CINCINNATI, Sept. 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orange Grove Bio (OGB), a drug investment and development firm, today announced that Preservation Bio, one of the firm’s majority-owned subsidiaries, has been awarded a $2.05 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) direct-to-Phase II grant by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, one of 27 institutes under the National Institutes of Health (NIH) umbrella. The funding will be used to advance Preservation Bio’s novel approach to preserving platelets, which is designed to allow donated platelets to survive at refrigeration temperatures for up to 14 days, more than doubling their shelf life. By significantly extending the amount of time that donated platelets remain viable for use in life-saving transfusions, Preservation Bio aims to address the healthcare industry’s growing platelet shortage, a major bottleneck in transfusion needs.
Unlike red blood and other products, platelets are stored at room temperature because they do not tolerate refrigeration. This results in a short shelf life of five-to-seven days before expiration and up to 15% of all collected platelets are discarded. Preservation Bio seeks to transform blood banking for donated platelets with an ex vivo additive that protects platelets from the damage normally caused by refrigeration.
The company is developing a small molecule, reversible RhoA inhibitor (G04) that can be added to platelet storage solution to prevent the cold stress response of irreversible protein clusters (Gplb) which typically renders refrigerated platelets non-viable in vivo. As a result, G04 has the potential to enable more than 14-day functional storage of platelets in the refrigerator, doubling the storage time of current room temperature-limited platelets and decreasing the risk of bacterial contamination in one single inventory for blood centers. The SBIR grant will help fund Preservation Bio’s continued advancement of G04 through preclinical development and toward the clinic.
“We are excited to receive this grant from the NIH, along with the important validation of the award. With more than eight million platelet units donated yearly, the global platelet market is estimated to be at least $4 billion. Despite its size, this market is severely impacted by inefficiencies related to shelf life, storage, and shipping - all of which contribute to financial loss while creating challenges for health care delivery,” said Rich Ganz, chief executive officer of Preservation Bio. “We believe that by enabling safe refrigeration of donated platelets, G04 has the potential to transform the way these blood products are stored and used, offering enhanced patient care while addressing a significant and untapped commercial market. We look forward to leveraging this NIH grant funding to accelerate our ongoing development efforts for G04 as we work to move the program toward the clinic.”
Orange Grove Bio Senior Advisory Board Appointments
In additional corporate news, Orange Grove Bio announced the appointments of Abul Abbas, MBBS, Thomas F. Bumol, Ph.D., and James Wooldridge, M.D., to its board of senior advisors. These appointments further strengthen Orange Grove’s expanding team of advisors and support the company’s mission of developing new therapeutics for patients by harnessing the significant research potential in universities and academic medical centers across the United States.
- Dr. Abbas is a renowned researcher in the field of immunology, with a specific focus on the control of immune response and causes of autoimmunity. His laboratory is credited with using experimental models to analyze the generation and maintenance of regulatory T cells. Dr. Abbas has taught immunology at Harvard University and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the latter at which he served as professor and chairman of the department of pathology for nearly 20 years. He has received a number of prestigious honors and awards, including being elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is credited with publishing more than two hundred peer-reviewed papers and invited reviews.
- Dr. Bumol, a pioneer in deep longitudinal immune profiling of the human immune system, was formerly the founding director and executive vice president of the Allen Institute for Immunology in Seattle. Before that he was the senior vice president of Eli Lilly’s biotechnology division and the immunology therapeutic area, as well as site head and president of the company’s biotechnology center in San Diego. During his more than 35 years with Lilly, his teams and collaborators discovered and engineered/optimized over one hundred clinical candidates, resulting thus far in eight commercialized therapeutics including Trulicity®, Mounjaro®, Emgality® and Taltz ®.
- Dr. Wooldridge is an experienced medical oncologist, drug-developer, and biotech executive, with almost 25 years in academia, large pharma, and biotech, including public and private companies. He most recently served as chief medical officer of Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, where he assisted in taking the company public and led the development of vidutolimod in registration-directed and expanded proof-of-concept studies until Regeneron acquired the company in May 2022. Earlier in his career, Dr. Wooldridge spent more than a decade at Eli Lilly, where he led the early phase development of several cancer compounds, was head of oncology U.S. medical affairs, and served as chief scientific officer for immuno-oncology clinical development.
Opening of New Headquarters
Orange Grove Bio has also announced the formal opening of its new corporate headquarters in the PNC Center, a 27-floor office tower located within Cincinnati’s business district. To celebrate its opening, the company hosted an open house yesterday, September 27.
“2023 has been a very active time for Orange Grove Bio as we continue to build the firm’s presence in the U.S. and abroad, strengthen relationships with our growing stable of academic collaborators, and support our majority owned subsidiaries. Preservation Bio is the latest example of an Orange Grove Bio company that has achieved a key milestone in its quest to develop impactful therapeutics for patients in need and we are pleased to see the financial support provided by the NIH SBIR grant,” said Marc Appel, Orange Grove Bio’s chief executive officer. “At the same time, we are continuing to build a large and talented team of advisors with expertise that spans all aspects of the drug discovery and development business. The additions of Abul, Tom and Jim to our senior advisory board highlight the momentum we are achieving in this area and provide impressive experience that will help continue to guide the firm’s mission and activities.”
Ryan Fox, Orange Grove Bio’s chief operating officer and head of the firm’s Cincinnati office added, “We are thrilled to formally move our headquarters into the prestigious PNC Center in the heart of Cincinnati’s business center. This location helps to solidify our connection and commitment to this important emerging hub of biotechnology excellence.”
Orange Grove Bio’s mission is to develop new therapeutic options for patients by harnessing the significant research potential found in universities and academic medical centers across the United States and internationally. Orange Grove Bio fosters strong relationships with technology transfer offices outside of the traditional medical technology hubs of Boston and San Francisco. Collectively, Orange Grove Bio’s team possesses decades of drug development and company creation experience, allowing it to build and finance innovative programs from the research and development stage to clinical trials.
About Orange Grove Bio
Orange Grove Bio (OGB) is a capital allocation and asset development biotech company. OGB partners with universities, academic medical centers, and entrepreneurs to develop innovative treatments for important diseases, particularly cancer and immune disorders. Learn more at: www.orangegrovebio.com
Trulicity®, Mounjaro®, Emgality® and Taltz ® are registered trademarks owned or licensed by Eli Lilly and Company, its subsidiaries, or affiliates.
