Deals of Year Spotlight Financings, Collaborations, Product Launches

ATLANTA, GA (January 7, 2011) -- Georgia Bio (GaBio) announced its 2011 Deals of the Year for pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and medical device companies in four categories – public and private financings, strategic partnerships and product launches – reflecting a broad range of activity in the midst of a challenging economic environment.


The annual Deal of the Year awards recognize transactions by life sciences companies in Georgia that are significant to the industry's development. The recipients will receive their awards at the GaBio Annual Awards Dinner January 20, 6 pm to 9 pm, at Atlanta’s Fox Theater. Here is a link to register.


All deals occurred in 2010. The recipients are:

• Alimera Sciences of Alpharetta, a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in the research, development and commercialization of prescription ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, and is dedicated to developing innovative, vision-improving treatments for diseases of the retina.
• Arbor Pharmaceuticals of Atlanta, which intends to become a leading specialty pharmaceutical company by actively licensing, developing and commercializing late-stage products for specialty focused conditions.
• CardioMEMS of Atlanta, a medical device company that has developed and is commercializing a proprietary wireless sensing and communication technology for the human body. The technology platform is designed to improve the management of severe chronic cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure and aneurysms.
• Carticept Medical of Alpharetta, a medical device company established in 2005 to develop and market innovative solutions for patients with osteoarthritis or cartilage damage.
• Dendreon of Seattle, a biotechnology company focused on targeting cancer by applying its expertise in antigen identification, engineering and cell processing to produce active cellular immunotherapy (ACI) product candidates designed to stimulate an immune response in battling the disease.
• Invasc Therapeutics of Tucker, a biopharmaceutical company formed to develop several platforms of drugs to combat chronic kidney and cardiometabolic diseases.
• NeurOp of Atlanta, a biopharmaceutical company developing new medicines to treat central nervous system disorders, including major depression, neuropathic pain, ischemia, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease.

NCI SBIR Launches New Pilot Regulatory Assistance Program

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs announced the launch of a new pilot Regulatory Assistance Program. This first-ever NCI SBIR Regulatory Assistance Program is designed to aid NCI SBIR & STTR Phase II awardees in navigating the regulatory path. The program is part of the NCI’s latest efforts to go beyond funding support and help small businesses bring innovative cancer products to market to ultimately help in the fight against cancer. This competitive program is open to NCI Phase II grantees and contractors with projects that are current, or have ended within the last two years.

Applications will be accepted and reviewed on an on-going basis until 5:00 pm EST, February 4, 2011. Final selection of participants will be made by March 4, 2011.

Once selected, the awardees will be matched with experienced regulatory consultants in the areas of therapeutic and device development who will assist them in creating a comprehensive regulatory plan aimed at optimizing each company’s movement through the FDA approval process.

For more information about new Regulatory Assistance Program and how to apply, please visit:

http://sbir.cancer.gov/resource/assistance/.