Covington-based Bexion Pharmaceuticals is a big fan of Kentucky, in part because KY Innovation offers impactful startups the boost they need to pursue big goals.
In Bexion’s case, that’s innovative cancer therapeutics.
Bexion is developing BXQ-350, an oncology treatment that targets the cancer cell’s environment. The product has shown a strong safety and tolerability in early clinical trials and could be revolutionary for the way cancer is treated.
BXQ-350 is also being explored for treating Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN), a common side effect for people that have undergone chemotherapy treatments — and other diseases — that leave them with pain, tingling, burning and numbness in the feet and hands.
“Bexion is developing life-saving drugs,” said Margaret van Gilse, Bexion’s vice president of business development. “BXQ-350 is a first-in-class biologic containing the multifunctional, lysosomal activator protein, Saposin C in a nanovesicle formulation, and we are thrilled to have developed it in Kentucky.”
Van Gilse says there are many reasons to fall in love with Kentucky, such as the cost of living, its central location and proximity to other parts of the country, the underlying sense of community and collaboration and the overall culture.
Bexion has also leveraged many of the tools KY Innovation and its partners offer to develop its technology and expand its operations.
Those include the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, which Kentucky matches on a competitive basis; Keyhorse Capital (formerly the Kentucky Enterprise Fund), which is funded by the state and managed through a partnership with the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp.; and Kentucky’s Angel Investment Tax Credit, which offers up to a 40% tax credit for qualifying investments made in the state’s businesses.
Kentucky is a great place to launch and scale your business. Learn more about KY Innovation - the Commonwealth’s office of small business, entrepreneurship and innovation within the Cabinet for Economic Development – at kyinnovation.com and let’s get started.
KY Innovation helps any Kentucky entrepreneur, startup or traditional small business navigate the resources they need to launch and scale. We enable a sustainable and active entrepreneurial ecosystem throughout the Commonwealth that is designed to identify, develop, retain and attract talented entrepreneurs utilizing a #teamkentucky approach that focuses on inclusivity, connectivity, positivity and a give first culture.
