Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Awards Grant to Medford Business

Company receives $500,000 from the Center in order to foster job growth and technology commercialization in the Massachusetts Life Sciences Supercluster

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has awarded a $500,000 Small Business Matching Grant to Medford-based Hepregen Corporation. The funding matches federal small business grant funding that the company was awarded previously. The grants represent the second round of awards issued under the Center’s Small Business Matching Grant (“SBMG”) Program, established by the Life Sciences Act of 2008. The Center has awarded a total of $3.5 million to seven companies under the Program.

The Center’s Small Business Matching Grant Program, launched in January 2010 as part of the state’s ten-year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, leverages federal small business grant funding that early-stage life sciences companies in the Commonwealth have received for their work in life sciences research and development, commercialization and manufacturing. Goals of the Center’s program include the creation of jobs in Massachusetts through the commercialization of products with high potential for market adoption and penetration.

To qualify for the program, companies must have received Phase II or Post-Phase II small business innovation research (“SBIR”) or small business technology transfer (“STTR”) grants from Federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”), National Science Foundation (“NSF”), or Department of Defense (“DOD”). They also must qualify as a small business under the guidelines of the U.S Small Business Administration (“SBA”). A total of 32 companies applied for the current round of the program and the four recipients were chosen through a competitive process after extensive review by the Center’s peer review panel, Scientific Advisory Board, and Board of Directors.

Hepregen Corporation is developing and commercializing HepatoPacâ„¢, a bio-engineered micro-liver platform, for use in drug discovery and development. HepatoPac is a liver model that narrows the costly gap caused by poor correlation of preclinical data (i.e., animal and in vitro studies) and clinical observations. Utilizing HepatoPac, toxicity screening, mechanistic toxicology, identification of secondary metabolites, drug-drug interaction, and transporter/clearance studies can all be performed in vitro with increased confidence in the clinically-relevant predictive value.

“Helping our life sciences companies grow is all about creating jobs,” said Governor Deval Patrick. “As we continue to strengthen our global leadership in the life sciences, the Center’s Small Business Matching Grant Program is meeting an important need and making Massachusetts an even more attractive place for life sciences companies to locate and grow.”

“The SBMG program is another example of the Center’s leveraging strategy,” said Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister, President & CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. “Federal SBIR/STTR grants provide Massachusetts companies with funds for their research and development; our SBMG program then provides the funds that companies need to bridge to commercialization. Hepregen and the other companies we are funding will bring cost-effective new treatments to the market and expand employment opportunities in Massachusetts . We are especially pleased that some of our grantees will contribute directly to the creation of biomanufacturing jobs in the Commonwealth.”

“This grant is evidence of the biopharmaceutical industry’s need for more predictive platforms to improve and transform drug development,” said Hepregen Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bernadette C. (Bonnie) Fendrock. “The funding will have significant impact as we continue to gain traction in the marketplace as more companies adopt the HepatoPac platform and as we work towards securing our Series B financing. We thank the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center for this recognition and award.”

“It is extremely encouraging that, even in these difficult economic times, Medford is home to dynamic companies working in cutting edge technology such as Hepregen,” said State Senator Patricia Jehlen (D-Somerville). “These generous grants from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center will help this company achieve its full potential.”

“Fostering the growth of small life sciences businesses in this economy helps the Commonwealth develop as a hub for the entire industry,” said State Representative Sean Garballey (D-Arlington). “Grant dollars going to a small business such as Hepregen Corporation is a great investment for job creation and research for Massachusetts .”

“Providing these local companies with resources to expand in our community provides unparalleled business investment and new job opportunities,” said State Representative Carl Sciortino (D-Medford). “The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is a prime example of how an accountable, transparent, and competitive grant program can have tremendous impact on economic development in Massachusetts . This funding for innovative small businesses is a key to maintaining Massachusetts ‘s status as a world-renowned center for advanced biomedical research.”

About the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) is a quasi-public agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts tasked with implementing the Massachusetts Life Sciences Act, a ten-year, $1 billion initiative that was signed into law in June of 2008. The Center’s mission is to create jobs in the life sciences and support vital scientific research that will improve the human condition. This work includes making financial investments in public and private institutions that are advancing life sciences research, development and commercialization as well as building ties between sectors of the Massachusetts life sciences community. For more information, visit www.masslifesciences.com.

About the SBMG Program

The Small Business Matching Grant Program is targeted at commercialization-ready life sciences companies that have received Phase II or Post Phase II small business innovation research (SBIR) or small business technology transfer (STTR) grants from federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), or Department of Defense (DOD). Target applicants are emerging life sciences companies whose products are production-ready and have high potential for market adoption and penetration, are poised for rapid growth that will create jobs in the Commonwealth, and are positioned for additional financing. Companies must be a small business, as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The Program will provide matching grants of up to $500,000 to eligible life sciences companies. The Small Business Matching Grant Program is the newest program the Center is offering to support early-stage companies. Other programs include the Life Sciences Accelerator, through which the Center provides loan financing to early-stage companies, the Internship Challenge, the Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program, and the Center’s Cooperative Research Matching Grant Program.

About Hepregen Corporation

Hepregen’s mission is to translate the value of its technology platform to improve the safety and efficacy of drugs in development with greater economic efficiency and significant impact on patients’ lives. The company is focused on advancing and commercializing its microliver platform, HepatoPacTM, into the drug-development pipeline of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Hepregen’s platform technology offers the potential to deliver a breakthrough technology for toxicity screening and a new platform for drug discovery. It combines sophisticated biological and engineering technologies to create an in vitro liver model which closely mimics many key functions and features of the in vivo human liver.

Currently, Hepregen is partnered with over 20 pharmaceutical companies using the HepatoPac technology, including Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals,and Sanofi-aventis. In 2008, Battelle Ventures spun out Hepregen Corporation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and led the company’s Series A financing. The company is currently raising its Series B financing.

For more information about Hepregen, please visit: http://www.hepregen.com/.

– Information from The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center