2012 Graduate Tri-State Winners
Geyser Flow Control – University of Nevada, Las Vegas - First Place: $30,000
Geyser Flow Control is a water flow restrictor for irrigation system that has commercial, residential and agriculture applications and will save users thousands of dollars due to its efficiency in water flow regulation.
MASH Tool USA – University of Nevada, Las Vegas - Second Place: $20,000
MASH Tool is a demolition tool that breaks apart concrete and has various other uses due to its unique construction.
2011 Graduate Tri-State Winners
CerebroGen Pharmaceuticals - University of Oklahoma - First Place: $25,000
CerebroGen is developing an antibody-based drug therapy to treat epilepsy. Building on more than a decade of research, the company’s drug removes a recently discovered cause of epilepsy unaddressed by existing treatments. With a regulatory approval strategy focused on reaching the market quickly through orphan status, CerebroGen is committed to bringing a much-needed therapeutic to Juvenile Epileptics, followed by a product indicated for the broader market.
cycleWood Solutions, LLC - University of Arkansas - Second Place: $15,000
cycleWood Solutions, LLC offers a sustainable and profitable solution to conventional single-use plastic bags. Our product, the XyloBag, is comprised of a biodegradable lignin-based plastic and biodegrades in 150 days. The target market for our product is the $4 billion U.S. plastic bag market.
2010 Graduate Tri-State Winners
InnerVision, LLC - University of Arkansas - First Place: $25,000
InnerVision’s Smart Turbine Blade enables power generation facilities to radically change their maintenance programs, saving them millions of dollars each year on interval-based maintenance. Our Smart Turbine Blade captures real-time diagnostic information from the inside of the turbine and transmits data wirelessly to the outside.
InnerVision, LLC
BiologicsMD - University of Arkansas - Second Place: $15,000
BiologicsMD is a medication development company start by four University of Arkansas graduate students. The team has relevant experience in drug development, management, marketing, grant writing and regulatory processes. We are commercializing a new patent-pending, pre-clinical, osteoporosis medication called OsteoFlor. Competitive osteoporosis product classes are limited by side effects and low efficacy at growing new bone. OsteoFlor will increase bone mineral density over twice as much as the leading medication in a single annual dose. Importantly, it has has no observed side effects in preclinical studies. Osteoporosis drug sales reached $2 billion in the U.S. and $9 billion globally in 2008. Based upon industry comparables, we expect OsteoFlor will be valued at $160 after a successful Phase I clinical trial. Given the current pharmaceutical R&D pipeline gap, pending patent expirations, and product advantages, OsteoFlor represents a promising opportunity for acquisition by a large pharmaceutical company.
BiologicsMD
2009 Graduate Tri-State Winners
Tears for Life - University of Arkansas - First Place: $25,000
Tears for Life is a medical diagnostics equipment company that is developing a non-invasive tear test kit that will screen women for breast cancer using proteins found in tears. This will be the core of a profitable portfolio of non-invasive screening tools that will save lives and reduce health care costs
Hexakit - Oklahoma City University - Second Place: $15,000
Hexakit produces and promotes Hexamibi, which is a genetic version of a heart imaging drug used to investigate the damage caused by a heart attack. The drug is administered intravenously and used in combination with imaging technology that allows physicians to clearly see both damaged and healthy heart tissue.
2008 Graduate Tri-State Winners
MerchantEyes, LLC - University of Arkansas - First Place
MerchantEyes, LLC proposes a digital solution to the current manual system of tracking and validating the $2 billion spent annually on in-store retail merchandising activities. MerchantEyes' proprietary web-based software solution will bring efficiency, accuracy, and transparency to the in-store merchandising process.
Perpetual Pharmaceuticals - Oklahoma University - Second Place
Perpetual Pharmaceuticals' mission is to build a high value company through the use of its proprietary Agglomerated Vesicle Technology, which will revolutionize drug delivery for several diseases. They will initially focus on an injectable insulin drug called Brio durance to effectively manage blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes.
