Company Stories A

Stories that earlier appeared in Nelson's News

21st Century Systems (Omaha, NE)

Whom You Know. [Sen Ben] /a> ... Nelson's current $7.5 million earmark for software helps 21st Century Systems Inc. (21CSI) (Omaha, NE; $3M+ SBIR), which employs the senator's son, Patrick Nelson, as its marketing director. The company gets 80% of its funds from federal grants, mostly through earmarks. With nine offices scattered among states represented by appropriators in Congress, the company has in recent years spent $1.1M to lobby Congress and $160K in congressional campaign contributions. "As of April," the Omaha World-Herald reported, "only one piece of [the company's] software has been used -- to help guard a single Marine camp in Iraq -- and it was no longer in use." [Robert Novak, Washington Post, Jul 23]

30 Second Software

Two Austin startups, 30 Second Software Inc. and Phurnace Software Inc., have received venture capital infusions. 30 Second Software, founded by Austin entrepreneur Dave Sikora, has raised $2.9 million from two corporate investors, to develop mobile commerce technology and services. Phurnace, which won the 2006 University of Texas MOOT Corp business-plan competition, received $1.3 million [from] a Texas-based venture fund affiliated with Draper Fisher Jurvetson. [Austin American-Statesman, Sep 3, 07]

Austin software industry veteran Dave Sikora has launched a startup focused on mobile commerce technology and services. The company, 30 Second Software Inc., offers a free e-commerce service for making purchases using BlackBerry devices. ... Sikora was formerly CEO of Austin-based Pervasive Software Inc. Prior to that he led three Austin software startups: Ventix Systems Inc., Question.com Inc. and Powered Inc. [Austin American-Statesman, Jan 29, 07]

3C Semiconductor (Portland, OR)

New CEO at 3C
3C Semiconductor (Portland, OR) announced Don Hagge, a veteran founder of tech companies, as first President and CEO. 3C got a BMDO Phase 2 SBIR recently to pursue heat resistant contacts to 3C silicon carbide devices. Having an business scarred CEO comforts the VCs who don't particularly like a scientist trying to do both science and business. Founder-scientist Jim Parsons and his investors from an Oregon VC firm apparently agreed a solution.

3D Technology Laboratories(Mountain View, CA)

True 3D Display
(May 5) Elizabeth Downing had a continuous flow of lookers at Photonics West 97 at her 3D pictures in a cube. She should get a larger flow after the John Drake's friendly article in MIT Technology Review May/Jun97. The BMDO SBIR-supported idea makes an image in 3D, not a 2D representation of a 3D image as on Hollywood's best silver screen or even Reveo's Vrex projector. Downing has now attracted VC to build a 6-inch cube display at her 3D Technology Laboratories (Mountain View, CA).

3F (Raleigh, NC)

Thirteen NC companies will split $1 M from a new state fund intended to help businesses create environmentally friendly technologies. In the Triangle area: Ecocurrent of Raleigh received $100,000 to convert hog manure into electric power; Kyma Technologies of Raleigh received $60,000 to work with N.C. State University on a more efficient, cheaper electric switch.; 3F LLC of Raleigh received $100,000 to develop a natural fiber-reinforced concrete formula.; Piedmont Biofuels of Pittsboro received $75,000 to work on a reactor that more efficiently creates biodiesel.; Nextreme Thermal Solutions of Durham received $57,319 to manufacture a generator that converts waste heat into electricity.; Rain Water Solutions of Raleigh received $18,000 to develop a new rain barrel manufacturing process. [Raleigh News & Observer, Jul 1]

3VR (San Francisco, CA)

Video analytics firm 3VR Security of San Francisco raised $15 million in a third round of venture led by DAG Ventures. Also participating with follow-on investments were In-Q-Tel, the strategic venture firm funded by the Central Intelligence Agency, VantagePoint Venture Partners, and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Buyers. [San Jose Mercury News, Oct 11]

A123Systems (Watertown, MA)

General Electric invested an additional $30 million in A123Systems, a maker of lithium-ion batteries that aims to power plug-in cars from General Motors and Chrysler. The investment raises GE's stake to 9 percent, making it the start-up's biggest cash investor. [Washington Post, Oct 23, 08]

A123 Systems (Watertown, MA; $750K SBIR) filed for IPO.

A radically modified version of the lithium-ion batteries used in portable electronics, the technology could jump-start the long-sputtering electric-vehicle market, which today represents a tiny fraction of 1 percent of vehicle sales in the United States. A123 Systems's batteries in particular have attracted the interest of General Motors, which is testing them as a way to power the Volt, an electric car with a gasoline generator; the vehicle is expected to go into mass production as early as 2010. [MIT Tech Review, Apr 30, 08]

A123Systems publicly launched its Hymotion product line, which can convert Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles into 100 mpg, electric-powered plug-in hybrids to consumers. [Mass High Tech, Apr 29]

Of the 15 game-changing startups likely to upend existing industries - and spawn new entrepreneurial opportunities, two used SBIR - Cree and A123 Systems. Business 2.0 also named One Laptop Per Child, Desktop Factory, Renewable Energy Group, Zink, Vanu, Bloom Energy, PatientstLikeMe, Virgin Charter, MFG.com, Zipcar, Expensr, Raydiance, and Blinkx.

A123Systems (Watertown, MA) Inc. has cut a new deal with a Norwegian electric car manufacturer that puts its nanophosphate power plants at the heart of a five-seat "crossover" style vehicle. [Mass High Tech, Mar 6, 08]

Nanotech battery maker A123Systems Inc. has been granted a new patent for its "nanophosphate" lithium ion batteries [Mass High Tech, Mar 4, 08]

A123Systems, which makes nanotechnology-based lithium-ion batteries, has completed a $30 million round of funding from GE Energy Financial Services, bringing the total raised by the company to $132 million. [Mass High Tech, Oct 24]

A123Systems has cut a new deal to supply nanophosphate lithium ion battery technology to Cessna Aircraft. [Mass High Tech, Sep 19, 07]

A123Systems (Watertown, MA) reports that, starting in early 2008, BAE Systems plans to offer A123Systems' lithium ion battery technology as part of its HybriDrive propulsion system, available on the DaimlerChrysler Orion VII hybrid transit bus. [Mass High Tech, May 17]

A123Systems (Watertown, MA; one Phase 2 SBIR) claims a powerful, safe, long-lived battery. �The problem came down to usability,� said Nick Zelenski, G.M.�s chief vehicle engineer. �You had to plan your life around when you were going to charge the EV1.� ... When Professor Chiang and two others founded the company in 2002, it was devoted to a radical business proposition: it hoped to develop a technique where component materials would �self assemble� into a practical lithium battery. ... Nice idea, too bad. By late 2003, the company had abandoned self-assembly for another, less alchemical but still dramatic technology. In place of cobalt oxide, it used a commonplace substance, iron phosphate, but assembled it in a novel, nano-structure .... [It] has raised more than $102 M from a variety of investors and a deal with GM to develop a battery for a new GM hybrid model. [Jason Pontin, New York Times, Mar 11]

AAstrom Bioscience

Aastrom Bioscience, a quite volatile stock, up 12% [Oct 30,06]

Abaxis

every commercial revolution is born out of pain and controversy. Abaxis (no SBIR) has often been a clumsy midwife to its own baby. For 18 months the company missed out on 100 to 200 unit sales per quarter because it couldn't fill orders; one-third of its machines had defective components and were returned. Salesmen had good leads but were distracted dealing with unhappy customers. ... Piling promise on top of unfulfilled promise, Abaxis has spent $100 million to develop its exceptional machine. Lawsuits, firings, cash shortages and operational mishaps ... founded in 1989 by a trio of ambitious scientists ... a machine that could take a drop of blood and within a few minutes give readings on 80 tests used by physicians. ... Entrepreneur of the Year CEO Severson thinks the worst is behind. His aim is to double earnings per share over the next couple of years and move closer to a 10% slice of the market for blood chemistry. [Forbes, Oct 29]

Abiomed

Abiomed up 19% [Oct 30, 08]

Abiomed down 10% [Oct 27, 08]

Abiomed announced $20 million in shipments for fiscal year 2009 second-quarter shipments -- a record for the billed products and services. The amount signifies a 75 percent increase over fiscal year 2008�s second-quarter [Mass High Tech, Oct 17, 08]

Medical device maker Abiomed completed a public stock offering that raised nearly $42 million. [Boston Globe, Aug 22, 08]

Abiomed is expanding into Ireland, ... signed a long-term operating lease for a manufacturing facility in Athlone, Ireland, and expects its Impella blood pump production line to be operational there in about 18 months. [Elizabeth Campbell, Boston Globe, Jul 31, 08]

Abiomed reports it has agreed to convert a $5 million loan it received from World Heart Corp. into World Heart common stock -- part of World Heart�s plan to recapitalize itself for a total purchase price of at least $30 million. [Mass High Tech, Jun 24]

