August 21, 2008

5 in Purdue Research Park named 'Companies to Watch'

"Four of these five companies - Cook Biotech, Endocyte, Quadraspec and Simulex - have a key product that was discovered at Purdue University," said Joseph B. Hornett, senior vice president, treasurer and COO of the Purdue Research Foundation, which manages the Purdue Research Park. "The companies then developed the technology through our Office of Technology Commercialization.

"These companies epitomize what we mean when we say 'discover, develop and deliver' because, like many other companies in the park, they have taken discoveries and moved them to the market." 

The recognition was announced by the Indiana Economic Development Corp., its Small Business Development Centers Network, the Edward Lowe Foundation, KeyBank, Purdue and Ivy Tech College. An awards reception will be Aug. 27 in the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis.

The Purdue Research Park-based companies included in list are:

* Cook Biotech Inc. manufactures tissue-engineered medical products from a specific portion of porcine (swine) small intestine. This special tissue is developed into strong, sterile, pliable sheets that serve as biocompatible scaffolds to make medical products for surgical repair of hernias, wounds, burns and other soft-tissue injuries. The material facilitates the repair of damaged tissues.

* Endocyte Inc. uses an advanced targeting technology that makes it possible to develop custom guidance systems for drugs. The technology is designed to make drugs more effective by targeting them directly to receptors found on diseased cells. With improved targeting, Endocyte plans to develop new therapies using proven powerful drugs that are currently not widely used due to dose limiting toxicities. With the increased specificity afforded by Endocyte's patented technology, these drugs can be dosed for maximum efficacy, but with a significant reduction in side effects. 

* Quadraspec's patented SDI™ detection technology is changing the face of diagnostic medicine. Quadraspec enables the rapid analysis of up to 100 unique blood tests on up to 1,000 unique patients per hour. The blood test can simplify traditional diagnostic procedures and can instantly detect cancer, cardiovascular disease or other serious illnesses in the diseases' earliest, most treatable stages.

* Simulex provides fully functioning synthetic environments that enable government and business customers to gain insights into complex situations. The technology, called Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation, was developed at Purdue and is the business analogue of military war gaming. It provides continuously running artificial theaters consisting of interlinked individuals, organizations, institutions, infrastructures and geographies. These theaters are populated with virtual entities with parameters established by real-world data. Within these theaters, customers can anticipate and shape competitive reactions to their actions and consequently predict and evaluate future courses of action.

* Next Wave Systems LLC based in Pekin, Ind., is an engineering and technology company specializing in security and expeditionary warfare-related systems. The company also has an office at Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana in Merrillville, which is part of the Purdue Research Park system.

The Purdue team supporting these companies includes representatives from the Purdue Center for Regional Development and the Burton Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship in Discovery Park, the College of Agriculture, Krannert School of Management, Purdue Alumni Association, Purdue Cooperative Extension Service and Purdue Research Park.

The Edward Lowe Foundation, based in Cassopolis, Mich., created the Companies to Watch program to paint a realistic picture of a statewide or regional economy. The foundation also presents Companies to Watch in Michigan and Arizona, with 2009 awards programs planned for Colorado and the Jacksonville, Fla., region.

About Purdue Research Park

The 725-acre Purdue Research Park (https://www.purdueresearchpark.com) has the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The park is home to more than 150 companies. About 100 of these firms are technology-related and another 39 are incubator businesses. The park was ranked No. 1 in 2004 for university-affiliated research parks and received the 2005 Outstanding Commercialization Award, both from the Association of University Research Parks. The park's companies also have received numerous recognitions, including a 2006 MIRA Award: Innovation of the Year for Purdue Research Park/Quadraspec Inc. and a 2005 CoreNet Global Innovators Award finalist. The Purdue Research Park is part of the Purdue Research Foundation, a private, nonprofit foundation created to assist Purdue University in the area of economic development. In addition to the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, the foundation has established or is currently constructing technology parks in other locations around Indiana including Merrillville, New Albany and Indianapolis.

To the Purdue Research Park, https://www.purdueresearchpark.com

Purdue Research Park contact: Steve Martin, (765) 494-6872, sgmartin@prf.org