A Mason-based early-stage biopharma startup that's developing a new pipeline of drugs to treat musculoskeletal disorders like osteoarthritis closed a $4 million seed round earlier this month, marking a significant stepping stone for the company, officials said.
Amplicore Inc., founded in 2018 by University of Cincinnati scientist Chia-Ying "James" Lin, will use the funds to complete preclinical development of its two leading products, AM3101 and AM1101, or treatments for meniscus tears and osteoarthritis, respectfully.
It also positions the company for its next round of financing, Lin said in a release. The round, led by Photon Fund, included participation from other West Coast and Asian-based firms Industrial Technology Investment Corporation, Berkeley Catalyst Fund and SVE Capital.
“We are very pleased to have accomplished this important milestone and to have such an eminent group of investors supporting our science and vision,” Lin said in the statement. "Put together, the drug has been investigated as a potential treatment for a variety of musculoskeletal disorders."
Lin, the company's president and CEO, established Amplicore based on technology he developed in laboratories at UC. The company's drugs, novel injectable therapeutics, are different because they are minimally invasive and have the potential to facilitate healing or slow degenerative progression, Jim Hamby, Amplicore's senior vice president, told me.
Current therapies for conditions like osteoarthritis, cartilage damage, disc disease and acute meniscus tear are largely palliative, or offer only short-term relief.
AM3101, Amplicore's drug for meniscus tears, is further advanced in its development, Hamby said. Meniscus tears are a common knee injury in athletes, but for military members as well. The company, supported by a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, is launching a 200-patient clinical trial for AM3101, likely late this fall.
AM1101, meanwhile, Amplicore's therapy for osteoarthritis, a chronic and debilitating musculoskeletal disease, represents a much bigger market opportunity, he added.
Amplicore has eight employees. Prior to its move to Mason, the company took residence in UC’s Venture Lab, a pre-accelerator housed at the 1819 Innovation Hub. While there, the company received $180,000 from Ohio Third Frontier through UC.
The $4 million raise makes Amplicore the Venture Lab’s most successful team in terms of raising outside capital, Grant Hoffman, director of startups, said. The Venture Lab, to date, has graduated 147 teams and launched nearly 50 startups to date.
Hamby said that relationship has been crucial. The Venture Lab, he said, could help Amplicore land Midwest-based funding in the future.
"We’re a Midwest company. We’d like to stay in the Midwest, and funding from the Midwest would help us in that goal," Hamby said.