Abiomed jumped 16%, ...said the FDA approved its Impella 2.5 Cardiac Assist Device .... .threaded into the body through an artery to improve blood flow in the sickest of patients. ... about 150,000 patients in the U.S. each year are candidates for the pump, which will cost $20,000. [Wall Street Journal, Jun 3, 08]

Abiomed (Danvers, MA; much SBIR) said that it has gotten the approval of European Union regulators to market a power-pack (right) for one of its heart pumps in EU countries and countries that recognize EU approval. [Chris Reidy, Boston Globe, Mar 28]

Jewish Hospital in Louisville is citing the expense of the AbioCor implants as a reason for not partnering with the device's maker, Abiomed. [Boston Globe, Jan 25, 08]

FDA approved system upgrades for Abiomed�s AbioCor implantable replacement heart. The device replaces severely damaged hearts in patients who are not eligible for a transplant or other treatments. [AP, Jan 23] Abiomed wins FDA OK for iPulse system. [Mass High Tech, Dec 19, 07]

Abiomed (Danvers MA) agreed to invest in World Heart Corp. through $5M convertible loans. [Mass High Tech, Dec 12, 07]

Abiomed up 12% [Aug 16,07]

OK for Canada which approved Abiomed's Impella devices for heart failure patients. [Jul 18, 07] Not yet OK for USA.

Abiomed up 11% [Mar 20, 07]

Abiomed plans to raise $60M+ in a public stock sale. [Mar 07]

Abiomed signed a $16M five-year distribution agreement with a Japanese distributor of cardiac assist devices to sell Abiomed's AB5000 and Impella products. [AP, Nov 13, 06]

complicated Leon relationship concerns Abiomed, . In 2005, Leon's incubator, Accelerated Technologies, sold a small company called Impella to Abiomed for $42.2 M in stock. Impella had invented a tiny pump that helps the heart do its job and can be implanted in minutes. Three versions of it are on sale in Europe, and the company is conducting clinical trials in the U.S. Leon received stock then worth nearly $1 million, plus the opportunity to receive a small share of up to $16.75 million in milestone payments, based in part on Abiomed's regulatory approvals and units sold. Six months later, Impella was featured in two live cases at TCT. At the same conference, Abiomed co-sponsored an evening event featuring doctors talking about heart pumps. Leon, who was the keynote speaker, noted briefly in the disclosure booklet and on a slide that preceded the presentation that he was a "major shareholder" of Impella-Abiomed. He retains the opportunity to collect milestone payments from the company. Abiomed CEO Michael Minogue says Leon's involvement isn't problematic. "He doesn't own that high a percentage of the company, and he's not involved in the trials," Minogue says. "What he has brought to the company is that he helped make the product more user-friendly." This year's TCT promises the event's first-ever panel on conflicts of interest.

Abiomed gap-opened down 10% on projection of lower than expected revenues. [Oct 13, 06] It has had at least 15 Phase 2 SBIRs over the two decades of SBIR and a volatile stock price (between 3 and 60, now 13) over the last decade. Its cardiovascular business is medical products to assist or replace the pumping function of the failing heart.

Acadia Pharmeceuticals

Acadia Pharma up 61% [Oct 13, 08]

Acadia Pharma up 16% [Sep 18, 08]

Acadia Pharma down 14% [Sep 17, 08]

Acadia Pharma up 14% [Sep 16, 08]

Acadia Pharmaceuticals were beaten down 43% after the company reported a complete failure of its Phase II-b trial of a schizophrenia drug. The study didn't meet any of its primary or secondary goals at two separate doses. [Wall Street Journal, Jun 17, 08]

Acadia Pharmaceuticals down 43% [Jun 16, 08]

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals down 12% [Feb 5, 08]

Acadia Pharmaceuticals up 11% [Jan 31, 08]

Acadia Pharmaceuticals down 11% on downgrade to Sell. [Nov 6, 07]

Acadia Pharmaceuticals up 12% on news of selling another tranche of shares. [Apr 3, 07]

The Trials Giveth, ... Acadia Pharmaceuticals doubled on good news from the trials of its schizophrenia drug. [Mar 19, 07]

Acambis

Acambis (the two Cambridges; one Phase 1 SBIR) reports beginning clinical trials of its West Nile virus vaccine. [Mass High Tech, Mar 21]

Accurate Automation Inc (Chattanooga, TN)

Business Waverider
The LoFlyte Mach 5 Waverider of Accurate Automation Corp (Chattanooga, TN) got national business coverage in Business Week (Aug26). Now to see if AAC can make a business of it and not be swallowed by the aerospace giants if and when the idea proves itself. Founder Bob Pap may well have enough of his spirit committed to the dream to resist all but the sweetest offers.

Bird? UFO? Plane? Waverider?
The LoFlyte waverider aircraft of Accurate Automation Corp (Chattanooga, TN) made the front page (above the fold) of yesterday's Sunday Times (Aug 11) in London. The news angle is explaining UFO sightings (give people a reason to read your stuff) over Europe. But since AAC has just started serious building plans, the sightings will need a different explanation. Or maybe DOD has been doing waverider for years and using AAC as a convenient innocent distraction. On the other hand, UFO sightings do attract attention. (A neighbor once told the newspapers of one right over our block; I saw it too - a C-135 on final approach at night to a rarely used Army military airfield.) AACs' strengths, nurtured with lots of Navy SBIR money for neural nets, are the neural control system and the entrepreneurial spirit of founder and CEO Bob Pap

LoFLYTE Rollout
750,000 people in Oshkosh watched the rollout of the first neural network piloted , SBIR powered, jet, the pride of Accurate Automation Inc (Chattanooga, TN). LoFLYTE is a high-lift, low drag, Mach 5 autonomous aircraft that rides the hypersonic shock and thus earns its waverider nomenclature. The PR Newswire story said that the "program represents a coordinated approach to SBIR contracts attempted by NASA Langley Research Center and the US Air Force to realize a complex objective". Which raises a complex question for SBIR - "What is SBIR really for?". Why would agencies fund it exclusively with SBIR if it has such high value? Did Congress intend such concentration of funding? Are the agencies just thereby avoiding the normal appropriations oversight of large projects? Even though the company has some decent claim to be commercially minded, does such a project pass a competitive investment efficiency test of commercial impact per marginal dollar invested? Did, indeed, the agencies even consider the investment competitiveness as viewed from the market sector? Why would anyone rain on a small business victory parade? Now that SBIR has proven the principle, will the normal agency R&D assume responsibility for the development under competitive bidding practices? And if so, can the company compete well outside the SBIR shelter since the technology belongs to the government for government use? Will success in such a maneuver now embolden the agencies to abandon the infant, diversified, market-minded, investment approach to invest a lot more money in a lot fewer companies with the objective of "a coordinated approach to SBIR contracts"? Does DOD hereby announce that Fast Track will be Second Track?

Accuray

Since CyberKnife was first approved in 1999 for tumor treatment, it has been used in some 40,000 cases, and demand is growing. ... from Accuray (Sunnyvale CA; one SBIR) ... allows doctors to treat tumors using a noninvasive, outpatient procedure that helps patients avoid the side effects of surgery, chemotherapy or other forms of radiation. It uses software and robotics to home in on cancerous tissue and deliver large doses of radiation while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. [Time, Dec 17, 07]

Accuray (Sunnyvale CA; one SBIR) entered a partnership with Still River Systems which makes proton bean radiotherapy products. [Silicon Valley Business Journal, Oct 30]

Accuray (one SBIR a decade ago) was up 62% from its IPO price the day before. [Feb 9, 07]

Accuri Cytometers (Ann Arbor, MI)

Accuri Cytometers (Ann Arbor, MI; no SBIR) got $13 M Series C Financing ... Spun out of the University Of Michigan in 2002, ... developed revolutionary high performance cell analysis systems. .... "We are a state-supported start-up company," says CEO Jennifer Baird, "and we've been making decisions of how to manufacture our product. We've decided to do it in the state of Michigan." [MetroMode, Jul 9, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals

Achillion Pharmaceuticals up 12% [Jul 31, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals up 39% [Jul 23, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals is the type of biotech that Big Pharma looks for to find new drugs. Achillion develops small-molecule drugs to fight infectious diseases like Hepatitis C and HIV. Gilead Sciences has partnered with Achillion and signed a worldwide exclusive license for a compound aimed at stopping the Hepatitis C virus from replicating. The drug has an estimated $1 billion market, says Alfred Mansour, CEO of Biotech Watch [Gene Marcial, Business Week, Jun 23, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals up 13% [Jun 13, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals up 19% [Apr 29,08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals down 10% [Apr 1, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals down 11% [Mar 5, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals up 10% [Feb 25, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals down 10% [Feb 20, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals up another 23% [Feb 4, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals up 41% [Feb 1, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals down 10% [Jan 30, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals up 12% [Jan 14, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals down 16% [Jan 2, 08]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals up 16%. [Dec 31, 07]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals up 10% [Nov 20, 07]

Achillion Pharmaceuticals down 12% [Nov 2, 07]

Lost a big bet. Achillion Pharmaceuticals shares dropped in half [Feb 9, 07] as it and its partner Gilead Sciences gave up on their hepatitis C drug when it showed abnormal liver problems.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals was up 22% for its first week of public trading. One Phase 2 SBIR.

