A new venture fund managed by Pappas Capital in Durham has picked the first life science-related technologies to receive investments from a $15 million pool of capital created in late 2015.

The inventors of the technologies will receive a total of $595,000, Pappas and Wake Forest Innovations announced Wednesday. The funding ranges from $50,000 to $150,000 and is intended to help further advancement of each program.

Wake Forest Innovations, an initiative to foster and develop new technologies from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center staff, recently picked Pappas for fund-related services. The WF Innovations group has three areas of focus:

  • Center for Technology Innovation & Commercialization – accelerates the development and commercialization of inventions.
  • Center for Industry Research Collaboration – expedites access to specialized clinical and research capabilities.
  • Center for Applied Learning – promotes best clinical practices through experiential training.

“This inaugural round of project funding launches a new and innovative way of developing life science technologies within an academic medical center,” said Peter Young, the Program Manager of the Catalyst Fund, who works at Pappas. “One of the Catalyst Fund’s most significant and exciting points of differentiation from other early-stage development approaches is its flexibility to continue investing in promising technologies to maximize their impact and value.”

Called the Catalyst Fund, it was launched by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in October 2015.

The funded technologies are:

  • (Two) Primary Hyperoxaluria – Orally bioavailable small molecules targeting a novel metabolic pathway with the potential to prevent and treat recurrent kidney stones in a rare genetic disorder that often requires kidney and liver transplantation.(Inventor: William T. Lowther, PhD.)
  • Mechanical Tissue Resuscitation – Invented by the originators of the successful V.A.C.® technology, Mechanical Tissue Resuscitation applies a novel negative-pressure approach to heal and preserve vital tissue in the heart, brain and spinal cord that has been compromised or injured. (Inventors: Louis Argenta, MD and Michael Morykwas, PhD.)
  • KPC34 – An orally active, small molecule orphan disease therapeutic with a novel dual mechanism of action for the treatment of blood and other cancers that overcomes common cancer resistance mechanisms. (Inventor: Gregory Kucera, PhD. Innovator: Timothy Pardee, MD, PhD.)
  • eCOMPASS – An Electronic Health Record-integrated electronic application for chronic medical conditions, like stroke, that allows health care providers to generate patient-centered care plans based on social and functional determinants of the individual’s health at the point of care. (Lead Inventor: Pamela Duncan, PhD, PT. Research team: Cheryl Bushnell MD, MHS; Allison Brashear, MD, MBA; Scott Rushing, BS; Ralph D’Agostino Jr., PhD.)
  • Fix8 non-migrating stent – A non-migrating stent that uses anchoring hooks to secure the device in a desired location to avoid unwanted migration, promising to improve patient outcomes in a number of clinical applications including colorectal, biliary, ureteral diversion, pancreatic duct, and bariatric surgery. (Inventors: Clifford Howard, MD; Philip Brown, MS, PhD.)

The Catalyst Fund is part of an effort by Wake Forest Innovations to help foster inventions and new product ideas at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. As many as 25 early-stage developments are expected to receive support over the next three to five years.

“The goal of the Catalyst Fund is to maximize the clinical impact and value of new technologies invented at the Medical Center, make them attractive to industry and medical practice, and build awareness of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Winston-Salem as a high-profile hub for life science innovation,” said Jeff Brennan, vice president, technology innovation & commercialization at Wake Forest Innovations. “It is designed to attract both interest in our technologies and direct participation in their development by industry and community partners. We are extremely excited to begin putting the Catalyst Fund to work.”