SHANAHAN NAMED VP OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

—One of the newest international companies to expand into Cambridge is Ariana (R)  Pharma–a 2003 spin-out of the Pasteur Institute in Paris.  Its  subsidiary, Ariana Data Intelligence, Inc., located in the Cambridge Innovation Center at 1 Broadway,  will provide novel non-statistical clinical data analysis technology to pharma and the FDA,  Ariana announced today.

The technology,  “Knowledge Extraction and Management Technology (KEM)” is aimed at reducing cost, bias, and risk in clinical trials.

“The US pharma and biotech markets tend  to be early technology adopters and are searching for better data analytics tools to advance personalized medicine using all the new biomarker, genomic, proteomic and metabolomic data now being generated,” said  Dr. Mohammad Afshar, Ariana’s President and CEO.

KEM   “is the only FDA-tested technology that  can simultaneously analyze all these variables and pull out patient responder sub-groups, optimize biomarker signatures and remove bias from clinical trials,” Afshar said.

A “unique” association rules-based (non-statistical) analytical technology, KEM  finds patient responder sub-populations and biomarker signatures that statistical methods are unable to detect, according to Afshar.  KEM thus optimizes clinical trial inclusion/exclusion criteria, thereby lowering the number of patients needed to reach clinical endpoints and saving sponsors both time and cash, and reducing clinical drug development risk.

In conjunction with the opening, Ariana has appointed James M. Shanahan as Vice President  of Business Development.  Shanahan was previously a co-founder and is currently a  board member of SynDevRx, Inc., an oncology-focused biotech company. He was also a co-founder and VP Corporate Development of JAM Technologies, Inc.

Ariana offers something “special and desperately needed “by the pharmaceutical industry, Shanahan said.   “Companies spend tens of millions generating data.  Now, it’s all about making sense of that data.  KEM identifies useful, complex biological relationships that statistics routinely miss.”

More information is available at  http://www.arianapharma.com/  .

–Anita M. Harris

Chicago-based  Healthbox is now accepting applications for a new,  $50,000 three-month  health tech business accelerator program  to start August 13,  in Cambridge.

In the program, up to ten  selected New England-based companies will receive: $50,000 in seed capital;  collaborative workspace;  access to a mentor network of industry experts  and strategic guidance, according to Dan Phillips, a director of  Sandbox Industries, Healthbox’ parent company, who attended Venture Cafe in the Cambridge Innovation Center last week.  The  program will conclude with a high-profile conference in November at which each participant will pitch to an audience of investors and healthcare leaders from across the country.

Healthbox  is one of the first business accelerator programs in the healthcare industry to support a platform for  innovation among seed-stage companies, according to the Sandbox Website.

“Massachusetts’ world-renowned academic institutions, cutting-edge provider systems and strong investor community make it an ideal location for a healthcare accelerator to stimulate the ecosystem and support new ideas,” said Healthbox founder Nina Sharif, in a press release.  “We are looking forward to working with New England’s most promising healthcare entrepreneurs to help them gain traction in the industry and develop sustainable businesses.”

Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield Venture Funds will be among those providing financial support for the Cambridge program, according to Ryan Boxill of the BCBSMA Finance Development Program.

Earlier this year, Healthbox hosted its first program in Chicago.  According to a company press release, ten healthcare technology startups were selected from hundreds of applicants and, within three months,  the teams were able to evolve their business models and establish new partnerships and pilots. The program was supported by strategic partners including  Boston-based HLM Venture Partners; Ascension Health;  BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners; California HealthCare Foundation; Merge Healthcare;  Merrick Ventures; Sandbox Industries and Walgreens.

David Nichols of CareWire, a Minnesota-based company that participated in the Healthbox Chicago program said: “This program has helped us really focus in on our core value, rapidly test assumptions and launch pilots with new customers.”

Mark Hall, the CEO of New Jersey-based United Preference, another Healthbox Chicago participant, added “Things that take 6 months or 12 months in other environments, we’ve been able to achieve in 2 to 4 weeks here.”

According to its Website, Sandbox Industries creates, invests  in and explores new businesses that it believes could change markets. Through a new model of business development that “helps rather than harass entrepreneurs,”  it aims  to “grow successful companies through collaboration and knowledge sharing…redefining the way great ideas are generated and transformed into successful companies.”

Applications are currently being accepted on the Healthbox website at www.healthboxaccelerator.com/apply. For information and announcements about the program, visit www.healthboxaccelerator.com and follow the Twitter feed – @health_box

—Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris is a writer and journalist based at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square, Cambridge.

Tim Rowe, CEO of the Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square, gave a great talk at HarrisCom Group’s recent Pitching for Business Workshop on Feb. 23.  Among his main points: “Elevator pitching is like dating:” the goal is to find out if it’s worth spending more time with the person you’re speaking to. Tim is also a venture capitalist and president of the Kendall Square Association in Cambridge, MA.

Here are links to the video and to the blog I wrote on the HarrisCom Web site.

Link to video
Link to blog  

–Anita M. Harris
Anita M. Harris is president of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA, an award-winining public relations 3.0 firm specializing in strategic integrated marketing communications and thought leadership  for clients in health, science, energy, technology and education, worldwide. 

c. AMH 2011

At 1PM, on Friday, September 18, collaborators from MIT, CIC, the Marion Ewing Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship, several venture funds, the City of Cambridge, Ernst & Young and others will inaugurate the world’s first “Walk of Fame” for entrepreneurs, according to an email from  Tim Rowe, president of  the Kendall Square Association.

The event, open to the public, will be held at the Kendall Square T stop in front of the Marriott Hotel’s  newly redesigned plaza.

Seven of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time will be honored with granite stars unveiled in the public way, according to Rowe.

While many of these individuals have passed away, one of these seven will be on hand for the ceremony (the identities of the honorees are secret until the event).

In future years, additional stars will be placed, building a kind of
“freedom trail” of innovation through Kendall Square.

“The Entrepreneur Walk of Fame has a mission to inspire young people to
consider careers as entrepreneurs,” Rowe wrote.  “While there are public efforts to
honor great athletes and actors, nowhere today is there a public place
where entrepreneurs are honored for their contributions to society.
Those contributions are significant. Entrepreneurs bring new
innovations to market in ways that improve the human condition, and
entrepreneurs help millions of people become productively employed,
thereby building healthy economies.”

-Anita Harris

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New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning public relations and marketing communications firm located in Kendall Square. Cambridge.

The Cambridge Innovation Center and quite a few companies will be holding open houses this Thursday in Kendall Square, Cambridge–as part of the nine-day Cambridge Science Festival.

Billed on its Web site as “the first of its kind in the nation,”  the annual Festival opened on Saturday, April 24, to showcase  Cambridge as an internationally recognized leader in science, technology, engineering and math.  A multifaceted, multicultural event held every spring, the Cambridge Science Festival makes science accessible, interactive and fun.

A myriad of events–ranging from talks and panel discussions to demonstrations, luncheons, museum exhibits, elementary school science fairs  and company open houses–are listed at the  Festival’s Schedule of Events.

I expect to be at the Cambridge Innovotion Center open house at 1 Broadway  on Thursday evening–as will my client, InVivo Therapeutics, and   Vitality, Seeding Labs, Acorn Product Development,   HubSpot and other companies.   The Venture Cafe, on the 11th floor,  will be open to the public  from 6-9 pm.