Acorda Therapeutics

Acorda Thera up 12% [Oct 28, 08]

Acorda Thera down 10% [Oct 6, 08]

Acorda Therapeutics (Hawthorne, NY; $1.8M SBIR) rose 31% [Jun 2, 08] ... company said a second late-stage trial showed that its multiple-sclerosis drug improved mobility in some patients with the debilitating disease. Acorda plans to file for licensing to market the drug, being developed with Elan, in the first quarter [WSJ]

Acorda Therapeutics up 15% [Feb 13, 08]

Acorda Therapeutics down 11% [Feb 6, 08] on announcing higher R&D spending.

Acorda Therapeutics (Hawthorne, NY; $1.6M SBIR) up 25% [Jan 28, 08] after it said its multiple sclerosis drug Fampridine-SR does not raise the risk of heart-related side effects anymore than a placebo in a so-called QT cardiac safety study required by the FDA [Forbes.com]

Acorda Therapeutics up 12%[Jan 10, 08]

Acorda Therapeutics up 10% on no news. [Nov 20, 06]

AcryMed (Beaverton, OR)

I-Flow Corp. of Lake Forest, Calif., agreed to pay $25M in cash to acquire AcryMed (Beaverton, OR; $1.5M SBIR) ... focused on wound dressings since its beginning in 1993. [The Oregonian, Jan 3, 08]

ActaCell (Austin, TX)

ActaCell (Austin, TX; no SBIR), A small battery company spun out of the University of Texas and nurtured by the Austin Technology Incubator has raised $5.8 million in a first round of venture capital, including a grant from the philanthropic arm of Google. ... formed to commercialize some of UT's lithium-ion battery research [Austin American Statesman, Jul 23, 08]

ActivBiotics (Lexington, MA)

ActivBiotics (Lexington, MA; no SBIR) developer of antibiotics, reports plans to liquidate all of its assets following the failure of its lead drug in clinical trials. [Mass High Tech, Dec 19, 07]

ActivMedia Robotics (Peterborough NH)

Smart new wheels. The government giveth to technology companies, and the government maketh life really difficult for them. Last week, I had the chance to ride in a souped-up, artificially intelligent motorized wheelchair. It was developed by ActivMedia Robotics of Peterborough NH., under a $100K NIH grant, and was shown publicly for the first time ... The chair uses a digital map of the room it is in to navigate autonomously. Click a point on the map and it will take you there, avoiding obstacles and people along the way. Eventually, it could be driven by touching icons on the screen or by speaking voice commands, like ''Go to the dining room.'' ... If not for the NIH grant, the chair wouldn't exist, and it won't have much hope of making it to the market without a further $750K NIH infusion. After that, there's the FDA approval process [who] must certify that the chair won't endanger the lives of its users by, for example, autonomously pitching them down a flight of stairs.... How large is the market for an intelligent wheelchair? And will prospective users and their caretakers trust the chair's driving ability enough to buy it? No one knows. Dietsch estimates that the chair, if made in small quantities, would cost about $30,000. If manufactured in large volume, $20,000. That's about the same price at which Johnson & Johnson is expected to sell its Independence 3000 Ibot Transporter, the robotic wheelchair developed by Dean Kamen that climbs stairs, handles all kinds of rough terrain, and balances on two wheels. ... Both the Ibot and ActivMedia's Independence-Enhancing Wheelchair are entirely new kinds of products, and they both will require that new tests be developed before they can be deemed safe for use. But how safe is safe enough? A human wheelchair operator is responsible if she drives the chair into a wall, and that happens often enough: Dietsch says that wheelchair accidents send 35,000 people to the hospital each year. Should ActivMedia's artificially intelligent chair be required to perform more reliably than a human and prevent 100 percent of all possible wheelchair accidents? The FDA's guidelines say that the benefits of a new medical device must outweigh the risks. But the agency can be slow in figuring that out. Clinical trials for the Ibot began in mid-1999. Kamen initially thought it would be on the market by early 2001, but the revised projection is later this year. [ Red glare, black ink. [Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe, July 1,02]

Active Power

Active Power (Austin, TX; no SBIR) said sales grew 34% in 2007, and the company narrowed its full-year ...makes battery-free backup power systems for facilities that need uninterrupted power. [Austin American-Statesman, Feb 2]

Active Power (Austin, TX; no SBIR), inventor and manufacturer of the most energy-efficient critical power systems in the world, announced today it completed a private placement of approximately $14 M of common stock to institutional investors. .. flywheel-based UPS systems protect critical operations in data centers, healthcare facilities, manufacturing plants, broadcast stations and governmental agencies in more than 40 countries. [company news release, Aug 16]

Backup power systems company Active Power reported a 27% gain in revenue ... specializes in battery-free, flywheel-based power systems ...still it lost $4.9M [Austin American-Statesman, Oct 27, 06]

Actuality Systems

Actuality Systems Founded in 1997, Actuality Systems develops the world's first Spatial 3D visualization systems, which have been proven to provide faster and more accurate outcomes in critical defense, medical, and security operations. Organizations evaluating Perspecta include the National Institutes of Health, Centacor (J&J), Kyoto University, Nissho International, Purdue University, the US Army, University of Toronto $1.7 million grant from ATP for work to commercialize low-cost scalable 3D holographic video.sale of its PerspectaTM 3D system to the NASA Ames Research Center in California. The unique 360-degree display will be used as part of the center's work in 3D imaging of scientific data in the fields of earth science and astronomy. .. Apache Corp. has invested $1.2 million in the company. Houston-based Apache's investment is part of $6.5 million raised to expand business development, and add engineering staff.

Aculight (Bothell, WA)

Laser technology company Aculight (Bothell, WA; $22M SBIR, 90 employees) is being purchased by Lockheed Martin for an undisclosed sum. [Puget Sound Business Journal, Jul 28, 08] Thanks to Duane Zieg, MDA Tech Applications group; MDA furnished a small fragment of the SBIR haul.

Acumentrics (Westwood MA)

Acumentrics (Westwood, MA; one SBIR) has developed and introduced a rugged uninterruptible power supply system able to provide simultaneous DC and AC outputs ... for solid oxide fuel cells. [Boston Globe, Sep 11]

Acumentrics (Westwood, MA; one SBIR) got a 3 1/2-year, $15.6 M grant to continue the development of the company's tubular solid oxide fuel cell technology, courtesy of the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy [Mass High Tech, Jun 5, 08]

Acumentrics (Westwood MA) got its first recorded SBIR Phase 2 from DOE to develop optimized manufacturing techniques and to build pre-commercial prototypes of a hybrid ceramic-metallic heat exchanger for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) [press release Oct 11, 07]

Adolor

Adolor up 10% [Oct 20, 08]

Adolor up 18% [Oct 16, 08]

Adolor down 12% [Sep 17, 08]

Adolor down 11% [Jul 7, 08]

Adelor down 10% [Mar 14, 08]

Adelor up 19% [Dec 5, 07] after a deal with Pfizer.

Adolor up 13% [AP, Nov 28, 07] after it and GlaxoSmithKline PLC said that a U.S. Food and Drug Administration committee will review Adolor's application for experimental drug Entereg, which treats stomach-related side effects after surgery.

Adolor up 12% [Aug 7, 07]

Adolor's stock free-fell 60% after the company announced it had suspended for safety reasons clinical testing of its lead new drug candidate as a potential treatment for opioid-induced bowel dysfunction. [bizjournals.com] [Apr 10, 07]

Adelor up 26% [Mar 12, 07] on news that Glaxo will expand the testing of Adelor's bowel drug.

Adenosine Therapeutics (Charlottesville VA)

Adenosine Therapeutics (Charlottesville VA; $7.5M SBIR) got $14M financings from Novartis Option Fund [company press release, Jun 27, 07]

Adeza Technologies (Durham, NC)

Adeza Biomedical shot up by half on news that it was being bought by Cytyc rose 2%. [Feb 12, 07]

Adherex Technologies (Durham, NC)

Adherex Technologies (Durham, NC) has a deal with a Canadian investment bank for $25M in stock to work on new cancer therapies. Adherex recently regained the rights to develop its most advanced cancer therapy when GlaxoSmithKline decided not to continue assisting in its development., [Raleigh News and Observer, Jan 23] No SBIRs yet.

