BOSTON — Representatives of 10 Alabama biotech firms are attending the world’s largest industry conference this week, hoping to return home with new investments and partnerships to further their groundbreaking research in the state.
More than 16,000 industry leaders from more than 70 countries are expected at the BIO International Convention in Boston.
“BIO is an important meeting as it is a single place to meet with many companies using the BIO partnering system,” said Rick Burch, president of Innovative Med Concepts, a development stage biotech firm in Tuscaloosa.
The company’s lead compound, IMC-1, is in development for the treatment of fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome using a first-in-class non-narcotic mechanism of action.
Burch said the company conducted a successful Phase 2 clinical trial that differentiated IMC-1 from the current standard of care for fibromyalgia. Results from the trial were presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting and published in the Journal of Pain Research.
“The FDA has granted IMC-1 Fast Track designation based on the large unmet medical need in a serious disease and because IMC-1 has the potential to meet that need,” he said.
“The exposure they get with other biotech companies, along with investors, and customers is invaluable.”
Two independent commercial assessments show IMC-1 has blockbuster potential for fibromyalgia in the U.S. alone, he added. IMC has a green light to proceed with a Phase 3 trial and is raising funds for the trial.
At BIO, the company is meeting with venture capital and private equity investors to acquire funding to complete the next trial. Other meetings are with pharmaceutical companies that could provide funding.
CROSSING ‘THE FINISH LINE’
Another Alabama company with a presence at BIO this week is Birmingham’s Bridge Therapeutics Inc.
The development-stage biotech company is pursuing FDA approval of a patented drug combination, BT-205, for the treatment of chronic pain in opioid-experienced patients.
“We’re really hoping to work with investors on financing so we can get our drug to the FDA,” said Alton Kelley, the firm’s director of business development. “We’re going to need a little more capital to get it through the finish line.
“We’re also going to be seeking service providers and partners, different regulatory partnerships as well as marketing partnerships. We’re reaching an inflection point here as we go from being a startup to being fully functional, and that’s pretty exciting,” he added.
BT-205 is a combination of two chronic pain drugs – the partial-agonist opioid buprenorphine and the NSAID meloxicam – delivered in a state-of-the-art sublingual formulation. The company says this dose-saving combination and delivery method should provide superior safety, convenience and pain relief to chronic pain sufferers than conventional opioids.
VALUABLE EXPOSURE
Elsewhere in Alabama, other firms seeking connections at BIO include those located on the campus of Huntsville’s HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology: Serina Therapeutics Inc., which is developing drugs to treat cancer, pain, refractory epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and other disorders, and Novocol Healthcare Inc., which is focused on injectable drug delivery.
Carter Wells, HudsonAlpha’s vice president for economic development, said the conference offers crucial support for firms in the field.
“The exposure they get with other biotech companies, along with investors, and customers is invaluable, ” he said.
