Author: Marissa Kuzirian

PLSG Participates in Mentoring International Young Entrepreneurs

Posted on by Marissa Kuzirian

As a mentor to young professionals, hosting transatlantic partnerships represents a special honor. Transatlantic mentoring programs strengthen entrepreneurship in the U.S. and abroad. The Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative (YTILI) connects European and Eurasian young entrepreneurs with U.S. mentors in cities across the country and is sponsored by the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.

The 2018 YTILI Opening Summit in June, brought mentors and entrepreneurs together in Portugal, where participants discussed similarities and differences between the U.S. innovation ecosystem and European and Eurasian innovation ecosystems. Domain experts assisted fellows in fine-tuning pitch strategies and other related topics. YTILI fellows include young entrepreneurs between the ages of 24-35 with either commercial or social ventures that they are seeking to scale in their home countries. In 2018, 70 YTILI Fellows from Europe will benefit from mentorships at businesses, institutions, and civil society organizations across the U.S., building their networks and partnerships to help attract investments and support for their ventures. By experiencing new perspectives, YTILI fellows will also develop the expertise to better engage in policy conversations in their home countries, across Europe, and in the transatlantic market.

In October, Pittsburgh will host eight entrepreneurs with businesses ranging from bio-decontamination devices for healthcare, a global navigation satellite system correction provider, technology to produce rare parts for classic cars. During their one week stay in Pittsburgh, fellows will learn about Pittsburgh’s cultural and innovation ecosystems and meet with key members of the community to gain knowledge and connections, and to learn about entrepreneurship in the U.S.

Mentoring provides rich benefits not only for the mentee, but also for the mentor, as I have learned through YTILI, as well as Women In Bio’s MAPs program, and as a Brandeis Innovation Mentor. As a mentor, I have built strong relationships with individuals who have opened the door to their own connections when I have needed them. I have also learned from my mentees – from alternative ways to approach difficult situations to gaining deeper knowledge in subject areas important to the mentee. However, the most important benefit I have experienced as a mentor is the energy and inspiration of working with entrepreneurs who are pursuing their dreams and solving important problems.

International programs, such as YTILI, have an added benefit, as we can learn across cultures to foster creativity in finding solutions at home, here in Pittsburgh.

For more information on the YTILI Fellowship program, contact Marissa Kuzirian at the PLSG.

 

Why Invest in Nanomedicine? – Continuing the Discussion

Posted on by Marissa Kuzirian

By Marissa Kuzirian, Investment Manager, PLSG In collaboration with Fourth River Solutions

Innovations often require backing from those with the foresight to believe in them, and faith is required to overlook the risk associated with innovation. This is amplified in groundbreaking segments without much market validation. Such is the case today with nanomedicine, defined as the application of knowledge and tools of nanotechnology to the prevention and treatment of disease.

Investment activity in nanomedicine has been limited and unpredictable, primarily revolving around nanomedicine applications in oncology. Hesitation among investors may be attributable to the fact that nanomedicine is a non-product segment, meaning that technologies in this space need to be coupled with other attractive assets to provide a complete offering.

As nanomedicine tools and applications mature so will the investment opportunities.

Immunology and neurology are the next forefront of nanomedicine, as early-stage life science companies tackle new ways to approach autoimmune disorders and complicated CNS disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. While investments in nanotechnology in immunology and neurology are still small and scattered, this may grow as nanomedicine enables effective therapeutics for previously intractable diseases.

Nanomedicine can be used as a tool to facilitate controlled release or delivery of therapeutics. This can be as simple as extended release formulations. However, as therapeutics move from blunt force inhibition or activation to a more sophisticated manipulation of endogenous signaling pathways, the question becomes: Can nanomedicine be a vital tool that enables this transformation?

Nanotechnology can deliver cargo to a specific tissue or act as the scaffold for complicated cellular signaling pathways. In this way, we can “tune” the release specifications for specific therapeutic applications.

Cell-therapies are popular because of their delicate and more endogenous manipulation of complex pathways, as compared with systemic administration of small-molecules therapeutics. But cell-therapy can be complex and difficult to control. Nanomedicine provides an opportunity to recapitulate cell signaling in a more precise, regulated fashion that may help mitigate the technical and regulatory complexities of cell-based approaches.

Nanomedicine may be in an early phase, but it is poised for a breakthrough. Risk is always present, as with any high-potential technology. Those with the faith to commit now, however, may be rewarded with significant returns.

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Getting a Handle on Nanomedicine

Posted on by Marissa Kuzirian

By Marissa Kuzirian, Investment Manager, PLSG In collaboration with Fourth River Solutions

Imagine a market valued at $135 billion, yet still considered too immature in which to invest. A market that deals in products invisible to the naked eye, yet which can yield incredible advances in human health. That market is known as nanomedicine.

Defined as the application of knowledge and tools of nanotechnology to the prevention and treatment of disease, nanomedicine features applications such as biosensors, tissue engineering, diagnostic markers, and therapeutics. The promise of nanomedicine for the healthcare industry includes enabling personalized medicine, permitting clinical protocols to become more efficient, providing targeted delivery mechanisms and formulations that can cross the blood brain barrier, and enabling novel implant surfaces that can avoid infections.

