IBD Ventures
Scientific advancements often require vast investments of both time and money. The process of developing a new drug and bringing it to market, for instance, can take about 15 years and cost more than a billion dollars.
The reality is that many pharmaceutical companies just aren’t willing to make that kind of long-term, expensive investment in a product that is in the early stages of research and may not prove effective. As a result, some discoveries with great potential to help patients with IBD can get stalled indefinitely.
That’s where IBD Ventures comes in.
IBD Ventures is the only investment fund dedicated exclusively to identifying and funding new product opportunities in the IBD field. As a “venture philanthropy” program, IBD Ventures makes strategic investments in the development and commercialization of promising new products, including new drugs, diagnostic tools, and other products that would benefit IBD patients.
This approach is breaking down traditional boundaries by fostering collaboration between nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and industry. If a product we support eventually reaches the market, the Foundation would reap a financial return—which we would then reinvest in additional IBD research.
To be eligible for IBD Ventures, applicants must prove that their project has strong potential to lead to a product that would provide needed help for IBD patients. Applicants must also have a clear go-to-market strategy for their novel intellectual property (a unique idea that can be owned and protected) and show that their product can be successfully marketed.
IBD Ventures applications are reviewed by a committee comprised of industry and academic scientists, clinicians, and experts in biomedical entrepreneurship, along with IBD patients and caregivers.
EnLisense
Foundation-funded research is supporting the development of a wearable sensor that monitors biomarkers of inflammation in a patient’s sweat. The company EnLiSense, is developing a device that measures levels of C-reactive protein, IL-6, TNF, and calprotectin in the minimal amount of sweat that forms on the skin during normal daily activities. This project is funded through the Foundation’s venture philanthropy program, IBD Ventures, that supports product-oriented research and development that address unmet patient needs
The Foundation’s involvement in this project goes back to 2019 to when we first provided a grant to Shalini Prasad, PhD, a researcher at the University of Texas, Dallas, via our Novel Technologies Initiative. Dr. Prasad demonstrated that sweat-sensing technology could be used to measure C-reactive protein, IL-6, and TNF, which are inflammatory biomarkers that are currently only measured via blood tests. She has since developed a prototype and demonstrated in small studies that increases in these inflammatory biomarkers, as measured via a sweat sensor, correlate to flares in IBD patients.
Most recently, Dr. Prasad has demonstrated that the sensor can also detect changes in calprotectin, another inflammatory biomarker that is normally measured in stool samples.
The Foundation’s investment in EnLiSense (Dr. Prasad is a co-founder) is making it possible for this device to be further refined, tested, and validated in two new clinical studies.
Tissium: A Compound that Helps Heal Fistulas
Many patients with Crohn’s disease will eventually develop fistulas, which are abnormal channels connecting the bowel wall to another organ or bodily tissue. Fistulas not only can cause pain but also can lead to life-threatening infections that require emergency surgery. We are hoping that a new putty-like gel, which is being developed by the medical device company Tissium, can revolutionize fistula treatment.
The compound, which is known as a biomorphic polymer, draws on some of the principles of slug and snail secretions that allow the animals to “stick” to wet surfaces even while in motion. It was discovered by Jeffrey Karp, PhD, a bioengineer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. A Tissium product is already approved in Europe for use in cardiovascular procedures.
Tissium is now working on tweaking the gel so that it can be applied to fistulas. The hope is that it will not only seal a fistula hole but also serve as a scaffold upon which new, healthy cells can grow.
Biora Therapeutics
A new “smart pill” being developed by Biora Therapeutics aims to deliver medicine directly to the colon, which would increase efficacy while minimizing absorption into the bloodstream and related side effects.
Using funding from our venture philanthropy program, IBD Ventures, Biora Therapeutics will test whether this smart pill can be used to deliver medication directly to the colon of ulcerative colitis patients.
This pill, which contains a tiny computer chip, can be loaded with medication and programmed to travel to the cecum (first part of the large intestine or colon). Once it reaches its targeted destination, it uses a mini syringe or piston to release the drug.
Biora Therapeutics has already demonstrated, using imaging studies, that a version of this smart pill works in healthy people. Thanks to the Foundation’s IBD Ventures program investment, they are now testing a smaller, upgraded version in healthy people and will soon test it in ulcerative colitis patients.
