Stem Pharm (Madison) is a biotech company applying its expertise in stem cell biology and biomaterials to enable the next generation of therapeutics for neurologic diseases. Stem Pharm creates stem cell derived in vitro models of the central nervous system (i.e. “brains in a dish”) used by pharma partners for studying disease biology, discovering new drugs, and for precision medicine. These tools will enable breakthroughs for neurodegenerative diseases and brain cancers where very little progress has been made in the last two decades. In addition, the company’s tissue models will reduce the reliance on animal use in research.
The company is seeing early traction with pharma partners and has obtained a number of development and service projects. Stem Pharm was awarded a second Phase II NIH SBIR grant for $1.7 million to develop neural organoids for neural toxicology and drug discovery. This brings the company’s non-dilutive funding to $4.5 million, which has been a significant asset in bringing this technology to market. The company was selected to participate in the prestigious Creative Destruction Labs program and will receive additional mentoring from experienced business executives and investors as the company seeks to scale its business. The company continues to grow its headcount by adding science and commercial expertise to its team.