CAMBRIDGE, MA - (December 21, 2010) - Semprus BioSciences today announced the company has won the Frost & Sullivan 2010 North American Enabling Technology of the Year Award for Surface Functionalization Technologies for its Semprus Platform.
Semprus BioSciences is a venture-funded biomedical company designing products to give patients and clinicians new tools to eliminate the 56,000 preventable annual U.S. deaths and $11.2 billion cost of infection- and thrombus-related complications* that arise when vascular access products are implanted in the body. The company spun out of the labs of biomedical researcher and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professor Robert Langer in 2007, following its first place finish in MIT's $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, as well as Oxford University's Said School's Entrepreneurial Competition.
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to a company that has developed a pioneering technology that enhances current products and enables the development of newer products and applications. The award recognizes the high market acceptance potential of the recipient's technology and is supported by the 1,800 analysts and consultants at Frost and Sullivan who cover more than 300 markets and 250,000 companies spanning 40 global offices.
"This prestigious award is particularly significant to Semprus BioSciences because of Frost & Sullivan's rigorous and unbiased selection process," said Chief Executive Officer David L. Lucchino. "We are honored to be recognized for our accomplishments in adopting surface functionalization technology to address medical device safety."
The Semprus Platform is a single-surface modification that is designed to reduce the attachment of bacteria, fungus, platelets and blood proteins to a device.
"We have recognized Semprus BioSciences with this award because our independent, third party research confirms that Semprus' unique technology platform is able to adapt to diverse substrates such as polyurethane, silicone and titanium," explained Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Prasanna Vadhana, "thus paving the way for next generation products with improved clinical benefits across the medical spectrum."
Lucchino will accept the award on behalf of Semprus BioSciences at Frost & Sullivan's 2011 Excellence in Medical Technologies & Life Sciences awards banquet on March 15, 2011, in San Francisco, CA.
In December 2010, Semprus BioSciences completed an $18 million Series B financing co-led by SR One, the corporate venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline, and Foundation Medical Partners (FMP), a national healthcare venture capital investment firm with a strategic relationship with Cleveland Clinic. This funding adds to an $8 million Series A financing round in 2008 that was co-led by 5AM Ventures and Pangaea Ventures, as well as $2.5 million in seed capital raised. Semprus BioSciences has secured global licenses from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Washington. The company also holds numerous intellectual property filings and grants from the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), for a total of $2.5 million in grant funding since 2008.
Semprus Biosciences was selected as one of "50 Companies to Watch" by Medical Devices & Diagnostics Industry magazine in June 2010.
About Semprus BioSciences
Semprus BioSciences is a venture-backed biomedical company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Our innovative, multi-faceted Semprus technology signifies a breakthrough in medical device technology. Our current focus is to develop a vascular access catheter with the first single surface modification that is designed to simultaneously reduce microbial adherence and thrombus accumulation over the life of the device.