EDISON INNOVATION FUND MAKES INVESTMENT
TRENTON, N.J. (Dec. 19, 2006) – The Edison Innovation Fund has finalized a $750,000 technology investment with Provid Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a chemistry-based drug discovery company located at The Technology Centre of New Jersey in North Brunswick. The fund is a state effort managed by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) that has been created to grow jobs and encourage economic growth in the technology industry, a cornerstone of Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s Economic Growth Strategy.
“Through the Edison Innovation Fund, the EDA is working to expand the availability of early-stage capital and provide specialized assistance to growing businesses like Provid Pharmaceuticals,” said EDA Chief Executive Officer Caren S. Franzini. “The investment we have made in Provid will be used to expand its drug discovery services, advance its research and development efforts, and take the company to the next level of success.”
The fund provides an integrated set of resources to support technology and life sciences companies throughout their discovery, development and commercialization stages. It is designed to enhance New Jersey’s strong record of invention and innovation and result in the creation of new, quality jobs and a more vibrant state economy. These resources include angel and lease guarantees, low-interest loans, venture capital, tax and business incentives, and affordable, modern, office and laboratory space and support services.
Provid Chief Executive Officer Dr. Gary Olson said the company was pleased to receive the EDA funding. “Our drug discovery service business to the biotech and pharmaceutical industry is poised for growth, and our internal program in autoimmune disease therapeutics is moving to the development stage,” he said. “The EDA resources have become available at the optimal time to help us achieve a major transformation of the business.”
Provid is a tenant at Rutgers Technology Center II, which is adjacent to the EDA’s Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies. The Commercialization Center is located at The Technology Center of New Jersey, which the EDA operates within the Greater New Brunswick Innovation Zone. Provid plans to create 45 new jobs.
Edison Innovation Zones, also located in Newark and Camden, are technology neighborhoods designed to foster partnerships among public universities, research institutions and related businesses and spur the rapid transfer of discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace. For more information on assistance for technology companies, visit the state’s new business website portal at www.nj.gov/njbusiness or call the EDA at (609) 777-4898.
Provid, founded in 2001, has expertise in all aspects of medicinal chemistry, structure-based drug design, lead optimization, protein biochemistry and assay development. The company offers drug discovery services to biotech and pharmaceutical companies as well as academic groups that need expert medicinal chemistry capabilities to transform their biologically driven research into drug molecules. Additionally, Provid is pursuing programs for the discovery of novel therapeutics for autoimmune diseases based on a platform technology in the field of peptide mimetics.
The EDA is an independent, self-sustaining state financing and development agency that works to promote economic growth, job creation and the revitalization of New Jersey’s communities with financing assistance, technical support and entrepreneurial training, and real estate development activities.