AdiMab (Lebanon, NH)

AdiMab (Lebanon, NH; no SBIR) a biotech focused on antibody discovery technology, has closed a Series B round of venture capital to fuel growth and hire more workers, company officials said. ... $6.2 million Series A round last summer. Gerngross said the value of his biotech has increased by 300 percent from the time of the Series A to the Series B, based on investor valuations [Mass High Tech, Mar 26]

Adnexus Therapeutics (Waltham,MA)

Bristol-Myers Squibb said yesterday that it would pay $430M for Adnexus Therapeutics (Waltham, MA; no SBIR), a privately held biotechnology company whose lead product is a cancer drug in the earliest stages of human trials. ... is owned by a handful of venture capital companies [Reuters, Sep 25]

ADS Biotechnology (Toledo, OH)

Rocket Ventures, a pre-seed, early-stage venture fund for technology-based [Ohio] companies, has awarded Ignite! grants to three Toledo firms - ADS Biotechnology, TechTol Imaging, and DoX Systems. These grants are given to help the companies develop and use technology to create new products or improve processes that have an impact on jobs and revenues in Northwest Ohio. [Toledo Free Press, Jun 13, 08] No SBIR.

Advanced Bionics

Back to SBIR. Advanced Bionics ($500K SBIR) will become an independent company again, with businesses in cochlear implants and its development program in drug pumps as Boston Scientific unwinds its 2004 acquisition ... Boston Scientific will be left with Advanced Bionics' pain-management business, including a spinal-cord stimulator for chronic pain, and the Bion, which is in development to treat migraine headaches. [Keith Winstein, Wall Street Journal, Aug 10]

Advanced Cell Technology

Advanced Cell Technology said that its is closing its research facility and Charlestown and won�t be renewing its lease on its headquarters in Alameda. Calif., in an effort to cut operating expenses. [Mass High Tech, Sep 9]

Advanced Cell Technology ($200K SBIR), the biotechnology company that recently announced it was having financial troubles, may find relief from its latest accomplishment. The firm announced that its scientists have used human embryonic stem cells to generate billions of blood cells. Though the technique is still preliminary and has not been proven safe in animals, the hope is that it could eventually lead to a new supply of blood for patients. The research appears online (pre-published ahead of print) in the journal Blood. [AAAS, Aug 27, 08]

Advanced Cell Technology a developer of stem cell treatments, has granted an exclusive license, potentially worth up to $1.25 million, to Embryome Sciences Inc. [Mass High Tech, Aug 11, 08]

For the past decade, Advanced Cell Technology (Worcester, MA; $300K SBIR) has claimed one spectacular success after another. ... the first to clone an endangered species ... cloned the first human embryo ... Now, ACT could be on the verge of shutting down. ... the company warned that it doesn't have cash to continue operating after July 31 without raising additional money or drastically slashing operations. [Todd Wallack, Boston Globe, Jul 17, 08]

Advanced Cell Technology (one SBIR) reports that, along with colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco and embryo bank StemLifeLine, the company has developed five human embryonic stem cell lines without having to destroy any embryos. [Mass High Tech, Jan 11, 08]

A Los Angeles-based developer of stem cell treatments with research facilities in Worcester [MA] is on the hunt for corporate partners to develop recently acquired products and therapies. Advanced Cell Technology (one SBIR) took ownership of a stem cell treatment for heart failure through a $5M acquisition of Boston's Mytogen (no SBIR), completed in September. [Mass High Tech, Dec 7]

Advanced Ceramics Research (Tucson, AZ)

Eyes Are Watching. Advanced Ceramics Research got some notoriety from the investigation of Congressman Curt Weldon (a huge friend of Defense) for its payments to lobbyists: paid Grimes $60,000 as its registered lobbyist in 2003 and 2004. An affiliate of Advanced Ceramics paid her an additional $40,000 during that time, according to her lobbying registration documents. Weldon gave testimonials on behalf of Advanced Ceramics Research in two separate hearings of the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces, which he chairs. Weldon had invited the Arizona company's CEO to testify in 2004 and 2005 about what he characterized as its "very interesting work in developing state of the art composites that have increased performance while significantly reducing component cost." ... Some watchdog organizations [like Taxpayers for Common Sense] previously noted Weldon's support for companies that had little to do with his constituents in Delaware County and that paid fees to the firm operated by his daughter and Sexton, or to a close friend of Weldon's, lobbyist Cecilia Grimes. [Jeffery Smith and Carol Loennig, Washington Post, Oct 18] Advanced Ceramics, and its apparent manufacturing spinoff (same address), have had $20M of SBIR.

Business Week (June 23) reports that Advanced Ceramics Research (Tucson) makes plastic bones that can be tailored to the exact shape needed for compound fractures. It says that ONR "pioneered" such rapid prototyping and indeed ONR gave ACR two Phase 2 SBIRs for such osteoinductive material work. ACR has been blessed with many SBIRs (29 DOD Phase 1s since 1992 leading to five Phase 2s so far, and three NASA Phase 2s). FDA approval could come in 3-4 years.

Advanced Fuel Research (East Hartford, CT)

A Party, A Party
(Apr 21) On-Line Technologies is having a grand opening party for its manufacturing line. The Governor will remark. On-Line is a spin-off of Advanced Fuel Research (East Hartford, CT) which has consumed tons of SBIR money (and recently ATP $2.8M) for its FT-IR technology. AFR's WebPage on SBIR is still under construction (it takes a long time to make a credible rationale for so much investment). Because AFR and On-Line are private companies, they don't have to tell the public nuttin'; only the federal agencies who have supplied all the money can demand an accounting and they don't seem so inclined. The agencies don't mind the ton of kerosene to light a fire in whose glow they (and the local politicians) would then bask. They believe you can do great things as long as you don't mind how much money it takes. And On-Line's Website pretty much adopts that strategy with the usual stuff about our wonderful products. Nevertheless, a manufacturing line merits a some celebration in SBIR companies. Is there any harm in pouring all that kerosene into AFR? Depends on your view. If you're a federal agency who has committed itself to a technology, more money is good, not bad, and the competent R&D companies feed well on that. If you are a startup or an existing commercializer with a new idea, you often get shut out as the money goes to the established SBIR companies. Never-had-SBIR companies like startup Actify (San Francisco) and commercializer TM Electronics (Worcester) get not even a Phase 1 to even show their new technologies. Consider the calculus: every Phase 2 to an established company for struggling technology cuts out ten Phase 1 awards to new ideas (whenever the agency caps its SBIR).

So, you have an interesting concept for an instrument that you think industry will want because it lets them monitor gas temperatures at a distance? You soon find that industry is not as enthusiastic as you are and so you try the government to get R&D money to develop something that industry will surely buy. You tell that story to government, who really doesn't know all that much about industry economics. Lo, and behold, government gives you a cool half-million to develop it. But industry still won't buy it. Maybe you, too, don't understand the industry economics. Why not try government again with the same story? Nah, they can't be that dumb! Oh, really? Consider the case of FT-IR technology at Advanced Fuel Research (East Hartford, CT).

Advanced Fuel Research Phase II SBIRs for FT-IR
NASA 85 In-Situ Characterization of the Size and Composition of Atmospheric Aerosols by FT-IR
Energy 86 Measurement and Observation of Combustion Performance and Coal Water Fuels
USAF 88 Materials High Temperature Measuring Instr Emissivity Spectral Emissometers
SDIO 90 In Situ Diagnostics for deposition of High T Superconducting Films
NSF 91 Temperature Modulation Method for In-Situ Measurement of Surface Treatment & Emissivity
NSF 92 Temperature Modulation Instrument for Glass Manufacturing
USAF 92 Novel Test Method for Fuel Thermal Stability
Army 92 High Temperature Oxygen Index Apparatus Stability
NSF 92 A New Method of Time-Temperature Modeling of Sedimentary Basins
NSF 92 Measurements and Modeling of the Behavior of Charring Polymers in Fires
USAF 93 Process Monitoring and Control During Plasma Processing of Semiconductors
BMDO 93 Miniaturized FT-IR Sensor for Infrared Measurement
NSF 93 In-Situ Measurement of Sub-Micron Particles during Synthesis from Gaseous Pre-Cursors
NASA 94 Blackbody reference for Infrared Imaging Systems
Energy 94 On-Chip IR Spectral Sensors by Superconducting Detector Arrays
Energy 94 An In-Situ Particle Sensor for Metal Forming Processes
USAF 95 Real-Time FT-IR Diagnostics and Control of Semiconductor Fabrication
NSF 95 Fourier Transform Infrared Diagnostics
NASA 95 Process Control for Plasma Spray Coating
DARPA 96 Rapid Thermal Annealing Process with Real-Time Monitoring for SiO2 Layer
Army 96 Fiber Optic Raman Probe for Real-Time Monitoring of Composite Viscosity and Intelligent Process Control of Autoclave Cure
NSF 96 On-Line Control of Particulate and Volatile Air Toxic Emissions from Thermal Treatment Systems
NSF 96 NonIntrusive Diagnostics for Sooting Combustion Systems
Energy 97 Sensors for Performance Monitoring of Advanced Gas Turbines
NSF 97 In-Line Process Monitoring & Control for Poly-Silicon Formation Inside Cluster Tools
If there's a problem, who's responsible and what's the solution? Whatever, don't blame AFR which merely proposed what it would like to do. The government apparently accepted the promise of a bright future over and over. Could these proposals simply have been the best of a bad lot? Who would believe that with all the government and small firm blather about "a highly competitive" program? 'Nuf Said? Now, if you want the Complete History, dig into what was funded before 1993 by all the agencies whose Websites don't report earlier SBIRs (wonder why?). But then you don't need a longer history to get the message that government's view of history circumnavigates the present.

