Company Profiles - Science Center
3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals
Acquired by Johnson & Johnson in January, 2003, 3-Dimensional Pharmaceutical applies the latest techniques in high throughput screening, combinatorial chemistry, X-ray crystallography, structure-based drug design, and cheminformatics to discover and develop new drugs in the areas of oncology, inflammation, metabolic, and cardiovascular diseases.
3DP's proprietary drug discovery technology, known as DiscoverWorks®, is intended to increase the productivity of the drug discovery process and enables scientists to design improved characteristics into lead drug candidates.
3DP has drug discovery and development programs focusing on potential new drugs in early stage development for the treatment of cardiovascular disorders, oncology, and inflammation.
Founder, president and chief scientific officer, Dr. F. Raymond Salemme, has been a major supporter of the Science Center and continues to help and mentor Science Center companies.
Acuity Pharmaceuticals
Acuity Pharmaceuticals was co-founded in October 2002 by researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute of the University of Pennsylvania (UPENN) Medical School and Samuel Reich, then a doctoral candidate in UPENN's Ophthalmology Department.
Acuity exclusively licensed several types of RNA interference (RNAi) intellectual property from UPENN - including both broad-based and target-focused applications. Acuity Pharmaceuticals made history in the fall of 2004, when the company initiated Phase l studies for its lead candidate Cand5, dosing the first human ever to receive a potential therapeutic drug based on revolutionary RNA interference technology.
Acuity operates and maintains a full working research and development laboratory in the Science Center.
Bentley Systems, Inc.
Bentley Systems, Incorporated provides software for the lifecycle of the world’s infrastructure. The company’s comprehensive portfolio for the building, plant, civil, and geospatial vertical markets spans architecture, engineering, construction (AEC) and operations. With 2004 revenues exceeding $300 million, Bentley is the leading provider of AEC software to the Engineering News-Record Design 500 and major owner-operators.
BioRexis
BioRexis™ was formed to develop and produce novel biopharmaceuticals with superior pharmacology using efficient manufacturing systems. Many biopharmaceuticals face difficulties in development and commercialization due to pharmacological issues. For example, many existing drugs, and development compounds such as peptides, have a very short half-life, requiring both high and frequent dosing.
Unwanted side effects from high or frequent dosing can limit therapeutic benefit and narrow application of the particular product to one indication. High dosing per patient also often places a further burden on already limited manufacturing capacity driving up the cost of treatment, as in the case of monoclonal antibodies and other high-priced biopharmaceuticals.
BioRexis seeks to solve this problem through a new approach of protein engineering. The goal is to enable cost-efficient production of high value proprietary biopharmaceuticals that provide longer lasting therapeutic benefit and greater safety
CardioKine
CardioKine is a specialty pharmaceutical company developing innovative compounds for the treatment and prevention of heart failure and related cardiovascular indications. Heart failure is one of the world’s fastest growing diseases, impacting all segments of society. It occurs when the heart becomes too weak to pump blood, leading to accumulation of fluids, shortness of breath, and premature death. By developing and bringing to market a new generation of therapies, treatments and preventative measures, CardioKine is positioning itself as a leader in the fight against this debilitating condition.
Centocor
Centocor is a leading biopharmaceutical company that creates, acquires and markets cost-effective therapies that yield long-term benefits for patients and the healthcare community.
The company is dedicated to the research and development of treatments for a wide range of diseases including cancer, infectious diseases, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disorders (I.M.I.D.), such as arthritis and inflammatory skin diseases.
Centocor’s products, developed primarily through monoclonal antibody technology, help physicians deliver innovative treatments to improve human health and restore patients’ quality of life.
Centocor is a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, the worldwide manufacturer of healthcare products. Centocor discovered REMICADE and has exclusive marketing rights to the product in the United States. Schering-Plough Corporation has rights to market REMICADE in all countries outside of the United States, except in Japan and parts of the Far East where Tanabe Seiyaku, Ltd. markets the product.
Ethereal Technologies
Imagine sitting at a desk and having a computer-generated image hover in front of you—just hanging out there in the air. You are able to seemingly touch the image, and even take measurements from it. No special glasses or even a darkened room are required. Just some simple-to-use, affordable hardware and you are able to view images in three dimensions and manipulate them in real time.
Ethereal’s propriety system is a unique combination of advanced optics, prisms and software, according to Ethereal President and CEO Linda Yu. They have a functioning system (known as the VIS4D ™ Workstation) on the market. And, thanks to a new generation of lighter-weight mirrors, Ethereal plan to role out a more portable version soon.
Monell Chemical Senses Center
The Monell Chemical Senses Center was established in 1968 as the world's first scientific institute for research on the chemical senses - taste, smell, and chemosensory irritation. The Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the chemical senses at every level, from molecular to behavioral. For more than 30 years Monell has brought together top scientists from academia, industry, and government to collectively focus on the chemical senses. This multidisciplinary approach has resulted in worldwide recognition of Monell as the premier institute for chemosensory research.
Morphotek
Morphotek is a biotechnology company focused on the generation of proprietary organisms for product discovery and development. The company has a validated and patented platform technology called morphogenics that rapidly enhances the natural process of genetic evolution within a targeted host to yield variants with novel, commercially important output traits.
This versatile technology has been successful applied to microbes, plants, and mammals to yield genetically diverse offspring that are suitable for pharmaceutical and agricultural product development in the areas of antibody and protein therapeutics, high-titer protein manufacturing, and drug target discovery. Internally, Morphotek employs its morphogenics technology to develop optimized therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory, and infectious diseases.
Neose Technologies
Neose is a biopharmaceutical company focused on improving protein therapeutics using its proprietary technologies. The Company’s core business is to use its novel GlycoAdvance™ and GlycoPEGylation™ technologies to improve proteins for which there is already a substantial body of data demonstrating safety and efficacy. The company intends to apply its technologies to products it is developing on its own and to products it co-develops and co-owns with others. It also expects to make its technologies available, through strategic partnerships, to improve the products of other parties.
SEI
SEI Investments is a leading global provider of asset management and investment technology solutions. Its innovative solutions help corporations, financial institutions, financial advisors, and affluent families create and manage wealth.
As of the period ending December 31, 2004, through its subsidiaries and partnerships in which the company has a significant interest, SEI administers more than $288 billion in mutual fund and pooled assets, manages more than $120 billion in assets, and operates 22 offices in 11 countries.