Allon Therapeutics Inc. - 2011 Early Stage Company of the Year - Health

Allon Therapeutics Inc. is focused on bringing to market innovative central nervous system therapies. Allon’s lead drug davunetide, is proceeding in a pivotal clinical trial in an orphan indication, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), under an SPA with the FDA. This pivotal trial is based upon statistically significant human efficacy demonstrated in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease), cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia, and positive biomarker data.

Progress in Allon’s PSP program includes:

• Allon began enrolling patients in a pivotal clinical trial
• FDA and Allon agree on a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA)
• Allon announced that pilot clinical trial meets primary endpoint with Allon’s davunetide
• Allon received Orphan drug designation for davunetide in the United States (FDA) and the European Union, the world’s two largest pharmaceutical markets
• Allon received Fast track status in the U.S. (FDA)
  

Allon believes this next trial will not just provide data for a potential approval in PSP, but will also define the opportunity in other tau-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s and several types of frontotemporal dementia.

The Company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: NPC) and based in Vancouver. 
Visit their website for more information www.allontherapeutics.com

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iCo Therapeutics Inc. - 2010 Early Stage Company of the Year - Health

iCo Therapeutics is a Vancouver-based re-profiling company focused on re-dosing or reformulating drug candidates for new, or expanded, indications. iCo has exclusive worldwide rights to three products. The two primary projects are iCo-007, in a Phase I trial for the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema (DME), and iCo-009, a novel oral formulation of Amphotericin B, used for fungal infections, both of which are showing great promise in pre-clinical experiments. DME, diabetes-related blindness, currently affects 1.6 million patients in the US alone. There are no approved therapeutics for DME. To date, iCo-007 has demonstrated a positive safety profile in phase 1 trials. Amphotericin B (“AmpB”) is one of the most successful drugs used in the treatment of fungal infections but is also highly toxic and can only be administered in an IV format. iCo-009 is formulated to deliver AmpB orally with high efficacy and reduced kidney toxicity.

Both projects have garnered considerable scientific recognition over the course of 2009. Early results from the iCo-007 ongoing Phase I trial have been presented at a number of “invitation only” clinical conferences and been featured in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. iCo-009 has likewise been featured in a number of prominent peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Infectious Diseases and the International Journal of Pharmaceutics. iCo and the University of British Columbia have received two major grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and struck a collaboration development agreement with the Consortium for Parasitic Drug Development to continue development of iCo-009.

iCo was an early adopter of the outsourcing variable cost business model, which involves contracting out clinical activities. With a low fixed cost infrastructure, iCo was able to effectively “scale” its expenditures up or down to meet project development requirements. This became particularly important during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. While many companies were forced to downsize significantly in order to survive; iCo was able to operate with less disruption and maintain its entire staff.

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Medicago Inc. - 2009 Early Stage Company of the Year - Health

Medicago develops vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs). Medicago’s VLP manufacturing technology has the potential to offer speed and cost advantages over competitive technologies. It can deliver a vaccine for testing in less than a month after the identification and reception of genetic sequences from a pandemic strain. This production time frame has the potential to allow broad-based vaccination before a first wave of a pandemic strikes and to supply large volumes of vaccine antigens to the world market. Recent results have demonstrated that the Company’s H5N1 VLP pandemic vaccine provides significant immune protection levels in ferrets after a single dose of 5 micrograms, in addition to providing broad levels of protection against three of the deadliest strains of H5N1 after two doses. These significant findings, if replicated in humans mean Medicago’s H5N1 VLP vaccine has the potential to generate protection levels after just a single dose.

Achievements:

• Signed an agreement with Evry Genopole biopark to evaluate the establishment of a pandemic vaccine production facility in France.

• Expanded relationship with Philip Morris International, a Fortune 100 company, into a $15.975 million private placement and non-exclusive partnership. This transaction represents a major accomplishment given today’s challenging market conditions.