Advanced Life Sciences

Advanced Life Sciences led all downers 19% [Jul 2, 07] after bad news on the trials for its pneumonia drug.

Advanced Life Sciences down 10%. [Jun 25, 07]

Investors who stuck with Advanced Life Sciences even after it delayed completion of Phase 3 clinical trials on cethromycin felt rewarded when the Food & Drug Administration granted it "Orphan Drug" designation. ... The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases is collaborating with Advanced Life on cethromycin [Gene Marcial, Business Week, Apr 2, 07]

Advanced Liquid Logic (RTP, NC)

Advanced Liquid Logic (RTP, NC: three Phase 1 SBIRs) won a runner-up award in the Semiconductor field for Technology Innovation 2007 by the Wall Street Journal.

Advanced Magnetics

Advanced Magnetics says it will sell common stock in a public offering to raise $130-150M. [May 07]

Advanced Magnetics settled its suit with Cytogen by paying $4M cash and releasing 50,000 shares of Cytogen stock to regain rights to two experimental products for use in detecting cancer. [Mass High Tech, Feb 16]

Revenue has dwindled, down nearly 80 percent from 16 years ago, and losses have gotten steeper. But then there is this: Advanced Magnetics shares have soared 430 percent, from $11.08 to $59.54 so far this year, making it the most successful Massachusetts stock of 2006. [Steven Syre, Boston Globe, Dec 28, 06]

Advanced Magnetics will sell another piece of itself for $132M which will more than cover the $25M loss in 2006 by its 36 workers. [facts from Mass High Tech, Dec 8, 06].

It Works! The Phase III clinical trial of Advanced Magnetics's ferumoxytol for blood iron was so good that the stock jumped 30%. Or as a sciencecrat said demonstrated a statistically significant achievement of all the primary and secondary endpoints. [Nov 17, 06]

Advanced Photonix

Advanced Photonix up 10% [Oct 23, 07] after announcing that its subsidiary, Picometrix, has received a follow-on $750K AF Phase II SBIR for further non-destructive testing (NDT) application development involving the testing of radomes for defects such as delaminations and water intrusion utilizing the T-Ray 4000 terahertz system platform. [company press release] Picometrix started life in 1992 with an SDIO SBIR when Steve Williamson got fed up with his university's handling of patenting his work.

We own the night! Advanced Photonix jumped 26% when it said it had booked a $520K Army buy of its (LED) Arrays used for night vision displays in the Army that claims to own the night. API is most notably a vendor of avalanche photodiodes. It had one Phase 2 SBIR, from BMDO, in 1993 for single-chip photodetector arrays when it had 65 employees and a market cap around $50M. Now it has 50 employees and a market cap of only $16M.

Adventrx (San Diego, CA)

Can't Afford Science. The staff cuts (at Adventrx (San Diego, CA; no SBIR)), including the chief scientific officer, vice president of medical affairs and vice president of research and development, are expected to reduce 2009 payroll expenses by $1.5 million. ... leave the company with enough cash to fund operations until mid-09. [San Diego Union Tribune, Oct 22, 08]

AeroVironment

Aerovironment up 10% [Oct 28, 08]

Aerovironment up 13% [Oct 13, 08]

Aerovironment down 18% [Sep 10, 08] after its fiscal first-quarter net income beat analysts' expectations. [Wall Street Journal, Sep 11]

AeroVironment up 15% [Jun 25, 08] to an all-time high after it posted better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings [also up 15%] and predicted next year's sales will rise more than Wall Street has anticipated [AP, Jun 25]

The top Street analyst for Aerospace & Defense says His top pick this year is unmanned-aircraft maker AeroVironment ($8M SBIR), which went public in January 2007. It's a "pure play" on the military's adoption of such systems and a "strong acquisition candidate" in the next few years, he says. The company's Raven aircraft are small enough to be launched by hand. [Wall Street Journal, May 19]

AeroVironment ($8M SBIR since 1991), a leader in unmanned aircraft systems and efficient electric energy systems, announced that the U.S. Marine Corps has ordered $19.3M in BATMAV (Battlefield Air Targeting Micro Air Vehicle) systems, each consisting of two Wasp III micro air vehicles plus ancillary pieces. [company press release, Nov 20, 07]

AeroVironment, a leader in unmanned aircraft systems and efficient electric energy systems, has installed its Architectural Wind system on the roof of the new Beloit, Wis., manufacturing facility of Kettle Foods, a Salem, Ore.-based producer of all-natural potato chips and other snack foods. The Beloit installation includes 18 wind turbines. [press release, Oct 25]

Spending on products suited for deployed troops in harm�s way remained the most dominant spending driver for the group. Companies such as FLIR and AeroVironment continued to see strong order flow, deliver strong results, and have exceptionally optimistic outlooks for 2008. [Jeff Saut, minyanville.com, Oct 22]

Unmanned-aircraft maker AeroVironment shot up 41% on its first day of trading after its IPO. Eight Phase 2 SBIRs since the early 1990s. The company had a funded backlog of government contracts totaling $64 million as of Oct. 28 and an unfunded backlog of about $492 million. [Wall Street Journal, Jan 24,07]

AETC (San Siego CA)

AETC (San Diego, CA), that provides remote sensing systems and related services for the DOD, is being bought by SAIC for an undisclosed sum. [San Diego Union Tribune, Nov 9]. AETC had about $2M in DOD SBIRs.

Affinity BioReagents (Golden, CO)

Thermo Fisher Scientific reports it has bought Affinity BioReagents (Golden, CO; one SBIR) a provider of life sciences research materials. [Mass High Tech, Jul 17, 08]

Affymetrix

Affymetrix down 14% [Oct 23, 08]

Affymetrix up 11% [Oct 20, 08]

Against the surge, Affymetrix down 17%, [Oct 13, 08] projected lower-than-expected third-quarter sales amid increased competition for academic research and funding and softness in industrial spending. [Wall Street Journal, Oct 14]

The Wall Street Journal's Patent Scorecard in Biotechnology ranks Invitrogen and Maxygen #2 and 3 in Science Strength (13-week rolling average). Sequenom was #6; Affymetrix #11 of 28 listed. Only Sequenom had an impressive stock price record, up 170% over 52 weeks.

Affymetrix fell 27% a day after the company reported moving from a second-quarter profit to a loss and presented a discouraging forecast. [Sacramento Business Journal, Jul 25, 08]

Affymetrix dropped more than a third after the maker of tools to analyze genes cut its revenue forecast, dragging down the shares of equipment suppliers Illumina and Applied Biosystems Group. [San Jose Mercury News, Apr 15, 08]

Affymetrix will pay $75M cash for USB Corp. (Cleveland, OH; no SBIR), which calls itself a supplier of reliable biochemicals and molecular biology products. [Dec 08]

Affymetrix down 10% [Nov 13, 07] said it will offer $250 M of unsecured senior convertible notes, due 2038.

Santa Clara CA gene chip maker Affymetrix won a four-year, $10.2M million federal grant to delve deeper into the secrets of human heredity. The grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute was awarded to a team of Affymetrix scientists and will finance the identification of various functional regions found across the human genome. [San Jose Mercury News, Oct 9]

Affymetrix won a patent fight with Illumina over five patents held by Affymetrix and Illumina was ordered to pay Affymetrix $16.7M. [Mar 07]

Affymetrix soared 14% after predicting high fourth-quarter revenue. [Jan 8, 07]

Affymax (Palo Alto, CA)

Affymax (Palo Alto CA) going public this week. One Phase 2 SBIR.

