Powered by the Hatch Biofund, the PABC’s 11th annual Entrepreneur Spotlight drew a capacity crowd.
From among three stellar companies presenting at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center’s 11th annual Entrepreneur Spotlight pitch competition yesterday (June 5), a fast-growing biotech startup based in Ambler, Pa., was chosen as winner of the highly competitive event.
(L-R): Eric Heil, MBA, Managing Partner, Medical Excellence Capital; Kathie Jordan, PhD, Managing Director at Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Mohamed Kashkoush, PharmD, Associate Director, Daiichi Sankyo.
A panel of three expert judges and an audience of nearly 100 people voted together to choose MasterSwitch Bio, which is developing a novel technology to treat fibrotic liver disease, received the most votes. As a result, Hatch Biofund, the venture capital fund affiliated with PABC, will be making a $250,000 investment in MasterSwitch.
“It was tremendous to see so many friends and colleagues join us at the PABC for our Spotlight event to celebrate our region’s innovation in the current challenging financing environment,” said Lou Kassa, CEO of PABC. “The outstanding quality of the three presenting companies is a testament to the progress that our region has made.”
Topher Brooke, CEO of MasterSwitch, said: “We are so grateful for PABC and the Hatch Biofund for allowing us to participate in the Entrepreneur Spotlight. The funds will allow us to make important scientific progress on several critical fronts in support of our therapy for end stage liver disease with cirrhosis, the disease that is the 10th leading cause of death and for which there are no approved therapeutics. Forward we go!”
Lorenzo Pellegrini, Managing Partner of Hatch Biofund, said: “We are grateful to the three presenting companies for helping us deliver another exciting Entrepreneur Spotlight. Each company was carefully selected among a large candidate pool and did an outstanding job presenting in front of a highly inquisitive audience.”
The other two participating companies, OCMS Bio and Recombination Therapeutics, were awarded one-year PABC memberships and special access to B+labs.(L-R): Topher Brooke, CEO & Board Member, MasterSwitch Bio; Lorenzo Pellegrini, Managing Partner, Hatch Biofund; Lou Kassa, CEO, PABC and Bob Diamond, CMO, MasterSwitch Bio.
MasterSwitch Bio is a promising novel company that aims to treat end stage liver disease (ESLD) with cirrhosis from various disease states. The company’s labs are based at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Drew Weissman (Nobel Prize for Medicine 2023) who developed their mRNA technology, is a co-founder (more below).
The company’s science team has established a complete reversal of disease and cirrhosis in three ESLD cirrhotic models: rat, human hepatocyte and whole explanted human livers. Its technology is a modified mRNA of HNF4α (hepatocyte nuclear factor-4 alpha) the master transcription regulator for hepatocyte core function. Upregulating HNF4α increases and normalizes downstream core function proteins that play a central role in the hepatocyte’s health from lipid metabolism to albumin and coagulation. Restoring core function also reverses cirrhosis and resolves portal hypertension, inflammation, ascites and encephalopathy, and restores native expression of HNF4α, indicating a sustained correction of the cell’s transcriptional network.
In addition to the liver, the team is identifying master transcription regulators of core function in explanted diseased human lungs and kidneys at The Center for Transcriptional Medicine.
OCMS Bio is based on the observation that conventional discovery processes yield passable, sub-optimal monoclonal antibody drugs. OCMS’ proprietary, high throughput, function-first analysis cuts years from development time and millions from cost while creating the best possible next generation antibodies. OCMS’ first asset, an anti-RSV antibody, has reached the preclinical stage; the second, a muscle mass enhancer, is close behind; both were created to have materially superior and clinically differentiated competitive profiles.
Recombination Therapeutics is a precision oncology company on a mission to overcome drug resistance in genetically defined cancers. A spin-out of Thomas Jefferson University, they target the DNA repair pathways that tumors hijack to survive and adapt —restoring sensitivity to standard treatments and extending the durability of response. Their lead program, RTx-303, is a potentially best-in-class, oral Polθ inhibitor that eradicates BRCA-mutant tumors in preclinical models and overcomes resistance to PARP inhibitors, radiation and chemotherapy.
