Supporting Florida’s Innovation Economy

 

Issue 100 – December 2022 

 

 

As we are closing in on another great year and sending out our 100^th Institute newsletter, we want to thank all the entrepreneurs who continue to build great companies right here in our state, shaping the future with disruptive technologies. This year’s successes would not have been possible without the fantastic support from our Board of Directors, Leadership Council members, associates, research partners, and our community. We look forward to a great 2023 and are committed to driving and truly diversifying innovation-based economic development that will benefit all Floridians.

 

Planning Ahead – 6^th Annual Synapse Summit 2023

Apply now for Synapse Innovation Awards 2023

 

Tampa, FL - Join us on February 14^th, 2023, to Celebrate, Discover, & Engage in everything the Florida innovation community has to offer. This will be the date when innovators all around Florida will make their way to the Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. You can make boundless connections both in-person and virtually through the Synapse hybrid community feature during Synapse’s 6^th annual innovation event.

More on the event and registration information can be found here.

Synapse also partners with Florida Power & Light, and 35 Mules for the 2023 awards showcase at the summit. FPL will contribute $75,000 to be awarded among the top three overall winners as part of its goal to empower the next generation of Florida’s leaders, thinkers, and innovators. Nominations for this award are open to businesses in different stages, industries, and technologies that can submit to categories including Community Impact, Emerging Technology, Tech Start-Up, Innovative Product, and Growth Company. Entries will be evaluated by a hand-selected group of judges ranging from top CEOs, innovation leaders, and investors from across the state, as well as input from the Synapse community to select the finalists who will present at the Innovation Showcase to be held at the 6^th annual Synapse Summit.

More details and the registration for the Synapse Innovation Awards 2023 can be found here.

 

Progress Update – Modulation Therapeutics

Tampa, FL - Modulation Therapeutics, funded by the Institute in 2012, has a couple of exciting announcements to make. Modulation Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company on a mission to improve outcomes for people with solid tumor cancers by commercializing the cancer-defeating power of Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT), novel Anti-Cancer Peptides, and Small Molecules. Modulation Therapeutic has one cancer therapy in the clinic and two additional novel therapies expected in the clinic within months. Modulation Therapeutics has received research funding support from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under several SBIR and STTR awards over the last six years, supplemented by grants and investments from several institutions, including the Melanoma Research Alliance and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

The company is raising Series A investments to advance this robust pipeline of cancer therapies through the initial clinical development milestones. We are proud and excited about the remarkable progress this company is making.

Modulation Therapeutics Announces successful metastatic Uveal Melanoma patient enrollment for a Phase 1 Clinical Trial of the First in Class Targeted Alpha Therapeutic (TAT), 225Ac-MTI-201.

The Phase I trial was initiated in collaboration with the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, on July 21, 2022, under the clinical leadership of Dr. Nikhil I. Khushalani, Vice Chair of the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at Moffitt. In this actively accruing dose escalation trial in advanced uveal melanoma, the primary objective is to determine the safety and tolerability of a single dose of intravenously administered ²²⁵Ac-MTI-201. The secondary end-points are to determine the pharmacokinetics of ²²⁵Ac-MTI-201 and assess efficacy in this deadly disease.

²²⁵Ac-MTI-201 is analogous to the FDA-approved Peptide Receptor Radiotherapeutic (PRRT) Lutathera, which targets somatostatin subtype 2 receptors for delivery of the beta particle emitting radionuclide, ¹⁷⁷Lu, for the treatment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. ²²⁵Ac-MTI-201 targets the melanocortin 1 receptor which is highly expressed on metastatic uveal melanoma tumors, and delivers the alpha-particle emitting radionuclide, ²²⁵Ac.

Currently, there is only one FDA-approved treatment for metastatic uveal melanoma, and only half of uveal melanoma patients are eligible for this treatment. Modulation Therapeutics and collaborators seek to aid all patients experiencing this devastating disease with this First in Class Targeted Alpha Therapy. The FDA has granted Orphan Drug Designation to ²²⁵Ac-MTI-201. Modulation Therapeutics is looking forward to successful completion of the phase 1 trial in order to support an early-to-market phase 2 strategy for this indication.

More information on the phase 1 clinical trial with 225Ac-MTI-201 can be found at: "https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/" (Trial Identifier: NCT05496686).

Modulation Therapeutics also Announces receipt of a peer-reviewed Fast Track SBIR award from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute to complete research with MTI-301, a First in Class SCD-1 inhibitor for treating multiple cancers.

The FastTrack SBIR award will be funded in 2 milestone driven phases totaling up to $2.4M supporting both preclinical and first-in-human phase I clinical studies to assess the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of MTI-301, a Stearoyl CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) inhibitor, as a therapeutic strategy for patients with advanced solid tumors in breast, liver, gastrointestinal and genitourinary cancers.

Please get in touch with us directly by responding to this email if you’d like to learn more.

 

 

Black Founders Demo Day

This year marked the first Black Founders Demo Day in Miami, FL, at the Adrienne Arsht Center, where culture met capital. Overall, 12 Black & Brown founder-led companies from all over the country, four from Florida, participated in the event. All founders could showcase their business while pitching onstage during the main event to a panel of active venture capital investors, including Yasmine Morrison, representing our Private Fund Manager, Florida Funders. The Institute was proud to support the Florida Technology companies attending the event as a founder sponsor.

The four Florida Tech companies making it onto the final stage were:

• Laundr, a Gainesville-based on-demand laundry service
• Wisdom App, a Miami-based social audio app
• Allison, a Tampa-based digital toolkit for credit unions and community banks
• Airyvl, a Tampa-based aviation technology company

More on the event can be found under RefreshMiami here, and on Inc.com here.

Yasmine Morrison, Florida Funders

 

 

LaCasa

Florida Funders, eMerge Americas and Carve Communications hosted the second annual LaCasa on November 30^th, 2022, during Art Basel Week in Miami. The event was dedicated to conversation, collaboration, and celebration of the tech & innovation ecosystem in South Florida. Zaid Rahman, Founder & CEO of our portfolio company Flexbase, participated in a panel discussion centered around a founder’s journey highlighting the ups, downs, twists, and turns of building a successful company.

More on the event can be found here.

 

About Us

Formed by the Florida Legislature in 2007, the Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology supports and funds innovation companies that create clean jobs in new industries that are driving the global economy. The Institute provides company building services, and seed funding through the Florida Technology Seed Capital Fund, to promising Florida startups that are developing products that improve and save lives and help companies improve their bottom line. The organization’s investment decisions are guided through a strong partnership with its Private Fund Manager, Florida Funders. The Institute’s economic impact on Florida’s economy is $4.1 billion, with fiscal revenue impacts of nearly $453 million to federal, state, and local governments.