Agennix (Houston, TX)

Agennix (Houston, TX; $2.5M SBIR) is banking on the idea that an ingredient in mother's milk can help treat lung cancer. ,,, could become the first federally approved cancer drug to come out of Houston. ... Lung cancer kills more Americans than breast, prostate and colorectal cancers combined [Lynn Cook, Houston Chronicle, Jan 17]

Agile Materials (Goleta, CA)

Agile Materials & Technologies (Goleta, CA) got a first VC round of $5.8M and looking for $2-3M by next month. Agile, a spinoff of the UCSB, has had $1M SBIR from the Army, [LARTA, Sept. 23]

From SBIR to Real Money
(Jul 30) Agile Materials (Goleta, CA) passed briefly through DARPA and SBIR (Army Phase 1) to VC funding. Prof Robert York and Dr. Chris Elsass spun the company out from UCSB where York did thin film ferroelectrics with BST. [story from LARTA July 29] Agile's website claims that ferro-electric materials can shrink capacitors by 99% (I guess that's what "100X smaller" means) from some baseline; cost reduction claims are more vague. Maybe they could shrink the website too, as it takes several screens to deliver a simple message of the BST material's claims.

Agios Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA)

Agios Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) says it has secured $33 M in first round financing, for development of cancer metabolism-regulating drugs. .... The field of cancer metabolism concentrates on cell growth within cancer cells, which rely on more nutrients than normal cells to survive, Agios reports. While the company�s initial plans draw on cell metabolism therapeutics related to cancer, it may also eventually apply to other fields, including diabetes, inflammatory, autoimmune and neurological diseases. .... Agios Pharmaceuticals was founded by cell metabolism leaders Lewis C. Cantley, director of the Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School; Tak W. Mak, of The Campbell Family Institute for Cancer Research and The University of Toronto; and Craig B. Thompson, director of the Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania. [Mass High Tech, Jul 7, 08]

Aguila Technologies (San Marcos, CA)

Allied Signal did an exclusive agreement with Ormet Corp (Carlsbad, CA) to produce fine-line, micro-via, high-density electronic interconnect products. ... Ormet Corporation is an innovator in leading edge technology produces fine-line interconnect products and engineered material products based on its unique electronic materials. With a strong and growing intellectual property portfolio, Ormet is leveraging (whatever that means) both internal and government-sponsored research to produce commercial fine-line products and to license partners in selected technology areas. Ormet designs, manufactures and markets products and solutions in the high-density electronic market. Ormet's products include semiconductor packaging products, fine line-microvia interconnect products, thermally enhanced wiring boards, active substrate products, and engineered material products (EMI shielding, jumper wire and embedded passives). . [May 7] The founder of Ormet, then called Toranaga Technologies, Al Capote, invented Ormet inks and got $750K from BMDO and about $4 M from Venture Capital. The Allied Signal deal, says Capote, resulted from his idea to incorporate the Ormet conductor in microvias for high density PWBs. Capote these days has a new start-up, Aguila Technologies.

Al Capote speaks on entrpreneuring

I spent the large majority of my time writing business plans to sell my company to new investors who would then provide the additional capital to perfect my product, a conductive ink, and not enough time solving the technical problems. Which, I think, delayed the improvements that would make the product viable. It wasn't until four or five years later that it was working well enough that people actually started using it in real products. One of the first end-users was Ford, for PC boards in Lincoln dash panels...then Apple Computer started using it to correct errors in boards, overlaying the corrected circuit on top of the existing solder mask, eliminating the need to scrap 10 to 20 thousand circuit boards. Intel also used it for the same purpose. ...[Then] my venture capital partners, who had been with me from the beginning and had been quite good to me, had grown tired with me still talking about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I saw an opportunity I wanted to pursue, but they were tired. We shook hands, parted company. Toranaga still exists...doing quite well. They have a really nifty technology for using the ink to produce multi-chip modules, a technology that's just getting started, and when it does catch on, that's when I get my check, as I'm still a major stockholder. The story of Al Capote at Toranaga Technologies (Carlsbad, CA) [interview in Designfax, May 98] In the ten years I was President of Toranaga I raised upwards of 12 million dollars. So I had an opportunity to begin again, with all the things I had learned...they even provided me a bit of seed money, and with that I started Aguila in 1996, which has done very well in a very short amount of time. What I've learned is that one must focus on the immediate and urgent needs of real customers. We don't begin R&D in any area unless there is a specific customer with a specific and urgent need for a solution we can provide. The speculative R&D I did at Toranaga -- where you conceive of a product, then go out and try to sell it -- is much too difficult. A more effective approach is to identify a need. .. started this new company...very quickly convinced the Department of Defense that this was an urgent need, raising nearly a million dollars from the US government to get started. The government's an outstanding source for start-up money.

Al was one of the few SBIR proposers who smelled like an entrepreneur, the kind you bet government R&D money on. In a commercialized SBIR government must judge by smell. Science will not suffice; the better you can analyze the proposal, the less likely it will make any breakthrough innovation. The many agencies that play safe with their SBIR will get only incremental advances to their comfortable paradigm. Anti-missile defense couldn't afford slow, safe, and steady. A note to Congress: no legislation can instill entrepreneuring in a federal agency. They can kill it though. Al's live-to-work attitude fulfills economic historian Landes's advice that we are living in a dessert age. We want things to be sweet; too many of us work to live and live to be happy. Nothing wrong with that; it just does not promote high productivity. You want high productivity? Then you should live to work and get happiness as a by-product. [David Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, 1997]

What It Takes to Win
One California state awardee was Aguila Technologies (San Marcos).which had to get rated by a committee (ugh!)that weighed the business plan and the technology. In the proposal, Aguila teamed up with a large corporation that is putting up cash in exchange for rights to the technology. To get the state funds, Aguila and teammate had to: 1) provide a cost share contribution of at least the California amount, at least 20% in cash, and 2) at least double the amount in Federal contract money. With BMDO's 4:1 match (for a company's very first Phase 2 SBIR) in Fast Track and the teammate's cash, Aguila met the state's demand. The state money can be used to buy capital equipment, which federal funds cannot. So, $75K cash by Aguila's corporate partner (plus Aguila's $100K) won a $175K state grant which allowed a $1M federal contract. Not a bad deal for a year-old market-driven startup. Disregarding the public policy problem in federal matching of state money to private firms, both state and federal governments rewarded a market-driven company driven by high-risk private capital which is what SBIR is supposed to do. Aguila is still at risk of government's (state or federal) dawdling and thus collapsing the structure.
In addition, Aguila founder Capote says it has launched its first product developed under a government contract - a flip chip adhesive flux that "has everybody in our industry excited. I am swamped with calls from prospective licensees who want to manufacture and market it for us". Aguila has been working a year under a DARPA contract on the technology.
Aguila also just won a Phase 1 STTR from NASA to develop yet another aspect of the flip chip technology. (If NASA backed more entrepreneurs like Capote, instead of mining the moon for astronomically uncommercial materials, its SBIR and its technical products would do what Congress intended for SBIR.)
Capote's view of the key to Aguila's commercial success is his devotion to a principle - focus on the URGENT and SPECIFIC needs of REAL customers. His formula - get the customer to tell the government just how important it is to solve their problem, how many millions the solution is worth, and how much money they themselves are willing to risk to solve it. "I use Phase 1 money to prove the feasibility of the solution to the customer. Then getting Phase 2 matching funds is a shoo-in. I have never lost a proposal where I got the customer and the government talking to one another."

Note: Capote's formula works wonders for product innovation. Another innovator class, visionary pioneers, don't satisfy today's clients; they look to create a new world with discontinuous change where today's customers are irrelevant. That's usually long-term, astronomical risk with a history of the pioneer being eaten by more market-driven entrepreneurs. Visionary government (an oxymoron) will help such pioneers. The ones who don't fare well in government competition are those who come down in the muddled middle - neither credible pioneer nor market-driven entrepreneur - scientists wanting a paid hobby.

You, too, can follow Capote's formula, at least since DOD has made it easier for newbies to find the levers.

Start-up Starts Up
Aguila Technologies (San Marcos, CA), Al Capote's new start-up, won an open competition $855K DARPA contract to develop a new flip-chip encapsulant technology. Three other partner companies - Kester Solder Division of Litton, Avex Electronics, and a major chip manufacturer - are co-investing in parallel R&D efforts at their own expense. Al founded Toranaga Technologies (Carlsbad, CA) with the help of four VC outfits who stepped into direct company management after Al won an SBIR award over $1M from BMDO with escalating matching provisions. The flip-chip technology simplifies attaching chips to silicon in multi-chip modules with a technology spun out from Al's first BMDO SBIR. Al has also done what SBIR intended, get a seed stage SBIR and then combine with strategic partners for further investment for market development. (No, more SBIR is NOT strategic partnering.) Al and Toranaga struck me as the kind of entrepreneur and company that SBIR was meant for. Anti-immigrant shriekers take note: Al came from Cuba and has created 22 jobs so far in California.

One of the VCs who sponsored Toranaga Technologies (Carlsbad, CA) from which Al Capote decamped has also decamped. Jim Morgan or the eponymous Morgan Holland Ventures is now CEO of ADRA Systems. Jim served one term recently as President of the National Venture Capital Association. He also served one year as the elected student body Grand Marshal in the 50s at RPI. I don't remember whether I voted for him.

