The Arizona Center for Innovation (AzCI) is pleased to announce that the Flinn Foundation has selected MSDx, Inc. to receive grant funding and program services through the Foundation’s 2013 Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program. MSDx is a personalized medicine diagnostics company developing blood test products for monitoring disease activity in neurological disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The Foundation funding will be used to support further development of the MSDx blood testing technology.
“One of the key strategies of Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap is to build a critical mass of bioscience firms,” said Jack Jewett, Flinn Foundation President & CEO. “This program aims to identify Arizona’s most promising young bioscience firms and help them to grow and mature in Arizona. MSDx, working with the Arizona Center for Innovation, presented a compelling technology and solid business strategy to provide enhanced diagnostics to benefit Multiple Sclerosis patients.”
“This grant supports the next important step in product commercialization for our company,” says Marie Wesselhoft, President of MSDx. “Not only is the funding important to MSDx, but we believe that the company will benefit from establishing a connection with the Flinn Foundation and the broader Arizona community.”
In addition to the funding, which the Flinn Foundation will award to the nonprofit AzCI in partnership with MSDx, the company will also have access to programs and services offered by the Flinn Foundation, Arizona Center for Innovation, and the AZ Core Labs. For the next twelve months a company representative will also have an opportunity to participate in meetings with Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee.
About MSDx, Inc.
MSDx discovered a novel source of blood-based biomarkers that can offer a real-time view of disease activity in the brain. The company refers to its proprietary, patented approach as WINDOW INTO THE BRAINTM. Multiple Sclerosis is the first disease of focus for the company. Ultimately, this technology may be applied in other brain diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Traumatic Brain Injury. MSDx blood tests will offer critical data to improve treatment decisions helping slow disease progression for the patient while reducing lifelong healthcare costs.
MSDx is pursuing the development of Laboratory Developed Tests (LDT) as well as In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) blood tests for brain diseases. The company is located in Tucson at the University of Arizona’s Tech Park business incubator called the Arizona Center for Innovation (AzCI). Please visit www.msdx.co for more information about the company and their patented technology.
Learn more about MSDx in this clip from the 2013 AZBio Expo.
About the Arizona Center for Innovation
The Arizona Center for Innovation (AzCI) is a business incubator and innovation center that promotes and accelerates technology commercialization, helping entrepreneurs transform their ideas into successful companies. AzCI has served over 75 companies since inception in 2003. AzCI is a component of Tech Parks Arizona which is part of the initiative Tech Launch Arizona – a new approach to managing the commercialization of technologies at the University of Arizona.
About the Flinn Foundation
The Flinn Foundation is a Phoenix-based, private, nonprofit, philanthropic endowment. It was established by Dr. and Mrs. Robert S. Flinn in 1965 with the mission of improving the quality of life in Arizona to benefit future generations. The Foundation supports the advancement of Arizona’s bioscience sector, the Flinn Scholars program, arts and culture, and the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership.
Media inquiries
Flinn Foundation ● Brad Halvorsen ● (602) 744-6803 ● bhalvorsen@flinn.org
MSDx ● Marie Wesselhoft ● (520) 907-3267 ● mwesselhoft@msdx.co
AzCI ● Jessa B. Turner ● (520) 382-2485 ● jbturner@uatechpark.org