In light of recent unprecedented events surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, the decision has been made to host the 2020 $200K Challenge virtually this fall with free registration. The PitchOff is scheduled for Thursday, September 17th from 5:00- 8:00 pm, and the Award Celebration is set for Thursday, October 1st at 5:00 pm.

As the newly rescheduled virtual events approach, we want to shine the spotlight on another unique $200K Challenge finalist. MicroBioMed is developing an operator-independent measurement device to quantitatively study vaginal wall skin properties. We talked to William Gardetto, COO of MicroBioMed to learn more about what led them to the $200K Challenge.

The summer of 2020 continues to bring forth exciting news on our resident companies. LaunchPad Medical has announced that it received approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the United Kingdom to start a 15-patient pilot clinical study. The goal is to examine the safety and efficacy of Tetranite®, the company’s bone adhesive biomaterial, to immediately stabilize dental implants following tooth extractions.

In April of 2019, Newburyport, Massachusetts-based EnClear Therapies was named a winner in the 8th annual M2D2 $200K Challenge. Their innovation: a treatment device to stop progress of neurodegenerative diseases. The 2020 Challenge is coming up this fall, and because we’re always interested in the progress of past winners, we reached out to EnClear’s Vice President of R&D/Operations Kevin Kalish to get an update.

Although this year’s challenge will occur virtually, we want to keep the spotlight on this year’s Finalists. The PitchOff will now take place on September 17th from 5-8pm, with the Award Ceremony happening on October 1st at 5pm. Registration for the $200k Challenge will be free.

Profilagen is a start-up preclinical LLC bringing forward a technology to regenerate damaged cardiac muscle. We spoke with CEO Claudine Bruck about the inspiration behind Profilagen, and their story so far.

On June 11, M2D2 Resident Company Glyscend Therapeutics announced the closing of a Series A financing round valued at $20.5 million. Glyscend will use this funding to further support the development of its novel oral polymer therapy for patients with type 2 diabetes, as well as other metabolic diseases.

M2D2 Resident Company Versatope and Netherlands-based Intravacc announced on June 8th, that they have signed a research service agreement to further develop a universal vaccine against influenza. The vaccine will be based on Intravacc’s innovative Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMV) technology, which is proven to be safe in humans.

We are always excited to share the news about our resident companies’ successes. Tuesday morning, LaunchPad Medical announced that they received support up to $1.8 million from the Michigan-Pittsburgh-Wyss Regenerative Medicine Resource Center. It was funded by the National Institute of Dental and Cranial Research to improve the translation of promising tissue engineering and regenerative medicine technologies for dental, oral, and craniofacial clinical practice.