Esperance Pharmaceuticals, a startup biotech company based in Baton Rouge, LA, has lined up $9 million in its first round of venture funds. Co-lead investors with Louisiana Fund I are Themelios Ventures Partners LP and Research Corporation Technologies. Esperance licensed its technology from Louisiana State University, the LSU AgCenter and the LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Esperance is "developing a unique, targeted, anticancer fusion protein that is selectively toxic to cancer cells. Targeting occurs through the designed ligand component that binds singular extracellular receptors on the cancer cell. The potent cytolytic peptide portion of the drug kills the cancer cell. Initial experiments in therapeutic animal models of human cancer showed regression of well-established tumors."
- here's the release on the startup