Ahura Scientific (Wilmington MA)

The National Guard has ordered $2.6M worth of Ahura Scientific (Wilmington MA; three SBIRs) First Defender instruments and fiber-optic extension probes. Early this year, Ahura closed a $7M financing deal bringing its total funding to $29.5M. [Mass High Tech, Nov 15]

Airtricity

Irish Wind. The wind energy company Wind Capital Group LLC is getting a $150 M investment from Ireland-based NTR PLC � a financial boost that [founder] Carnahan says will help transform NTR will provide cash and supply 150 megawatts of wind turbines for delivery in 2010. ... NTR has within the last year sold off its interest in Airtricity, a wind energy developer in the U.S. and Europe, and it has been reinvesting some of the proceeds in startup renewable energy firms. Last week, the company agreed to pay $100 M for a majority stake in Phoenix-based Stirling Energy Systems, which is developing solar power plants. [St Louis Post Dispatch, Apr 25]

Airtricity plans to build enough wind-powered electricity plants here to make Texas the No. 1 wind state next year. [Dallas Morning News, Apr 4] New, more efficient wind technology has a future.

Alabama Cryogenics Engineering (Huntsville, AL)

A Cool and Cozy Business. The professor started his own company to feed on SBIR and government work outside the gates of a high-tech government complex. Since 1983 when he had 10 employees the company has grown to 9 employees in 1996. It has won SBIRs from DOE, DOD, HHS, and NASA, a total of about $7.5M. Now it has a 1998 cryocooler DOE Phase 1 for a project that sounds about like a 1988 project and a 1983 project. The technology plods on and the professor has a nice, not rich by any means, lifestyle company supported by the government nursery program. $7.5M into a 10 person firm over 15 years means most of the firm was supported by SBIR for the company's life. Is that an SBIR-mill? Because it's a private firm, only the government knows whether any other economic good was done by the technology. And the government won't tell. But apparently, neither will the government hold the company accountable for 15 yars of funded plodding. As long as the company offers a good cool technology, the government will go for yet another dose.
1998: Develop an innovative regenerator that will allow reliable, high efficiency, pulse tube cryocoolers to be used with high sensitivity detectors, high vacuum cryopumps, and superconducting filters. In Phase I, a perforated plate regenerator using neodymium metal will be fabricated. Phase I will also produce a design of a prototype cryocooler to be demonstrated in a Phase II follow-on. 1994: regenerator structures using fine wires of a metal having high specific heat at low temperatures. Neodymium (Nd)spheres have been used in two-stage cryocoolers that can operate below 4K. In a single-stage cryoccoler, the minimum temperature will be lowered below 20K, making the refrigerator very useful for devices using the new ceramic high temperature superconductors. 1983:CRYOCOOLER CAPABLE OF REACHING 20 K. THE FIRST STAGE FLUID IS NITROGEN, THE SECOND STAGE FLUID HYDROGEN. COOLDOWN TIME OF LESS THAN 2 SECONDS; RUN TIME OF 10 MINUTES. USES AN INNOVATIVE FABRICATION TECHNIQUE, THAT YIELDS A "MONOLITHIC" STRUCTURE. THE FABRICATION TECHNIQUE IS INTRINSICALLY HIGH VOLUME, AND SHOULD YIELD SUBSTANTIAL COST SAVINGS IN HIGH VOLUME PRODUCTION COMPARED TO THE CURRENT TECHNOLOGY.

Albany NanoTech (Albany, NY)

No story about Albany NanoTech (no SBIR) is without a mention of its leader, Alain Kaloyeros, the UAlbany physics professor who has built the $3.5 B facility on Fuller Road by pulling together hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from IBM, the state of New York, and other semiconductor companies. ... BusinessWeek magazine did an extremely flattering piece on how IBM Corp. drastically changed its semiconductor research and development methods to include a host of partners, including Albany NanoTech and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., to great acclaim. [Albany Times-Union, Sep 9,07]

Aldagen (Durham, NC)

Aldagen (Durham, NC; one SBIR), which employs 18 and develops treatments based on adult stem cells, hopes to raise as much as $80M with an IPO. ... founded in 2000 as StemCo Biomedical, based on technology developed at Duke University. It has raised about $48M in VC since then. ... testing four products in humans. The most advanced would improve cord blood transplants used to treat metabolic diseases in pediatric patients. [Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News & Observer, May 13, 08]

Aldagen (Durham, NC; ?? SBIR) developing treatments based on stem cells raised $18 M VC. ... founded in 2000 as StemCo Biomedical based on technology developed at Duke University. [Raleigh News& Observer, Apr 26]

Private investment continues to boost young Triangle companies. Biologics (Raleigh NC; no SBIR) oncology pharmacy, $20M; . Aldagen (Durham NC; no SBIR) biotech company, $9 M; HyperBranch Medical Technologies (Durham NC; one SBIR) medical device startup, $1.5M. [Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News & Observer, Sep 15] Those who can, do; those who can't or won't depend on government handouts.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals

Alexion Pharma up 14% [Oct 13, 08]

Alexion Pharma down 10% [Sep 17, 08]

Alexion Pharma up 16% [Aug 8, 08]

Alexion Pharmaceuticals (Cheshire, CT; $1.8M SBIR) agreed to pay $10M to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation for all rights to certain patents related to technology used to develop Alexion's blood-disorder drug Soliris, ending a legal dispute between the two operations [Mass High Tech, Feb 14,08]

Alexion Pharmaceuticals up 10% [Oct 25, 07]

Alexion Pharmaceuticals up 18% on news that it didn't lose as much as expected. [Jul 25, 07]

Alexion Pharmaceuticals raised $140M with a public stock offering. Alexion has a drug for a rare blood disorder on fast track for FDA approval. The stock has been rising for about three years on an apparent road to recover its high of five years ago at twice the present price. [Nov 22, 06]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals

Alexza Pharma up 15% [Oct 16, 08]

Alexza Pharma down 11% [Aug 29, 08]

Alexza Pharma up 18% [Aug 28, 08]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals down 11% [Aug 21, 08]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals up 13% [Jul 30, 08]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals down 14% [Jun 10, 08] on news of disappointing clinical trials.

Alexza Pharma up 16% [Mar 11, 08]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals up 11% [Feb 26, 08]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals up 10% [Nov 28, 07]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals down 12% on lack of good news. [Aug 14,07]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals up 10%. [Aug 8, 07]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals down 10%. [Aug 3, 07]

Alexza Pharmaceuticals doubled after announcing encouraging results from two studies intended to develop new treatments for migraine victims and schizophrenic patients with acute agitation. [Businessweek.com, Mar 26, 07]

Alfalight (Madison WI)

Alfalight (Madison WI; no SBIR) got a $1.2M Army contract for development of stronger fiber lasers for industrial and defense applications. Alfalight's commitment to innovation is validated by funding from several government branches including DARPA, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Army Research Laboratory [company website]

Alien Technology

Optimism Not Enough. Wall Street just escaped an attempted alien abduction, spurning a wildly inappropriate initial public stock offering from Alien Technology of Morgan Hill. Alien, struggling to develop a new way of making low-cost radio identification tags for retailing and other applications, is in no way qualified to be a public company. Alien's losses are bigger than its sales, its technology is unproven and the company has missed self-imposed deadlines to make that technology work as claimed. [Mike Langberg, San Jose Mercury News, Aug 26]

Alkermes

Alkermes down 12% [Oct 27, 08]

Alkermes down 14% [Oct 15, 08]

Alkermes up 13% [Oct 13, 08]

Alkermes down 12% [Aug 27, 08]

Alkermes down 10% [Aug 18, 08]

Alkermes up 11% [Aug 8, 08]

more and more companies in the pharmaceutical game, including biotech firm Alkermes, think the way to kick that addiction is through a dose of their drugs. Millions of Americans are hooked on everything including booze, cigarettes, cocaine and even cheeseburgers � and drug-makers are filling their research and development pipelines with potential treatments for such addictions. With mixed results, Alkermes and several pharma companies have launched a handful of drugs to help patients quit drinking or smoking. [Mass High Tech, Jul 11]

Alkermes will expand its common stock repurchase program by an additional $40 M. According to biotech firm Alkermes, the $40 million boost in the buyback plan comes after the company received a $40 million payment from Eli Lilly after the drug giant canceled its inhaled insulin program with Alkermes in March.

