Celdara Medical and ARMI Partner to Accelerate Commercialization of Regional Biofabrication Technologies
Lebanon, NH: Celdara Medical today announced a partnership with the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) to support and advise ARMI’s newly-created BioFab Startup Lab and its portfolio companies. The BioFab Startup Lab includes companies that are developing medical products through biomanufacturing of cells, tissues, and organs, as well as supporting related manufacturing and supply chain technologies. The BioFab Startup Lab aims to accelerate the commercialization of biofabrication technologies to advance the bioeconomy of the region and the nation.
Celdara Medical is uniquely positioned to support the BioFab Startup Lab with its experience of conceptualizing, designing, and operating its National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported DRIVEN Accelerator Hub. Dr. Jake Reder, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Celdara Medical, commented, “The complex bioengineering, biomanufacturing, and regenerative medicine work ongoing in the ARMI ecosystem is absolutely astounding. In a few short years, Julie [Lenzer, Chief Innovation Officer, ARMI] and her team have convened the world’s most innovative tissue engineering minds and firms. Innovation brings the opportunity for creativity in business models, translational research, and entrepreneurship, which is where DRIVEN comes in. We are all very excited to adapt DRIVEN’s proven model to the unique needs and opportunities of ARMI and the BioFab Startup Lab. We are keen to support a new generation of world-changing entrepreneurs, standard-setting companies, and indeed an entirely new industry to grow here in New Hampshire.”
Lenzer remarked, “Biofabrication is a high-growth, high-tech, emerging industry. Positioning new companies for success in the life sciences, as DRIVEN has done for years, will provide the strong foundation from which to build our BioFab Startup Lab. DRIVEN’s outcomes set them apart, and we look forward to tapping into their experience, processes and networks to help our startups thrive.”
Celdara Medical looks forward to developing this partnership, thereby accelerating promising biomanufacturing innovations to the market and building a world-leading sector here in New Hampshire.
About Celdara Medical, LLC
Celdara Medical was founded by Drs. Jake Reder and Michael Fanger in 2008 and is headquartered at the Dartmouth Regional Technology Center (DRTC) in Lebanon, NH. Celdara Medical builds academic and early-stage innovations into high-potential medical companies, identifying discoveries of exceptional value at the earliest stages and moving them toward the market. Celdara Medical partners with inventors and their institutions, providing the developmental, financial, and business acumen required to bridge discovery and profitability. With robust funding options, a diverse and high impact Programmatic pipeline, and partnerships with world-class academic institutions and industry leaders, Celdara Medical navigates all aspects of a complex industry, accelerating science to improve human health.
About DRIVEN
The DRIVEN Accelerator Hub is an NIH-funded consortium led by Celdara Medical and Simbex in partnership with leading research institutions in the Northeast, including Brown University, Dartmouth College, Maine Medical Center, MDI Biological Laboratory, the University of Delaware, the University of New Hampshire, the University of Rhode Island, and the University of Vermont. DRIVEN has assembled an External Advisory Committee (EAC) comprised exclusively of investors (representing over $100B in AUM) and buy-side business development leaders (cumulative market cap exceeding $1T). Of the fifteen companies-in-formation and new startups that participated in DRIVEN, half have subsequently raised funds from professional investors, resulting in seven clinical trials and three marketed products. DRIVEN was supported by NIGMS UT2GM130176. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
About ARMI/BioFabUSA
The Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), headquartered in Manchester, NH, is an organization funded by the United States Department of Defense. ARMI’s mission is to make practical the scalable manufacturing of engineered tissues and tissue-related technologies, to benefit existing industries and grow new ones. ARMI brings together a consortium of over 180 partners from across industry, government, academia, and the non-profit sector to develop next-generation manufacturing processes and technologies for cells, tissues, and organs. Further information about ARMI is available at www.armiusa.org