Three UVA-related life sciences companies awarded Virginia Catalyst grants

As the area prepares for a future where pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is one of the largest employers, investment continues in the other businesses in the field of biomedicine.

In late July, Governor Abigail Spanberger announced the latest recipients of the funds from the Virginia Catalyst grant program.

“The awardees selected for Virginia Catalyst’s highly competitive new round of funding exemplify the Commonwealth’s unwavering commitment to supporting groundbreaking ideas encouraging visionary solutions to continue flourishing here in Virginia,” Spanberger is quoted in an information release from July 30.

In order to be selected, projects have to have connections to at least two of the universities in the Virginia Catalyst group. In the 19th round, all three have a UVA connection.

• The Pascal Medical Corporation received $800,000 for a project with the title “FDA PMA Submission Package for ClickGel™ to Enable a Human Investigational Device Exemption Study.” Learn more about ClickGel here. This is a collaboration between UVA and Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Perfusion Medical received $800,000 for a project with the title “Demonstrating Blood Conservation with PM-208.” PM-208 is a resuscitation therapy used for stroke and shock intended to reduce the amount of blood needed. This is also a collaboration between UVA and Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Sonogen Medical received $800,000 for a project with the title “First in-human testing of an AI/ML-enable therapeutic and diagnostic ultrasonic bone fracture healing device.” This involves using ultrasound to speed up healing and provide real-time monitoring of results. This is a collaboration between UVA, Old Dominion University, and Virginia Tech.

Virginia Catalyst is officially known as the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation. The fifth institution of higher education is George Mason University.

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