HERNDON, VA -The Virginia Center for Innovative Technology says its CIT GAP BioLife Fund closed on an investment in an undisclosed amount in Parabon NanoLabs Inc.
The Reston-based nano-pharmaceutical company uses a proprietary combination of innovative software and nanoscale fabrication technologies that speeds up and lowers the cost of drug discovery, especially for treatments for cancerous brain tumors like malignant glioma that took the life of late-Senator Edward Kennedy.
Parabon NanoLabs was a presenting company at the 2010 Southeast Venture Conference. For our profile of the company prior to its appearance at SE Venture see: Parabon NanoLabs successfully targets brain cancer cells.
Announcing the funding, CIT President & CEO Pete Jobse said, “Innovation and innovative entrepreneurs like the team at Parabon NanoLabs will be the keys to reviving our economy and creating sustainable job growth. To succeed, they need access to capital, and that is what our CIT GAP Funds provide.”
Parabon NanoLabs allows scientists to develop novel therapeutics using its proprietary Essemblix Drug Design Platform – a powerful combination of computer-aided design software for designing macromolecules and nanoscale fabrication technology for their production.
This platform gives scientists the ability to design and construct multi-functional macromolecules from simpler subcomponents, replacing the current slow and costly model of “drug discovery” with a new efficient, faster and more affordable “drug design” model that allows for faster treatments.
Dr. Steven Armentrout, Founder and President of Parabon NanoLabs, said, “The newly discovered ability to precisely manipulate matter at the nanoscale is ushering in an era of even greater economic impact: the Nanotechnology Revolution.”
Parabon NanoLabs capitalizes on the commercial opportunities made possible by its technology for creating a new class of designer macromolecules.
These engineered molecular structures — not producible with the traditional methods of pharmacology, chemistry or microelectronics — can be used across a wide spectrum of domains, such as nano-sensors for bioweapons defense; nano-arrays for DNA biometrics; and nano-additives for consumer products.
The CIT GAP BioLife Fund is part of the CIT GAP Funds, seed stage investment programs that leverage public and private investments to launch new high expectation companies.
This is the 38th investment. Since its launch, CIT GAP Funds has invested almost $3.8 million to help create 38 companies that, in turn, were able to attract an additional $51 million in private equity. (For a list of portfolio companies, please go to www.citgapfunds.org/
Contact Tech Journal South Editor and writer Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.
Related Stories:
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- Reston-based Parabon Computation wins NASA SBIR grant
- CIT GAP Funds invest in Innovative Biologics
- Experimental drug from cottonseed halts deadly brain cancer
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Tags: Biotech, CIT, drug design, financing, nanotechinology, Parabon NanoLabs, Pharma, SEVC, Virginia
