Six companies have made the cut thus far to make presentations at the Council for Entrepreneurial development’s Venture 2003 conference.

The CED screening committee selected the six — five of which are biotech — from 28 applicants.

Those not selected in the first round will remain under consideration as CED moves through two more rounds of applications, a CED spokesperson said.

The next deadline for applications is Dec. 19.

The first six selected are:

Biolex, Inc.

Kucera Pharmaceuticals

MindValve, Inc.

Oriel Therapeutics, Inc.

Stemco Biomedical

Total Billings

The conference is set for April 22-23 in Chapel Hill.