IDBiologics Wins Life Science Venture Forum

Annual Pitch Competition Gives Funding Opportunity for Emerging Life Science Startups

Nashville, Tenn. — Life Science Tennessee (LST), a statewide member organization whose mission is to advance and grow the life science industry in Tennessee, is pleased to announce IDBiologics as the winner of the annual Life Science Venture Forum as determined by an expert panel of judges.

The Venture Forum, sponsored by Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis and Igneous, is a unique pitch competition for Tennessee’s emerging life science startups. Five companies competed in this year’s Venture Forum, which ended programming for Life Science Tennessee’s annual conference, LST|CON. IDBiologics took home a $5,000 prize courtesy of Waller.

Based in Nashville, IDBiologics discovers and develops fully human monoclonal antibodies for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases. The startup grew out of the academic lab of James Crowe at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The Crowe lab has developed technology to identify and isolate best-in-class fully human monoclonal antibodies against infectious diseases. IDBiologics will move lead candidates forward in preclinical and clinical development.

“IDBiologics is developing transformational antibodies that could address important infectious disease needs in the highest risk and most vulnerable patients,” said Abby Trotter, Executive Director of Life Science Tennessee. “Backed by a great team, we’re proud to support this innovative company, which is representative of all the incredible research and development occurring across the state.”

Judging the Venture Forum were Brian Laden, a Co-founder and Partner at TriStar Health Partners, a venture capital investment group currently managing early stage healthcare and life science-focused funds; Eller Mallchok, Managing Director of Jumpstart Foundry, a seed-stage healthcare innovation fund based here in Nashville; and Rob Readnour, Managing Director at Mountain Group Capital.

The other four companies competing in this year’s Venture Forum were: Anytime Pediatrics, an affordable telehealth software aimed at pediatric offices and urgent care centers; Healing Innovations, a medical device company whose flagship product is the Rise&WalkÔ which is a gait training rehab device; Iono Pharma, which seeks to disrupt the pediatric drug delivery market with products like EPISTATÔ strips to treat asthma attacks and severe allergy outbreaks; and Newton RFID, a mobile records management service specializing in the equine industry.

IDBiologics recently entered the Life Science Mentor Network. Administered in partnership with Launch Tennessee, the Mentor Network pairs C-Suite executives and subject-matter experts with promising new companies and entrepreneurs through a mentoring program involving panel presentations and coaching sessions.

About Life Science Tennessee

Life Science Tennessee is a statewide, non-profit, member organization whose mission is to advance and grow the life science industry in Tennessee through advocacy, partnerships and alignment with economic and workforce development. Life Science Tennessee conducts business and economic development activities; advocates on behalf of the industry; educates the public about the benefits of life sciences research and product development; and provides a network for the exchange of ideas, information and opportunities. For more information, visit www.lifesciencetn.org.

About IDBiologics

IDBiologics was founded in 2017 to discover and develop human monoclonal antibodies for the prevention, treatment, and cure of infectious diseases. Our innovative fully human monoclonal antibody platform enables rapid discovery and optimization of broad and potent therapeutic molecules. Using this proprietary platform, IDBiologics has accumulated unparalleled breadth in isolating antibodies for infectious diseases, with lead candidate molecules to diverse targets moving forward in development.

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