has invested $100,000 in funds to ACI. The early stage life sciences venture has created an innovative approach in which the starting point for drug discovery is the antibody itself, as opposed to more common drug discovery initiatives that begin with a “drug target.”
The PBDC investment will be used to help the company validate and use its functional antibody technology to develop specific therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of melanoma using its target-independent approach to drug discovery.
Raymond K. Houck, President and CEO of Automated Cell, said “the investment from the Pittsburgh Life Science Greenhouse is very valuable in helping us achieve our technical and business goals to take this company to its next development stage in the commercialization of important antibody drugs for cancer.”
“Automated Cell has found a way to accelerate the drug discovery process for treatments in the oncology area by removing target identification and validation from the critical path of the drug discovery process,” said Doros Platika, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of the PLSG. “This may improve the success rate of clinical trials of promising new therapies that pose the greatest potential in treating people with cancer. We are very pleased to play a key role in helping Automated Cell bring its technologies to the marketplace.”
This investment marks one of the first new investments made by the PBDC since 1999. In November 2003, the PLSG approved a recapitalization of the PBDC to allow for pre-seed investments in individual start-ups and early stage companies. The PBDC became affiliated with the PLSG in June 2003.
Original financial support for PBDC, which was incorporated in 1988, came in the form of grants primarily from regional foundations and community development organizations totaling $1.2 million. From 1991 through 1999, the PBDC had invested in 11 regional companies, exhausting available funds for new investment. By 2003, returns on those initial investments created the opportunity for PBDC to resume pre-seed investment in the region’s life sciences.
About Automated Cell
Automated Cell is a drug discovery company focused on the development of antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer using three unique and proprietary technologies: creating antibody libraries, functional biology screening and antibody production and manufacturing. Automated Cell is creating a pipeline of antibody therapeutic candidates in cancer using its target-independent approach that will be commercialized by ACI and in partnership with pharmaceutical collaborators.
About the PLSG
The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse is a public/private partnership, founded by the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, UPMC Health System, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and our regional foundation community. Together with private industry and advanced research and healthcare capabilities of our institutional partners, PLSG invests in and supports the growth of regional life sciences companies. The PLSG is focused on developing a portfolio of companies in the following industry sectors: drug discovery tools and targets, medical devices and diagnostics, tissues engineering and regenerative medicine and therapeutic strategies for neurological and psychiatric disorders.
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