OBIO CAAP® 2017 Kicks Off Just As Toronto Health Innovation Week Launches

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®) kicked off its 2017 Capital Access Advisory Program (CAAP®) on March 29, 2017, hosted at sponsor Norton Rose Fulbright LLP (NRF) Canada, just as Toronto’s first inaugural Health Innovation Week launches. Now in its fifth year, this year’s cohort of 10 high potential health science companies will work with OBIO and a vast network of expert advisors to address key goals and objectives which will position them for successful financing. OBIO CAAP companies are advancing and accelerating the development and commercialization of therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices and health IT products and services to benefit Ontario and global human health.

“OBIO CAAP is a unique program for health science companies who receive personalized coaching, advisor and investor introductions ultimately driving fundraising success leading to business development and growth,” said Gail Garland, CEO of OBIO.

“Our experience with OBIO has been tremendous! As OBIO Members and being part of OBIO CAAP we have received informative webinars, impactful pitch coaching, investor readiness reviews, and warm introductions to health science investors. Having experience with other accelerators, we can say without a doubt that OBIO provides the best insights of any program we've worked with. I would enthusiastically encourage any life science entrepreneur to engage with OBIO as early as possible,” said Joe Eibl, CEO, KE2 Technologies and OBIO 2016 CAAP company.

Some of the cutting edge and high impact technologies in this year’s OBIO CAAP 2017 program include: smart implantable bionic chips to restore partial vision, an audio and video entertainment system for MRIs, novel navigational tools and force sensing technology for minimally invasive surgery, digital pathology solutions, speech analysis using artificial intelligence to detect mental and cognitive impartment, novel therapeutic approaches for sustained pain relief post-surgery, drug conjugated antibodies and novel small molecule drugs for cancer, and smart diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for inflammatory bowel disease using the gut microbiome.

Toronto’s Health Innovation Week commenced yesterday, April 3, 2017 and provides the opportunity for hundreds of investors, startups, enterprises and policymakers to do business in the healthcare sector. In spirit and support of the week, OBIO hosted its 2^nd Annual The Night Before RESI Event, an intimate evening of targeted networking, engaging health science companies looking to fundraise, including the 2017 OBIO CAAP cohort with Canadian and International investors, multinationals and Trade Commissioners, over good food. The event served to put a warm touch on the meetings happening today at The Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Conference (RESI) lands on MaRS.

“Tailored networking events, led by Industry leaders, such as OBIO’s The Night Before RESI, legitimizes and fosters the commercialization of health science companies and strengthens the sector overall,” said event sponsor Christopher Jones, Partner, Blakes LLP.

OBIO’s continued advocacy, programming, and events, and initiatives such as Toronto Health Innovation Week help to strengthen and highlight the emerging importance of the Health Science Industry not only in Ontario and Canada but on a global scale.

Learn more about the 2017 OBIO CAAP companies, their technologies and products below:

Company	Technology / Product
Biotagenics Inc.	Develops solutions for precision targeting of the gut microbiome to combat inflammatory bowel disease.
Hammock Pharmaceuticals	Is advancing their sustained release hydrogel formulation for localized post-operative pain treatment.
iBIONICS	Designs, manufactures and commercializes The Diamond Eye which is a smart implantable bionic solution; addresses blindness caused by degenerative retina diseases such as age- related macular degeneration.
ImmunoBiochem Corporation	Develops new antibody drug conjugates targeting tumor secreted proteins to overcome cancer resistance mechanisms.
Innovere Medical	Has created a video and audio entertainment device for MRIs.
Mariner Endosurgery	Is developing and commercializing a novel navigation technology for minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery.
Pathcore	Is offering digital pathology products and services to transform healthcare and research. Their platform provides sophisticated image management and algorithm-based image analysis solutions designed by pathologists, for pathologists.
Proteorex Therapeutics	Have created a novel drug discovery platform to find novel cancer drugs targeting protein-protein interactions.
SensOR Medical Laboratories	Have developed force-sensing film technology for rigid endoscopic instruments to give surgeons a digital "sense of touch".
WinterLight Labs	Have created artificial intelligence (AI) based speech analysis technology to detect changes in language, cognition and mental health.

The OBIO Capital Access Advisory Program (CAAP®) is an intensive goal driven program of coaching and targeted advisor and investor introductions. The program drives fundraising success for health science companies looking to raise post-seed funding and operates downstream from existing entrepreneurship programs. It is a collaborative initiative between OBIO, industry and investors. CAAP harnesses the expertise and engagement from the Ontario health science community and investors from across Canada and the U.S. to accelerate growth of this important Ontario industry sector.

The Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®) founded in 2009, is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization engaged in strategy, programming, policy development and advocacy to further the commercialization of Ontario’s human health technologies positioning Ontario as a leader in the international marketplace. OBIO advances this goal through collaborative partnerships with industry, the investment community, academia, the health system and government.

For more information please visit www.obio.ca and follow OBIO on Twitter @OBIOscience