In-Silico Drugmaker Highlights Rapid Rx Development at BIO Investor Forum

 BIO Investor Forum meeting October 21, 2015, Parc 55 Hilton Hotel, San Francisco. Cyclica is an emerging biotech firm that invented a therapeutic platform based on technologies. It’s called the Ligand Express (TM). The company is now in a license deal with Johnson & Johnson . They repurposed a pharmaceutical product made in the US. The DoD asked them to weed out 2000 drugs down to 53 and eventually they selected one, Zoloft. It turns out that this drug works against Ebola. The Army’s recent deployment of 3000 people to Africa to set up field hospitals, used Zoloft to treat Ebola patients.

Another example, Procter & Gamble has a drug compound that was causing skin irritation in some people that use their Olay skin cream products. It caused a rash. The company isolated three compounds that cause the issue and then eliminated the compound. 

The company’s vision is to 

•  Cut drug development costs in half
•  FDA to approve their drugs and 
• Be the best tech platform for every doc to do personalized medicine solution in the future. 

The goal is to create an automated platform compared to other in-Silico players. Other in Silico firms look for chemogenic compounds, but this company does it all via Ligands. The company’s business model is mainly to work with big pharmaceutical and nutraceutical projects. 

The platform is like the eBay platform. For example on a project basis they might get $10,000 $20,000 in revenue with this model. The second thing they would do is have a license model in which they would receive $25,000 or more per project. 

Their current prospects include Procter & Gamble, the Department of Defense or other similar types of firms. The CEO’s name is Paul Angelico. He said that they will need $20 million in cash by 2019. They currently seek $9.5 million from VC investors.

British Tech Network and New Products at MacWorld/iWorld 2014

SAN FRANCISCO (HighTech Reports), Moscone North, March 27, 2014 – MacWorld/ iWorld 2014. We watched a panel discussion session at the Second Stage presented by the British Tech Network (BTN) with speaker Paul Wheatley, User Experience Consultant and Host at the BTN. Paul and the panelists talked about the pros and cons of a bigger screen on the current or future iPhone, among other topics. He said that consumers are buying bigger iPhones, but the panel still preferred iPhones with smaller screens because they fit better in men’s pants pockets.

The panelists also talked about two interesting new products that they saw at the expo, BearExtender Edge and the Ring. The BearExtender Edge is long range Wi-Fi repeater/ booster that works with Macs, iPad/iPhone, and other devices (PCs with Wi-FI, other phones or tablets with Wi-Fi). The one-piece Wi-Fi repeater block plugs into an AC outlet and has an antenna that repeats/ boosts the Wi-Fi signal in the area. It does not require software or USB connector.  BearExtender also makes a high power standalone USB Wi-Fi radio adapter with an external antenna that increases the range of a Mac’s Wi-Fi signal by nearly four times that of an internal AirPort card. It adds Wi-Fi to older Macs or Windows PCs that do not have a built-in Wi-Fi adapter.

Paul and the panel were very intrigued by a new product called the Ring from Logbar, Inc., a San Carlos, California-based company.  It is a wearable technology product that fits on a finger as a finger ring.  The new Kickstarter funded device transmits hand movements or gestures to an iPhone or other Bluetooth enabled devices. The Ring works as an in-the-air pointing device that drew a largish crowd around its booth. A spokesperson from the Asian firm that is making the device suggested that the Ring is still in beta-test.

MacWorld/iWorld 2014 Returns to Moscone North

SAN FRANCISCO (HighTech Reports), Moscone North, March 27, 2014 – MacWorld/ iWorld 2014. It was refreshing to see that MacWorld/ iWorld returned to Moscone North, MacWorld’s former location of years ago. There were around 30,000 attendees at this year’s MacWorld. The exhibit floor seemed bigger than last year and highlighted more booths that we visited. We spent some time in the MacIT room where companies that had booths gave presentations. While there, we learned about products from Printer Logic, Lantronix, Absolute Software, Parallels, and Crash Plan.

Printer Logic sells an enterprise software app that attaches to Windows 2008R file server. The app replaces print server boxes in the enterprise. A license for up to 50 printers costs $5,000. The spokesperson said that most users have 25-30 printers. Each client driver for Mac/Windows PCs links to the printer app via Wi-Fi that scales very big in the enterprise. For example, the Department of Homeland Security used its service to reduce support calls for print servers that went down. The app solution was more efficient and saved the client money.

Absolute Software makes software that helps organizations manage all types of computer assets: PCs, laptops, tablets, phones, etc. It helps track the life cycle of all IT equipment assets to end-of-life. For example, the software helps Apple track iTunes content licensee IP assets. The firm’s solution helped the Columbine school track tablets, laptops, and thefts from intruders entering its campus. The company puts a special sticker on devices with a phone number to call if a child gets cyber bullied. The victimized child connects to a caring person to talk to and so forth. Absolute Software is also exploring other vertical markets.