The nanomedicine global market is currently valued at $135 billion and is projected to increase to $212 billion, $287 billion, and $365 billion by 2020, 2025, and 2030 respectively. These figures derive from the current development pace of products awaiting FDA approval and the major impact of the market associated with anticancer therapies.

Despite this growing global market, investors have held back from committing dollars to nanomedicine to date because the field remains in its infancy and the field somewhat ill-defined. At this point, most activity, technologies, and delivery systems have centered in and around oncology to treat cancers.

North America has captured 45% of the total market, with Europe and Asia Pacific following, at 35% and 15%, respectively. Industry watchers anticipate North America to continue dominating the market for the next five years, while the European market is expected to see the fastest growth rate due to an extensive product pipeline portfolio, an improving regulatory framework, and an increase in European Commission innovation initiatives.

In the U.S., the FDA is still determining how best to evaluate and regulate nanotechnology and as this comes into focus, investors are likely to become more keen to engage.

The truth remains, nanomedicine represents an incredibly diverse marketplace of opportunity and advancement, featuring a variety of products that can be segmented in multiple ways. It has the potential to significantly impact the field of life sciences for generations. Look for additional articles from the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and Fourth River Solutions exploring the future of nanomedicine.

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Advances through the Triple Aim

Posted on by Marissa Kuzirian

The “Rule of Three” helps organize thoughts and communicate complex ideas simply.  Think “…of the people, by the people, for the people…” or “I came, I saw, I conquered.”  People like to think and act in sets of three.

The Institutes for Healthcare Improvement used this principle to develop its “Triple Aim” approach to optimize health system performance.  The Triple Aim, which has become one of the central tenets of the Affordable Care Act, comprises:

  • Improved Quality of Care
  • Better Outcomes
  • Lower Costs

While these goals may sound obvious and seem simple to meet, many times the ideas that are easiest to say can be the most difficult to achieve.  PLSG hosted a panel discussion during Life Sciences Week, featuring leaders from Knopp Biosciences, Pinney Associates, Attune Pharmaceuticals, and Cognition Therapeutics.  The panel focused on discussing how pharmaceutical innovations can coexist and thrive under the tenets of the Triple Aim.  Some of the ideas generated and discussed during the event included:

Patient-centric development is rising. In one example, a drug designed to treat pediatric epileptic seizures is using patient surveys to understand the degree of side effects parents are willing to accept if the drug otherwise performs well.  This patient-focused development enables companies to bring treatments to the market that positively affect patients with minimal unaccepted risks. (Serves Triple Aim goal of Improved Quality of Care)

Pharmaceutical companies can drive better outcomes for patients by moving away from blockbuster drugs that target huge populations, but that commonly have deleterious side effects.  Instead, these companies should focus on pharmaceutical subsets of patients with clearly defined disease pathways, which would allow for more effective and safer drugs.  Molecular diagnostic innovations can also help pave the way for targeted precision medicine therapeutics. (Serves Triple Aim goal of Better Outcomes)

Innovation is expensive, so lowering costs is difficult.  Innovation that allows patients to control more of their own health care, however, will be important in lowering costs.  Integrating strong patient advocacy groups can help support early-stage development of high-quality, cost-reducing solutions.  (Serves Triple Aim goal of Lower Costs)

Each of these examples represents important changes in the pharmaceutical industry, affecting development of new ideas, research to refine them, testing to improve them, and commercialization to find markets for them.

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It All Starts with An Idea

Posted on by Marissa Kuzirian

by Marissa Kuzirian, Investment Manager

Any project begins with an idea, the kernel of a concept that you hope pops into something bigger, something better.

The same holds true for those involved in the life sciences.  A new treatment or device or biochemical breakthrough begins with a simple idea.  It might be to ease patients’ suffering, or to make a surgeon’s task easier and more effective.  It could be any number of things.

And, in more instances than one might surmise, that idea could come from a personal experience or connection.  Take the case of PECA Labs, run by founder Doug Bernstein, as one example.

PECA Labs, begun in 2012 as a Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh spin-off, focuses on pediatric and cardiovascular surgical devices.  Its proprietary MASA valve greatly lessens the likelihood of reconstructive surgery later in life for newborns with rare congenital heart defects, like the one suffered recently by the infant son of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.

Bernstein had a great motivator for delving into research and development of these devices in particular – he had been born with the same kind of congenital heart defect.

“My life was saved, shortly after being born in Los Angeles, by a pediatric cardiac surgeon,” explained Bernstein.  “I only survived because a surgeon had been flown in when another baby, born at the same time, had a congenital heart defect.  When the doctors realized that I needed the same attention, they called the airport and had that surgeon come back to the hospital before flying off.  He saved me, which was so unbelievably lucky because there weren’t many surgeons who could perform that procedure then.

“When I had the opportunity to conduct research and start a company dedicated to addressing this issue, I was eager to do it,” Bernstein continued.  “I had the technical experience, passion, and drive, but right out of school, no business experience. If not for the PLSG and the one-to-one help, guidance, and perspective received from the Executive In Residence program there, we could never have advanced to where we are today.”

And it all started with a simple idea – to save and improve the long-term lives of babies born with the same heart defect Bernstein had.