Photo credit: Lake Fong/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Globin Solutions, Inc., a startup biotechnology company formed last year by scientists from the University of Pittsburgh, completed over $5 million in Series A funding for its development of an antidote to carbon monoxide poisoning.
The round was led by China’s Tus S&T Service Group with participation from UPMC Enterprises, the commercialization arm of UPMC.
The funding will be used to support the continued development of the lead compound recombinant neuroglobin developed by company founders Mark T. Gladwin, MD, Chair of the Department of Medicine and the Jack D. Myers Professor of Internal Medicine; Jason J. Rose, MD, MBA, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Bioengineering; and Jesus Tejero Bravo, Assistant Professor of Medicine, all of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The intellectual property is owned by the University of Pittsburgh and exclusively licensed to Globin Solutions. The University of Pittsburgh has an ownership interest in the company as part of the license agreement.
Initial studies of the molecule in late 2016, published in Science Translational Medicine, found that the engineered protein could improve survival when infused in mice severely poisoned with carbon monoxide (CO), the invisible, odorless gas found in house fires and car exhaust.
Read more:
- Pitt startup working to treat carbon monoxide poisoning raises $5 million (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
- Stopping A Silent Killer (UPitt Innovation Institute)
- Setting a Trap to Rid the Body of Carbon Monoxide (previous post)
- Five-coordinate H64Q neuroglobin as a ligand-trap antidote for carbon monoxide poisoning (Science Translational Medicine)