Startups

 

Cellatrix

 

 

 

 

Cellatrix LLC

(September 2015, Saint Louis, MO) 

  • Cellatrix LLC is a spin-off company from the Azab Lab at Washington University in St. Louis, with independent research space at the BioGenerator Labs in St. Louis, MO.

  • Cellatrix licensed the US patent family US9675732B2 (including US14/942,543 and US15/585,653) “3D tissue-engineered bone marrow for personalized therapy and drug development” from Washington University in St. Louis.

  • Cellatrix focuses on development of patient-derived 3D-tissue engineered bone marrow (3DTEBM) cultures to be used for preclinical and clinical drug development, as well as for prediction of therapeutic efficacy in individual patients (personalized medicine). We focus on hematologic malignancies including Myeloma, Leukemia and Lymphoma.

  • Cellatrix is a revenue-generating, self-funded company that relies on two revenue lines:

  1. Sale of a “3D-Cell Pro Kit”: a 3D-tissue culture system based on the 3DTEBM model that allows proliferation of primary patient samples from patients with hematologic malignancies. Cellatrix products can be purchased at the company website or through VWR.
  2. Provide Service as a Contract Research Organization (CRO): Cellatrix collaborates with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as a CRO for preclinical drug development to test the efficacy of drugs in preclinical stages in patient-derived samples in our 3DTEBM model. Our model have a special value for immunotherapy, since the 3DTEBM includes all the necessary accessory cells and soluble factors to promote immune response against tumor cells. It is an optimal system for not only small molecules, but also monoclonal antibodies, checkpoint inhibitors, ADC’s, BiTEs and CAR-T cells. Companies that Cellatrix performed research with: Juno Pharmaceuticals, Celgene, TeneoBio, Amgen, Seattle Genetics, Roche and Harpoon Therapeutics.
  3. In addition, Cellatrix is currently focused on developing Personalized Medicine strategy for patients with hematologic malignancies. Cellatix uses patient biopsies to test a series of FDA approved and investigational drugs to characterize the efficacy of these drugs on the patient tissue and help oncologists develop personalized treatment strategies for each individual patients. We completed retrospective clinical studies in Myeloma (Data is summarized in Alhallak K et al, Scientific Reports 2021) and AML; and planning prospective clinical trials in multiple diseases. Cellatrix is currently fundraising for performing the upcoming clinical trials
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Targeted Therapeutics LLC 

(January 2016, Saint Louis, MO)

  • Targeted Therapeutics LLC is a spin-off company from the Azab Lab at Washington University in St. Louis, with independent research space at the BioGenerator Labs in St. Louis, MO.
  • Targeted Therapeutics licensed the US patent (US15/300,158) “Hydrogels for localized radiotherapy” from Washington University in St. Louis.
  • Targeted Therapeutics focuses on development of biodegradable biomedical implants as localized drug delivery for chemotherapy and radiotherapy for the treatment of solid tumors
  • (especially glioma).
  • Targeted Therapeutics is a revenue-generating, self-funded company that develops different types of polymeric, lipidic, nanoparticulate, liposomal, and other drug delivery systems for research purposes, as a service for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as for research groups in academic institutions. 
  • Targeted Therapeutics is a revenue-generating, self-funded company that currently relies on CRO contracts with other entities for development of formulations: Among our customers:  University of Montana, Lupagen, and Open Cell Technologies.

Targeted Therapeutics is at the pre-IND stage, and currently we are conducting validation of efficacy of local drug delivery in large animal models.

 

OncInsights LLC

(October 2022, Saint Louis, MO)

  • OncInsights LLC is a spin-off company from the Azab Lab at Washington University in St. Louis, co-founded by Drs. Kareem Azab, Hyun Kim and Chet Hammill.
  • The company provides novel solutions for internal organ tracking during the process of radiation through CT and MRI trackable implants, based on technologies developed in the Azab Lab, and protected by two (unpublished) provisional patents “Organ tattoo” and “CTMRker”.
  • We have demonstrated proof of concept experiments in vitro and in vivo, and we are seeking pre-IND meeting with the FDA for further development of the products. 

 

CovACE Nanotechnology LLC

(October 2022, Saint Louis, MO)

  • CovACE Nanotechnology LLC is a spin-off company from the Azab Lab at Washington University in St. Louis, co-founded by Drs. Kareem Azab and Armin Ghobadi. The company provides novel solutions for delivery of anti-Covid-19 agents through targeted nanoparticles that specifically deliver the therapeutic agents to Covid-19 infected tissues, which improves the efficacy and reduces the side effects of such therapies. The company is based on PCT WO2021202912A1 “Compositions for treatment of viral respiratory infections and methods of use thereof”.
  • We have demonstrated a proof of concept in vitro and in vivo studies (including Covid-19 model in hamsters), and we are fundraising to perform IND-enabling toxicology studies.