More insulin innovation, please. Alkermes reports that it expects partner Eli Lilly and Co. to pull the plug on the AIR Inhaled Insulin product, which is being developed by the two companies [Mass High Tech, Mar 7, 08] Indeed, Eli Lilly joined the exodus: abandoned plans to develop inhalable insulin, joining other drug makers that have exited from the field. [Wall Street Journal, Mar 8]

Alkermes plans to continue working with partner Eli Lilly and Co. on an inhalable form of insulin for diabetes patients, even though two other drug makers scrapped work on competing products in the past few months. [Boston Globe, Jan 18]

Alkermes said a unit of Johnson & Johnson has agreed to sell its treatment for alcohol and opioid dependence in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). [Mass High Tech, Jan 7, 08]

Alkermes reports it plans to sell its stake in New Jersey-based Reliant Pharmaceuticals Inc. to GlaxoSmithKline for up to $174 M cash. [Mass High Tech, Nov 23, 07]

Alkermes up 13% on good earnings and prospects [Aug 3, 07]

Alkermes gained 13% on reporting doubled profit and a brighter future. [Feb 8, 07]

Allegro Diagnostics (Boston, MA)

Allegro Diagnostics (Boston, MA; no SBIR) a diagnostics startup with ties to Boston University, has reeled in its first round of venture capital financing to develop its molecular tests, officials said [Mass High Tech, Mar 7, 08] announced the completion of $4M in Series A financing. [Boston Globe, Mar 7]

Allegro MicroSystems (Worcester,MA)

Allegro MicroSystems (Worcester, MA; no SBIR) is pulling its planned IPO, citing negative market conditions.The company filed for its IPO, expecting to raise $115 million [Mass High Tech, Aug 22, 08]

Allegro MicroSystems (Worcester,MA) that makes semiconductors for the automotive industry and other markets, said today that it will not go through with its initial public offering of common stock due to current market conditions.

Allos Therapeutics

Allos Thera down 13% [Oct 24, 08]

Allos Thera up 10% [Oct 20, 08]

Allos Thera up 11% [Oct 16, 08]

Allos Therapeutics down 14% [Oct 15, 08]

Allos Thera down 11% [Oct 14, 08]

Allos Thera up 30% [Oct 13, 08]

Allos Therapeutics down 14% [Oct 7, 08]

Allos Threapeutics down 10% [Oct 2, 08]

Allos Therapeutics down 14% [Oct 7, 08]

Allos Threapeutics down 10% [Oct 2, 08]

Allos Thera down 11% [Sep 17, 08]

Allos Thera up 11% [Sep 16, 08]

Allos Thera down 10% [Sep 8, 08]

Allos Therapeutics down 10% [Sep 4, 08]

Allos Therapeutics up 14% [May 22, 08]

Allos Therapeutics up 17% [Mar 24, 08]

Allos Therapeutics up 12% [Oct 26, 07]

Allos Therapeutics down 11% on soggy profits. [Oct 16, 07]

Allos Therapeutics down 15% [Aug 8, 07] on news of a growing loss.

Allos Therapeutics down 14% [Jun 22, 07]

Allos Therapeutics jumped another 11%. [Feb 6, 07]

Allos Therapeutics jumped 10% even after raising $50M in a stock sale a few days earlier. [Feb 2, 07]

Allos Therapeutics up 10% after being up 20% intra-day. [Nov 14, 06]

Alnara Pharmaceutical

Alnara Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical startup developing non-systemic protein therapeutics for the treatment of metabolic and inflammatory diseases, has secured $20 million in Series A funding [Mass High Tech, Oct 30]

Alnara Pharmaceuticals Inc., a newly formed life sciences company in Boston, announced today that it has secured $20 million in Series A venture capital financing. [Boston Globe, Oct 30,08]

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Alynlam Pharma up 11% [Oct 30, 08]

Alnylam Pharma down 13% [Oct 27, 08]

RNAi biotech company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals received a $20 million milestone payment from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd., adding to the $100 million the Cambridge-based biotech has earned already from Takeda. [Mass High Tech, Oct 7, 08]

Alnylam up 12% [Sep 18, 08]

Researchers have uncovered a new pathway to malaria infection, linking cholesterol metabolism to the disease, which could ultimately lead to new treatments using RNAi therapeutics. Scientists from Cambridge-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Dresden, Germany-based Cenix BioScience GmbH and Lisbon-based Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM) published their findings in Cell Host & Microbe. [Mass High Tech, Sep 11]

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals said it has formed a collaboration with the Max Planck Institute in Germany. [Boston Globe, Aug 11, 08]

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals said that its second-quarter loss increased slightly, as rising expenses canceled out improved revenue from collaborations. [Boston Globe, Aug 7, 08]

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals signed its second collaborative deal in as many months, sending shares higher. [Boston Globe, Jun 19, 08]

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals says it has made a $5 million equity investment in Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. as part of an expanded licensing deal [Mass High Tech, Jun 2, 08]

Takeda Pharmaceutical is betting big on U.S. biotechnology companies to reinvigorate Japan's No. 1 pharmaceutical company.... [After buying one company for nearly $9B], a technology alliance with biopharmaceuticals company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; $600K SBIR). Under the agreement, Takeda could pay as much as $1 billion if all development and sales targets are met. [Hiroko Tabuchi, Wall Street Journal, May 28, 08] includes a $100 million up-front payment, $50 million in near-term technology transfer payments, and more than $850 million in potential milestone payments and royalties, [Boston Globe, May 28]

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals reports that [Swiss giant] Novartis AG will pay $5.4 million to buy more shares in the Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company that is focused on using RNA interference (RNAi) for developing therapies. [Mass High Tech, May 8]

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; $600K SBIR) granted Shanghai GenePharma a non-exclusive world-wide license to manufacture and provide RNAi research products and services under the Kreutzer-Limmer patent family. [company website, Mar 20, 08] The nearly $1B market cap barely moved.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) said it was part of a research team awarded a new $3.8 million grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation to further develop an RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.... seeks to develop novel technologies based on RNA interference, or RNAi, a naturally occurring mechanism within cells for selectively silencing and regulating specific genes; since many diseases are caused by the inappropriate activity of specific cells, the ability to silence genes selectively through RNAi has great potential, researchers think. [Chris Reidy, Boston Globe, Jan 7, 07]

AlphaMed (Acton, MA)

AlphaMed (Acton, MA; six Phase 1 SBIRs) reports it has received a $750,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute to advance its experimental treatment for deadly skin cancer. ... The two-person firm hopes to find development partners and raise $5 million to $10 million in a Series A round of venture capital this year .....the company's founders: Richard F. Testa, formerly of Thermo Electron Corp., Digital Equipment Corp., and General Electric Co.; Herbert A. Moore, formerly of DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals Co., Hoffman la Roche Inc., and Tracerlab Inc. [Mass High Tech, May 7, 08]

AlphaVax (RTP, NC)

AlphaVax (RTP, NC; no SBIR) got three-year $3.6M NIH contract to advance its development of adjuvant technologies, which are agents used to enhance the effects of other agents used in vaccines. In February, the company raised $12.7M in a preferred stock offering to begin clinical trials relating to herpes and influenza. [Raleigh News & Observer, Jul 12]

Altor (Miramar FL)

Hing C. Wong founded Altor (Miramar FL; $1.5M SBIR) in 2002 as a spin-off from Sunol Molecular (Miramar FL; $0.5M SBIR) which seeded the company with $4M. Top venture funds then invested $6M. The company�s proprietary technology, which it calls its �STAR� platform, has been in development for a decade. [Allan Maurer, Tech Journal South, Nov 9]

Altra (Los Angeles, CA)

Altra (Los Angeles CA), a biofuel company, said it received $50 M from a group of private investors including venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, a founder of Sun Microsystems. Altra, founded in 2004 as Malibu Capital Partners Inc., acquires and develops projects using renewable energy, including ethanol and biodiesel. [LA Times, Apr 6]

Altus Pharmaceuticals

Shares of Altus Pharmaceuticals plunged to an all-time low Tuesday as Wall Street reacted negatively to preliminary results from a late stage trial of its Trizytek enzymes. [Boston Globe, Aug 13,08]

Altus Pharmaceuticals up 11% after reporting top-line results from a Phase 1 clinical trial of ALTU-237 in healthy adult volunteers. [Jun 5, 08]

Altus Pharma up 11% [May 22, 08]

Altus Pharmaceuticals up 10% [Mar 18, 08]

Altus Pharmaceuticals up 15% [Feb 4, 08]

Altus Pharmaceuticals bought back a human growth hormone formulation it had licensed to a California biotech [Genentech] almost exactly one year ago ... reported a net loss of $55.7 M on $5.1 M in revenue for 2006. [Mass High Tech, Dec 20, 07] The return was disastrous news for the stock which tumbled 44%.

Altus Pharmaceuticals up 10% [Nov 13, 07]

Altus Pharmaceuticals up 10% [Aug 16,07]

AMAG Pharmaceuticals

AMAG Pharma down 12% [Oct 20, 08] received a letter from the FDA asking for more information on its iron-replacement drug ferumoxytol. The company said it should be able to respond quickly to the request without conducting any more clinical trials. [Wall Street Journal, Oct 21]

AMAG Pharmaceuticals said the FDA granted Fast Track designation to a diagnostic agent that can be used during vascular-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging procedures. The age