HIGHLIGHTS
May 14, 2009
Accelerator Corporation Announces XORI Corporation: 10th Accelerator Company is 2nd to Emerge from University of WashingtonNov 21, 2008
Accelerator Corporation Announces Series A Investment in GPC-Rx Corporation (New Name PharmSelex)Nov 14, 2008
Accelerator Corporation Adds Additional InvestorAug 15, 2008
Accelerator Corporation Creates Ninth New Biotech CompanyMar 14, 2008
Recodagen Corporation is Seventh New Start-Up Launched By Accelerator
Accelerator Corporation Announces Series A Investment in GPC-Rx Corporation (New Name PharmSelex)
SEATTLE, WA – November 21st, 2008 -- Accelerator Corporation, a privately–held biotechnology investment and development company, announced today the formation of GPC-Rx Corporation, the second Accelerator-backed start-up from the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”). The technology being developed by GPC-Rx was created at the Materials and Process Simulation Center, headed by William A. Goddard, Ph.D. The company will focus on a revolutionary approach to more capital efficient development of novel and superior drugs targeting G-protein Coupled Receptors, a very important class of drug targets. The syndicate of investors leading the Series A investment in GPC-Rx includes Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Amgen Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, OVP Venture Partners, PPD, Inc., and WRF Capital.
GPCRs are cell surface receptors that transmit chemical messages, such as odorants, nutrients, and hormones, across the cell membrane. Due to their mediation of critical physiological functions, GPCRs are involved in major disease areas including cardiovascular, metabolic, neurodegenerative, psychiatric, cancer, and infectious diseases. There are more approved drugs for GPCRs than any other target class. To facilitate the development of GPCR-targeting drugs, GPC-Rx aims to predict the structures of GPCRs and rationally design drug candidates with minimized side effects.
The Goddard Group at Caltech has recently established and validated methods to generate predictive 3D-structures of GPCRs and their complexes with known ligands. This new generation of methods is greatly improved in accuracy, speed, and usage of GPCR structure prediction. A significant amount of the company’s computational effort will be conducted via the Goddard Group’s technology.
GPC-Rx will be the second biotechnology company Dr. Goddard has founded with Accelerator. In 2005 Dr. Goddard co-founded Allozyne, Inc which successfully raised a Series B round of $30M in 2007, and GPC-Rx is the sixth company he has helped to launch. Dr. Goddard has had a long and distinguished career at Caltech and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Bard Geesaman, M.D., Ph.D., an experienced biotech and software entrepreneur, senior executive and venture capitalist, has joined the company as Chief Scientific Officer. Most recently Dr. Geesaman served as Executive Director, Life Sciences of the X PRIZE Foundation. Prior to joining the X PRIZE Foundation, Dr. Geesaman was a Venture Partner at MPM Capital where he assessed new investment opportunities and assisted in business development for existing portfolio companies. While at MPM he co-founded Solasia, an oncology-focused pharmaceutical company located in Tokyo, Japan that expedites drug development and commercialization in Asia. Prior to MPM, he served as the Vice President, Medical Development for Elixir Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw clinical strategy for drug development and the human genetics program, as well being involved in the company’s business development team. Coincident with these activities, Dr. Geesaman was a General Partner at F2 Ventures, a UK-based venture capital fund, and he continues to serve on the board of directors for these investments. Prior to joining Elixir, Dr. Geesaman founded and was Chief Technical Officer of Catalyst Medical Solutions, where he designed and coded an enterprise application to enhance hospital revenue and improve medical documentation and compliance.
Dr. Geesaman is board certified in Internal Medicine, and completed a Clinical Fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has a Ph.D. in Systems and Computational Neurobiology from MIT, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a B.S. in Systems Neurobiology from the University of California at Berkeley. “I have closely followed the progress of The Accelerator since inception and I am thrilled to be joining one its portfolio companies. Dr. Goddard’s modeling algorithms provide an incredibly powerful tool for rational drug design and I am honored to have the opportunity to work with his team to commercialize this technology.”
"Bill Goddard is a visionary with whom we have a long history," said Chad Waite, Managing Director at OVP Venture Partners. "We're delighted to be backing this important work. GPCRs are arguably the most important targets in all of current pharmaceutical research. This technology has the potential to ultimately lead to remedies for a host of medical conditions, from allergies to immune system complications."
About Accelerator Corporation
Accelerator Corporation, founded in 2003, is a privately–held biotechnology investment and development company located in Seattle, Washington, USA. The company is building the next generation of life-enhancing biotechnology companies by providing the resources critical to accelerating the development of nascent leading-edge biotechnologies. These key resources, provided by global life science leaders –Amgen Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, OVP Venture Partners, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., WRF Capital, and the Institute for Systems Biology - include committed capital from top-tier venture capital firms, state-of-the-art facilities, world-class scientific and technical expertise and support, and experienced biotechnology start-up business management and support. For more information, please go to: www.acceleratorcorp.com.