Governor Hochul Announces Third Round of Biodefense Commercialization Fund Awards to Combat Infectious Disease Threats

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the third round of awardees for the $40 Million New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund. The program was created to accelerate the development and commercialization of life science innovations that address serious infectious disease threats, including COVID-19 and its variants, while also creating jobs and encouraging continued growth across New York's expanding life science industry. Upon approval by the Empire State Development Board of Directors, four grants will be awarded for this round, representing a combined commitment of more than $3 million.

"To protect the health of New Yorkers and future generations, we are ensuring New York State is a leader in cutting edge infectious disease discovery," Governor Hochul said. "These awards will continue to attract significant jobs and investments so we can continue building the strongest life science ecosystem in the nation."

Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, "The Biodefense Commercialization Fund is benefitting the state in numerous ways -smoothing the commercialization pathway for innovative research, adding jobs and investment funding, attracting additional non-dilutive funding, and stimulating growth of our life science ecosystem."

Round three recommended awardees include:

• Rover Diagnostics (Brian Caplin, PhD) - $1.8 Million - Affordable and Adaptable real-time Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) platform for Rapid Diagnostic Development, Response, and Surveillance: Rover Diagnostics is building on its previously demonstrated unique technology to develop the lowest-cost consumable cartridge for collection and processing of swabs in the molecular diagnostics market, and an open platform where new nucleic acid amplification tests can be rapidly incorporated into the platform. Its solution is being developed to support biodefense researchers and assay developers to readily incorporate pre-manufactured kits or easily develop denovo laboratory tests for emergent biothreats and allows for easy manufacturability and robustness to supply-chain disruptions.
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Gang Fang, Ph.D.) - ($498,365) - Accurate, Sensitive and Cost-Effective Surveillance of Antibiotic Resistance: To circumvent the challenges associated with current clinical practice and PCR-based approaches, Dr. Fang and his team are developing a novel tool intended to achieve both high sensitivity and specificity for the surveillance of antibiotic resistance. The team will focus on demonstrating the scalability and robustness in an initial application of urinary tract infection (UTI), which is highly prevalent among women and the elderly, followed by expansion into other indications.
• Columbia University (Ian Lipkin, M.D.) - ($500,000) - CapSeq: a sensitive tool for rapid differential diagnosis of infectious disease and detection of anti-microbial resistance elements: The Center for Infection and Immunity is combining two diagnostic assays, VirCapSeq-VERT and BacCapSeq, to create a powerful, comprehensive platform for surveillance and differential diagnosis of infectious diseases. VirCapSeq-VERT detects all known viruses of mammals and avians and has the capacity to detect emerging viruses that pose pandemic risk. BacCapSeq is the correlate system for detecting bacterial pathogens and also provides data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) elements that may inform antibiotic selection early in the course of infection. These tools will enable agnostic microbial surveillance in a range of applications including clinical diagnosis, blood product screening and wastewater analyses.
• Niagara University (Mary McCourt, Ph.D.) - ($261,488) - Development of a General Anti-Viral Therapeutic using Cholestosome Technology:Dr. McCourt's lab is developing Cholestosome carrier technology to circumvent the body's regulation of zinc, allowing intracellular concentrations capable of effectuating a general antiviral response. Zinc is a significant trace metal in the human body, is biologically essential to cellular processes, and can inhibit intracellular replication of a variety of viral pathogens. The team aims to demonstrate that Cholestosome-encapsulated zinc has the ability to positively impact patient outcomes in response to pathogen infections and increase preparedness for future viral outbreaks or pandemics.

Through three application rounds, $25.5 million in Biodefense Commercialization Fund awards have been made to 11 startups and 16 academic institutions. Since its inception in September of 2021, the Biodefense Commercialization Fund has helped bring to market infectious disease solutions, including diagnostics, therapeutics and other innovations that address or mitigate the spread of serious infectious diseases. Previous Biodefense Commercialization Fund awardees are demonstrating the positive economic impact of this program, having secured more than $359 million in external funding, created 22 new jobs in New York State, and filed 22 patent applications.

The Biodefense Commercialization Fund is guided by an Executive Committee that includes representatives from New York State's Department of Health, Columbia University, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and two venture funds. A panel of experts from the biopharma industry, life science venture community, and academia review, evaluate and provide recommendations to ESD on submitted applications. Additionally, more than 40 mentors with deep expertise in entrepreneurship and biopharmaceutical development and commercialization assist grantees in advancing their technologies toward commercialization.

The awarded projects further support the state's economic development efforts by leveraging its programs toward company and job creation/retention and unlocking additional capital. Companies awarded a Biodefense Commercialization Fund grant must commit to remaining in New York State and continuously conduct business for a minimum of three years following completion of the grant.

Startup companies developing promising diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, and other innovations to prevent, treat, or mitigate serious infectious disease threats were invited to apply for grants of up to $4 million. New York's academic research institutions also were able to apply for grants of up to $500,000 to help fast track advanced intellectual property in life sciences. More information about the Biodefense Commercialization Fund.

New York State's $620 Million Life Science Initiative

New York State enacted a $620 million initiative to spur the growth of a world-class life science research cluster in New York, as well as expand the state's ability to commercialize this research and grow the economy. This multi-faceted initiative includes $320 million for strategic programs that attract new life science technologies to the state, promote critical public and private sector investment in emerging life science fields and create and expand life science- related businesses and employment throughout New York. Read New York State's Life Science Initiative Strategic Plan.

The life science sector encompasses the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biomedical technologies, life systems technologies, and includes organizations and institutions that devote the majority of their efforts to the various stages of research, development, technology transfer and commercialization. Every day, firms in this sector are developing new medical and pharmaceutical breakthroughs that have the potential to save lives, whether through new therapies or the early detection of diseases like cancer and neurological diseases. These firms are also making significant advancements in the realms of agriculture and environmental biotechnologies, helping create a cleaner and more sustainable future.

By strengthening incentives, investing in facilities, and improving access to talent and expertise, New York will significantly increase its share of industry-funded research and development, support the commercialization of existing academic research, and usher in the next generation of advanced technologies. Beyond the advancements in science, this initiative will position New York as a magnet for emerging manufacturing-based enterprises, bolstering regional economies and creating thousands of jobs.

Contact the Governor's Press Office