HemoShear Co-Founder Presents Recommendations for Funding of Breakthrough Technologies to U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Engineering and Technology
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., July 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- HemoShear, LLC, a leading developer of human-relevant systems for drug development and discovery, today announced that Dr. Brian R. Wamhoff, co-founder of HemoShear, was invited to present his recommendations on improvements to the U. S. government's Small Business Technology Transfer program to stimulate translation of new discoveries from academia to the marketplace. Dr. Wamhoff's testimony was given on Wednesday at a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Engineering and Technology for the purpose of guiding the draft of new legislation entitled "Innovative Approaches to the Technology Transfer Act of 2013". Dr. Wamhoff was the only industry representative selected to present to the Committee.
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Dr. Wamhoff is currently Vice President of Research and Development for HemoShear LLC, a biotechnology research company that is transforming the productivity and success rates of new drug R&D in the pharmaceutical industry. He was formerly Associate Professor at the University of Virginia Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Division, where he co-invented the HemoShear technology with Dr. Brett Blackman.
"Having transitioned recently from academic researcher to entrepreneur, I benefitted from the creativity and resources that academic environments provide, while also encountering cultural challenges of translating a new technology from a university lab to a commercial enterprise. My fellow academic researchers would benefit from appropriate incentives to translate their science, yet at the same time they need structure and accountability," said Dr. Wamhoff.
Drs. Wamhoff's and Blackman's paradigm-shifting technology, which became the foundation of HemoShear, is the only technology of its kind that accurately replicates human organ system and disease biology in the laboratory. HemoShear's human-relevant systems are being rapidly adopted by leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to make better decisions and select drug candidates with superior efficacy and safety profiles. Several institutes within the National Institutes of Health are funding programs with HemoShear, including the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; and the National Cancer Institute.
In the past forty years, there has been little progress in development of systems that accurately predict human response to new drug candidates. As a result, more than 90% of new drugs fail in clinical trials, often after companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in late stage clinical trials. The pharmaceutical industry has been consolidating and is seeking answers to reduce costs and improve success rates for new drugs. HemoShear has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to predict new drug successes and failures. The Company aims to improve the industry's return on capital, save billions of dollars by avoiding misdirected research, and bring innovative treatments to patients at lower cost.
Dr. Wamhoff's testimony and further information on the Committee's activities regarding the Small Business Technology Transfer program may be found at the following locations:
http://science.house.gov/press-release/subcommittee-looks-improve-transfer-technologies-lab-market
About HemoShear, LLC
By applying physiologically accurate hemodynamics and biological transport to primary cell cultures, HemoShear creates human-relevant systems that accurately replicate the biology of organ systems and diseases for applications throughout drug discovery and development. Working in strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, HemoShear generates meaningful data to increase confidence in decision-making, reduce risk of costly failures and identify efficacious therapies. HemoShear's science leads to new medicines and improves human health.
For information about HemoShear, please visit www.hemoshear.com.
SOURCE HemoShear, LLC
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