Since 1998, there have been 72 TBFP awards totaling $7.8 million.
Eligible firms must be technology-based and produce products or provide services that are sufficiently innovative to provide and maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace in order to generate significant revenue growth. In addition, they must also exhibit significant potential for high sales per employee, substantial value added per employee, wage levels 35-40 percent higher than the state average, and other indicators related to the generation of wealth for Oklahoma's economy.
During the 2006 fiscal year, the following 10 advanced technology start-up companies were approved by the Investment Committee to each receive $100,000 of TBFP funding:
Altheus Therapeutics plans to develop a new therapeutic derived by combining two existing FDA approved drugs for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The company's 12-month milestones include advanced proof-of-concept studies, optimizing drug delivery capabilities and initiating clinical studies to validate therapeutic superiority.
Biolytx is developing a new antimicrobial peptide based on the protein, CAP37, which exists in the natural immune defense system of the body. The dual action peptide rapidly kills pathogens or bacteria by piercing their outer membrane and it also binds to the endotoxin eliminating the release of dangerous toxins into the body thereby reducing dangerous side effects, such as sepsis, associated with other anti-infectious drugs.
docvia.com provides secure online messaging between physicians and patients for the diagnosis and treatment of acute disease symptoms, chronic disease management and postoperative care, as well as multidiscipline care for patients. The encryption technology and privacy policy of docvia.com protects the confidentiality of the patient's personal information and is HIPPA compliant, which is more secure than either the telephone or a standard e-mail message.
FRA Systems developed Creditmaster, a Web-based commercial credit risk analysis system that automates workflow solutions and effective integration of credit related data into a single enterprise credit/collection function. The application promotes objective decision-making, credit policy standardization, and streamlined collection procedures, all allowing improved cash flow for the customer.
LifeGuard America, Inc. has developed patent-pending, Web-based software systems that provide organ procurement organizations and tissue banks with an end-to-end solution for creating, maintaining and auditing patient records that enable a seamless connection of available quality donor information between the procurement coordinator and physician, with the net effect of increasing the number of organs placed from each donor.
MEDIBIS provides customized, Web-based business intelligence applications and specialized technology services exclusively to the outpatient healthcare marketplace that enables facilities of all sizes to leverage robust enterprise data warehouse and business intelligence technology on an affordable subscription basis.
RiGEN, also known as Riley Genomics, Inc., is a specialty diagnostic services company that provides rheumatologists with comprehensive diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic response monitoring capabilities to cost-effectively improve patient outcomes for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The "Inflammatory Cytokine Monitoring Panel" or ICMP, RiGEN's flagship product, provides a means to continually track patient's disease activity through the measurement of 23 molecular markers of disease.
Sol, Inc. developed the patented Horizontal Opening Solar Solution, a light sensitive, dynamically controlled unit that dramatically reduces direct solar heat gain and maximizes available daylight admitted through skylights. HOSS not only assists with energy savings, but increases fire suppression effectiveness and allows users to abide by increasingly popular dark sky ordinances.
Siwa Biotech Corporation developed a technology leading toward a male non-hormonal oral "pill" form of contraception based on finding an inhibitor for the TPST 2 enzyme, which in animal models renders males infertile without any other side effects, and is entirely reversible upon discontinuation of the "pill."
ZigBeef, LLC provides a new, long-range, electronic identification product to the cattle industry. ZigBeef tags will contain not only government-assigned cattle identification numbers but also provide on-tag relaying or storage for user-defined data such as birth date, ownership, vaccination records, and real-time physiological data achieving new levels of functionality, convenience, and inventory control throughout the cattle supply chain.
All 10 companies are clients of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center. Both LifeGuard America and Riley Genomics received their second TBFP award this year.
TBFP awards have a payback feature, which ensures future funding will be available for Oklahoma's advanced technology firms yet to be created. To date thirteen of the companies that have received awards have repaid $2,003,000 million back into the TBFP program.
"Oklahoma entrepreneurs continue to successfully navigate the stages of commercialization as evidenced by the record year achieved for repayments to the TBFP program. Due to receiving over $500,000 of repayments from participating companies, five more technology start-ups will be able to be funded in the future," explained Tom Walker, executive vice president and COO of i2E, Inc.
The five companies that attributed to this record year for repayments include: LifeGuard America, Analytical Research Laboratories, Women's Care Network, EKIPS and Alive City.
i2E, Inc., an Oklahoma not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the creation of additional high technology businesses in the state of Oklahoma, manages OTCC and the OCAST Technology Business Finance Program for the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST). Both the OTCC and TBFP programs are funded with state appropriations.
Prospective applicants for future rounds of funding should contact i2E, Inc. at 405/235-2305 in Oklahoma City, or at 918/582-5592 in Tulsa. More information can also be found at www.i2E.org.