Pioneer Management Consulting Inc. has launched an investment effort aimed at companies pursuing treatments for a rare and lethal pediatric brain cancer — an illness that has struck the family of one of the firm's co-owners.
The Minneapolis-based consulting and analytics firm this week announced the formation of Pioneer Ventures Group, whose initial focus would be helping fund research into diffused intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG). Pioneer said it plans to eventually expand further into the biotech space
"We've been working to start a venture arm for more than five years now," said Pioneer founder and co-owner, Brian Westerhaus, in a statement. The firm didn't give details on the size of the venture initiative, but it's made at least one investment already.
The decision to invest in treatments for DIPG came out of two tragedies that occurred in Molly Koenen’s (a partner and co-owner at Pioneer Management Consulting) family. Koenen's brother, Timothy Orth, died of DIPG in 1997 at 18. Koenen’s niece, Josephine (Zoey) Orth, also lost her life to DIPG at 3 years old in 2022.
Koenen said in an email that having two cases of DIPG (which is a disease that hits less than 1% of the world) in one family back-to-back is unheard of.
Westerhaus said in a statement that pediatric cancer research is woefully underfunded, getting less than 4% of all cancer research dollars available. Rare types like DIPG, he said, get almost none.
Pioneer Venture Group's first investment was in biotech company OX2 Therapeutics in Minneapolis. OX2 is working on a dual-approach immunotherapy drug that shuts down mutation-causing checkpoints in cancer cells while restarting the immune systems to kill them. It is being led by biotech executive Jeff Liter, who is also the president and CEO of Minneapolis-based genome engineering startup B-MoGen Biotechnologies. Liter co-founded OX2 with his business partners Michael Olin and Dr. Chris Moertel in 2016.
Olin and Moertel are researching DIPG in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota.
OX2 has already completed a successful trial for adults with high-grade glioblastomas (the equivalent of the pediatric version) at the University of Minnesota. The pediatric trial will start in January at the Children's Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis. OX2 plans to treat teenage children in the hopes of getting FDA approval.
Koenen said that the trial needs about $40,000 per patient for in-hospital care. With its investment, Pioneer Ventures is covering the first few patients. OX2 is still seeking about $1 million for the trial, Koenen said. She said donations can be made directly to the trial by contacting Teri Cannon at Teri.Cannon@childrensmn.org.
Pioneer Management Consulting was founded in 2009 and has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing consulting firms in the Midwest by the Business Journal and the Inc. 5000’s lists for the past two years. It currently has offices in Minneapolis and Denver.