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 the PABC’s 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.
Powered by the Hatch Biofund, the PABC’s 11th annual Entrepreneur Spotlight drew a capacity crowd.
Eric Heil, MBA, Managing Partner, Medical Excellence Capital; Kathie Jordan, PhD, Managing Director at Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Mohamed Kashkoush, PharmD, Associate Director, Daiichi Sankyo.
A panel of three expert judges and an audience of nearly 100 people voted together to choose MasterSwitch Bio, which is developing a novel technology to treat fibrotic liver disease, received the most votes. As a result, Hatch Biofund, the venture capital fund affiliated with PABC, will be making a $250,000 investment in MasterSwitch.
“It was tremendous to see so many friends and colleagues join us at the PABC for our Spotlight event to celebrate our region’s innovation in the current challenging financing environment,” said Lou Kassa, CEO of PABC. “The outstanding quality of the three presenting companies is a testament to the progress that our region has made.”
Topher Brooke, CEO of MasterSwitch, said: “We are so grateful for PABC and the Hatch Biofund for allowing us to participate in the Entrepreneur Spotlight. The funds will allow us to make important scientific progress on several critical fronts in support of our therapy for end stage liver disease with cirrhosis, the disease that is the 10th leading cause of death and for which there are no approved therapeutics. Forward we go!”
Lorenzo Pellegrini, Managing Partner of Hatch Biofund, said: “We are grateful to the three presenting companies for helping us deliver another exciting Entrepreneur Spotlight. Each company was carefully selected among a large candidate pool and did an outstanding job presenting in front of a highly inquisitive audience.”
The other two participating companies, OCMS Bio and Recombination Therapeutics, were awarded one-year PABC memberships and special access to B+labs.
(L-R): Topher Brooke, CEO & Board Member, MasterSwitch Bio; Lorenzo Pellegrini, Managing Partner, Hatch Biofund; Lou Kassa, CEO, PABC and Bob Diamond, CMO, MasterSwitch Bio.
MasterSwitch Bio is a promising novel company that aims to treat end stage liver disease (ESLD) with cirrhosis from various disease states. The company’s labs are based at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Drew Weissman (Nobel Prize for Medicine 2023) who developed their mRNA technology, is a co-founder (more below).
The company’s science team has established a complete reversal of disease and cirrhosis in three ESLD cirrhotic models: rat, human hepatocyte and whole explanted human livers. Its technology is a modified mRNA of HNF4α (hepatocyte nuclear factor-4 alpha) the master transcription regulator for hepatocyte core function. Upregulating HNF4α increases and normalizes downstream core function proteins that play a central role in the hepatocyte’s health from lipid metabolism to albumin and coagulation. Restoring core function also reverses cirrhosis and resolves portal hypertension, inflammation, ascites and encephalopathy, and restores native expression of HNF4α, indicating a sustained correction of the cell’s transcriptional network.
In addition to the liver, the team is identifying master transcription regulators of core function in explanted diseased human lungs and kidneys at The Center for Transcriptional Medicine.
OCMS Bio is based on the observation that conventional discovery processes yield passable, sub-optimal monoclonal antibody drugs. OCMS’ proprietary, high throughput, function-first analysis cuts years from development time and millions from cost while creating the best possible next generation antibodies. OCMS’ first asset, an anti-RSV antibody, has reached the preclinical stage; the second, a muscle mass enhancer, is close behind; both were created to have materially superior and clinically differentiated competitive profiles.
Recombination Therapeutics is a precision oncology company on a mission to overcome drug resistance in genetically defined cancers. A spin-out of Thomas Jefferson University, they target the DNA repair pathways that tumors hijack to survive and adapt —restoring sensitivity to standard treatments and extending the durability of response. Their lead program, RTx-303, is a potentially best-in-class, oral Polθ inhibitor that eradicates BRCA-mutant tumors in preclinical models and overcomes resistance to PARP inhibitors, radiation and chemotherapy.
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 the PABC’s 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.