1. BusinessJournalPHOENIX
The
3
FEBRUARY 10, 2006
THE BUSINESS JOURNALMore local breaking newsSecondFront
BY ANGELA GONZALES
agonzales@bizjournals.com
R
ibomed Biotechnologies Inc. has
been tapped by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Homeland Security as a
prime contractor for a device to
keep food safe from bioterrorist attacks.
The contract is part of $3.5 million in new
federal grants being funneled into the Phoe-
nix company from the Defense Advance Re-
search Projects Agency, or DARPA, and the
DHS.
Meanwhile, the company is dabbling in
the medical diagnostics arena, and Presi-
dent and Chief Executive Michelle Hanna
has attracted three startup biotech compa-
nies to her incubator space in downtown
Phoenix.
With nearly $9 million in federal funding
receivedsofartodevelophercompany’santi-
bioterrorism technology, Hanna is spending
most of her time trying to bring products
to market.
FIGHTING BIOTERRORISM
As prime contractor for the Homeland Se-
curity project, Ribomed will oversee three
other companies nationwide, Hanna said.
Under this contract, Ribomed will develop
a system to test for toxins and microbial
pathogens in the nation’s food supply. This
device would help protect the nation’s food
supply from bioterrorism attacks, Hanna
said.
“Once this device is complete, we intend
to continue ... to enter the medical diagnos-
tic market, formatting new devices for can-
cer or other human disease targets,” Hanna
said.
Ribomed also is moving forward on its
contract with DARPA, developing its Hand-
held Isothermal Silver Standard Sensor. The
portable system identifies biological warfare
agents, including bacteria, viruses and tox-
ins.
For this project, Ribomed is collaborating
with several companies nationwide, includ-
ing Lucent Technologies in New Jersey;
Global FIA in Washington, D.C.; Microchip
Biotechnologies, Ionian Technologies and
Keck Graduate Institute in California; and
Northrop Grumman in Maryland.
John Schmidt, director of the Chemical
and Biological Defense Technology Center
at Northrop Grumman’s Electronic Systems
Sector, said these technologies are laying
the groundwork for the next generation of
biological detection systems.
“This convenient, easy-to-use, handheld
device will provide military personnel an
extremely fast and lightweight sensor sys-
tem that approaches the sensitivity and ac-
curacy of lab measurements,” he said.
DETECTING CANCER GENES
In addition to these two contracts, Ri-
bomed is moving into the medical diagnos-
tics arena, the area that Hanna originally
targeted for the company’s technology.
When she started the business in 1999, the
goal was to develop a device to detect can-
cer at an early stage when proteins, DNA
and RNA silently are changing within the
body, and before symptoms occur.
But after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist at-
tacks, the focus shifted to devices that could
detect bioterrorism pathogens. Now, she is
getting back to where she started.
A member of Ribomed’s scientific advi-
sory board and a colleague in Italy have
found a gene and bladder cancer relation-
ship, Hanna said.
“Who doesn’t know somebody who has
cancer?” Hanna said. “It kills too many
people, and it doesn’t have to.”
It’s too early to determine whether the test
would use saliva, blood or urine to find the
killer gene.
“Somewhere those tumors are shedding
biomarkers,” Hanna said.
She hopes to collaborate locally with re-
searchers and hospitals on this project.
INCUBATOR SPACE FILLING UP
As if she’s not busy enough working to
bring her device to market, Hanna is trying
to make it easier for other biotech startups
to get their businesses running.
When she started her company, she had a
tough time finding wet lab space.
So far, she has attracted three small com-
panies to her incubator space she calls
P-Bio in the same building as Ribomed’s
headquarters at 714 E. Van Buren St. in
Phoenix: Solara Pharma LLC, Cynexus and
Pharma Pacific. Tenants share expensive
lab equipment.
J. Kenneth Hoober, who founded Solara
Pharma, is retiring from Arizona State Uni-
versity to spend all of his time building his
new company.
He recruited Andrew Backhaus, founder
of Pharma Pacific, the newest P-Bio tenant,
which focuses on antioxidant enzymes with
a variety of applications.
“The hard part is trying to find equip-
ment,” Backhaus said. “Equipment costs
more than buildings. It’s been a real good
opportunity for us.”
Cynexus, the third tenant, moved into P-
Bio space last November from Chandler. It
is working on anti-inflammatory products
targeting cardiovascular, optic, cancer and
other uses.
“We had been doing some work out of the
ASU lab and wanted to expand our opera-
tions,” said Jeffrey Bade, chief operating
officer for Cynexus. “Part of the issue of
being in a university lab is you’re subject to
Phoenix biotech firm lands $3.5M anti-terrorism contract
JIM POULIN/THE BUSINESS JOURNAL
Shameema Sarker, a research scientist at Ribomed Biotechnologies Inc., dilutes reaction products to be tested on the com-
pany’s mass spectrometry machine for the Department of Defense contract.
JIM POULIN/THE BUSINESS JOURNAL
Kim Perkins, a research scientist at Ribomed Biotechnologies Inc., pipettes while
performing one of Ribomed’s trademark Abscription reactions.
GET CONNECTED
Ribomed: www.ribomed.com
This article appeared in the February 10, 2006 issue of The Business Journal. It has been reprinted by The Business Journal and further reproduction by any other
party is strictly prohibited. Copyright © 2006 The Business Journal, 101 N. First Ave, Suite 2300, Phoenix, AZ 85003, 602-230-8400, phoenix.bizjournals.com.