Historic Investments
RCT has invested in a number of enterprises developing products with a clear competitive advantage in biotechnology, medical devices and other areas. These include:
Biotechnology
Alchemia
Alchemia Limited is an Australian biotechnology company listed on the ASX with expertise in carbohydrate chemistry, which it has applied to the discovery and development of human therapeutic products. Alchemia’s first product, synthetic heparin (fondaparinux), was approved by the US FDA in 2011 and is marketed in the US under a partnership with Dr Reddy’s ...
Alerion Biomedical
Alerion Biomedical, Inc. was founded to develop products for the detection, characterization and treatment of disease. Advanced Research Technologies Inc., a Canadian medical device company, acquired substantially all of the imaging technology and product assets of Alerion in March 2006. ART is actively promoting the Fenestra™ product line.
APT Pharmaceuticals
APT Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded to develop inhaled therapeutics for inflammatory diseases and transplantation. The company’s lead program was inhaled cyclosporine which it developed through a pivotal Phase III clinical trial.
Aragen Bioscience, LLC
Aragen Bioscience offers cell line development, protein expression and purification, molecular biology, cell biology immunology, and diverse in vivo services to the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Corporate offices and in vitro laboratories are located in Morgan Hill, California at the south end of Silicon Valley. Aragen and its predecessor, Sierra BioSource, have been operating in ...
Arana
Arana Therapeutics, Ltd was an Australian biotechnology company focused on antibody development and traded on the ASX. Arana acquired Pepteck Limited and EvoGenix Limited to gain access to their EvoGene™ technologies to evolve antibodies and other proteins to improve their properties for use as therapeutic and diagnostic products. EvoGenix also had a proprietary binding ...
BioCision
BioCision is developing technologies and products to standardize pre-analytical sample handling. BioCision’s first products, the CoolRack® line, are made from a novel aluminum alloy that is 300 times more conductive than ice and adapts rapidly to the temperature of any freezing or cooling medium. The CoolRack® line includes thermo-conductive modules that hold tube or plate ...
Bionomics
Bionomics is an Australian drug discovery and development company listed on the ASX. The company has several proprietary technology platforms called MultiCore®, Angene® and ionX® that are capable of generating drug candidates and targets in the therapeutic areas of cancer, anxiety, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. Technology for these drug discovery platforms where acquired from Iliad ...
BioVentures Australia
Start-up Australia and RCT formed BioVentures Australia, Pty. Limited in March 1999 to invest in early stage life science and medical technologies originating in Australia. The primary investment of BioVentures Australia was in the AU$40 million BioVentures Australia Fund established in 2001 and managed by George Jessup and Stephen Robinson of Start-up Australia. The BVA ...
Catalyst Biosciences Inc.
Catalyst Biosciences Inc. is a San Francisco company formed around proprietary technology exclusively licensed from the University of California, San Francisco, to develop engineered proteases as a new class of protein therapeutics. Proteases are naturally occurring protein-degrading enzymes that are catalytic in nature. Each protease molecule is capable of inactivating hundreds to thousands of target molecules, ...
Cylene Pharmaceuticals
Cylene Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded to develop targeted small-molecule drugs to treat life-threatening cancers. The company’s lead drug was CX-3543, which was developed through Phase II clinical trials.
OncoGenex Technologies
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded to develop and commercialize new cancer therapies that address treatment resistance in cancer patients using antisense based drugs. Custirsen, the company’s lead antisense drug that blocks clusterin, has completed Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in protstate cancer patients. The company is traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol ...
ParinGenix Inc.
ParinGenix Inc. was founded to develop 2-O, 3-O desulfated heparin, a nonanticoagulant heparin derivative, for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. The company has advanced the drug through Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of COPD.
Sertoli Technologies Inc.
Sertoli Technologies, Inc. (STI) was founded to develop the use of Sertoli cells as localized immunoprotective therapy. The company’s lead program was a product that co-transplanted Sertoli cells with islets for the treatment of diabetes. This approach was based on work at the University of Tennessee Medical Center that showed Sertoli cells protect foreign islets ...
Spirogen Ltd.
Spirogen was founded to commercialize a platform technology capable of discovering lead compounds that target any gene sequence. The company’s work has led to novel toxic anticancer therapeutics for use in antibody drug conjugates (ADCs).
Therapeutic Human Polyclonals, Inc.
Therapeutic Human Polyclonals, Inc., (THP) was founded as a biotherapeutics company to develop a unique transgenic mammalian platform to create human antibodies. THP was the first company to create transgenic rabbits with a human antibody repertoire for producing both monoclonal and polyclonal antibody therapeutics. Roche, the world’s largest biotechnology company, completed its acquisition of THP for ...
Medical Devices
Coronis Medical Ventures, LLC
Coronis Medical Ventures, LLC is a unique seed fund and business accelerator dedicated to providing a blend of capital, venture development and prototyping support for early stage medical device companies. Founded by veteran medical device entrepreneurs and experienced investors, Coronis knows what it takes to develop world-class companies. Coronis delivers capital, hands-on development, co-invention, leadership, guidance ...
CryoFluor Therapeutics LLC
CryoFluor Therapeutics LLC engaged in the development of medical devices to treat various diseases using a novel liquid cryogenic technology. It offered an endometrial ablation device, CryoBlate System, which uses perfluorocarbon chemical as the medium of heat transfer to freeze the tissue for the treatment of excessive uterine bleeding and menorrhagia. The company was founded ...
Kerberos Proximal Solutions Inc.
Kerberos Proximal Solutions Inc., was founded to develop a proximal embolic-protection technology to recover debris dislodged during angioplasty and stent placement. Kerberos launched its lead product for coronary and peripheral use under the Rinspiration System™. FoxHollow Technologies (Nasdaq: FOXH) acquired Kerberos for $13 million and up to an additional $19 million in future milestones.
Leto Medical LLC
Leto Medical, LLC, a medical device company, develops a system of products based on an electrical stimulation technology that will restore continence control to individuals with colostomies. It provides continent ostomy system, an electrical stimulation device that employs gastrointestinal stimulation technology. The company was incorporated in 2009.
Valeo Medical Inc.
Valeo Medical, Inc. develops a non-invasive diagnostic blood test for endometriosis. The company was founded in 2003.
Varix Medical Corp.
Varix Medical Corporation was formed to develop products for the minimally invasive treatment of chronic venous insufficiency, commonly referred to as “varicose veins.” Varix was acquired by Veniti Medical in 2011.
VasoNova, Inc.
VasoNova, Inc. was founded as a medical device company to develop an algorithm-based combination of intravascular Doppler ultrasound and electrocardiography to guide and place vascular access devices, such as a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC), with precision and reliability. The company’s Vascular Positioning System™ (VPS) uses multiple internal physiological parameters to accurately place the catheter ...
Other
Fullerene International Corporation
Fullerene International Corporation (FIC) combined the capabilities of partners Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), Materials and Electrochemical Research Corporation (MER) and RCT in a joint venture to commercialize fullerene materials. Mitsubishi purchased FIC from its partners in 2007.
NP Photonics Inc.
NP Photonics was formed as a spin-off company from the University of Arizona’s Optical Sciences Center to develop a new class of advanced fiber-optic components using innovative phosphate or tellurite glass fiber and waveguide amplifier technology.