Milestones of Abiant
Milestones of Abiant
Progress milestones are shown below, with reference to the aspect of Abiant’s business model that they support (1 = imaging studies revenue; 2 = diagnostic development and revenue; 3 = shared return on drugs studied; if no number is listed, the activity supported general business formation and growth).
Dec 2005,
Company formed.
Year 2006 – Abiant secured terms for its technology license with New York University, delivered on imaging study contracts, and developed contacts that would results in its Series A funding in 2007.
Feb 2006,
Raised approximately $200,000 in seed capital.
Developed Business Plan and initiated discussion with prospective funding sources.
Completed imaging study for GlaxoSmith Kline (1).
Signed study contract with Johnson & Johnson (1).
Aug 2006,
Obtained a strategic investor, Kettering Medical Center, to lead the Series A financing round.
Nov 2006,
Came to agreement with New York University regarding the terms of an exclusive technology license for enabling PET and MRI image data analysis methods. (1, 2)
Year 2007– Abiant raised over $600,000 in a Series A Private Placement that would support the growth of its business, signed a Master Services Agreement with J&J, and began to expand its customer pipeline.
Feb 2007,
Received $250,000 investment from Kettering Medical Center.
Mar 2007,
Received other individual commitments for financing participation.
Delivered imaging study report to J&J that was well received. (1)
Apr 2007,
Signed Master Service Agreement with J&J. (1)
Signed a contract for new project with the J&J Master Agreement. (1)
May 2007,
Signed CDA with Hunter-Fleming to discuss a potential risk- and return- sharing arrangement for Alzheimer’s disease drug candidate. (1, 3)
Included as co-author on a scientific abstract by J&J. (1)
Invited to submit Letters of Intent (first stage of proposal) for two programs for potential funding by the Institute for the Study of Aging. (2)
Oct 2007,
Announced the successful closing of a $600,000 private placement.
Ed Maier (Heartland Angels) and Rick Mace (Kettering Medical Center) became two new members to the Board of Directors.
Sepracor formally approved the study proposal of approximately $120,000, adding a new customer. (1)
Nov 2007,
Took occupancy in office space at 420 Lake Cook Road in Deerfield.
Year 2008 – Abiant incremented its initial Series A Offering, began a new imaging study project with J&J, increased its imaging study customer pipeline to over 16 companies, and began to analyze Alzheimer’s Disease data using the tools licensed from New York University to further its capabilities in drug development studies and diagnostic development.
Jun 2008,
Augmented the Series A Offering raise, led by Heartland Angels and Kettering Medical Center, with $50,000 of additional investment.
Added Bea Salis as head of Quality and began a process to achieve 21CFR Part 11 compliance (involves electronic data protection and audit trails for Phase III clinical trials). (1, 2)
Oct 2008,
Wally Sackett joined Abiant’s Board as Kettering’s representative as a replacement for Rick Mace (who was no longer with Kettering).
Dec 2008,
Initiated a 6th project with J&J. (1)
Expanded customer pipeline to over 16 companies in imaging study discussions (1)
Established new collaborative / co-marketing relationship with Washington University allowing expansion to offer preclinical imaging studies. (1)
Year 2009 – Abiant significantly increased its visibility regarding Alzheimer’s Disease image analysis capabilities, leading to an expanded imaging study customer pipeline during the fourth quarter as the economic climate that had reduced prospects developed during 2008 began to recover, was awarded an investment grant supporting the diagnostic development aspect of its business, and progressed in its work toward the dementia diagnostic.
Jan 2009,
Submitted proposal for $200,000 in funding from the Institute for the Study of Aging (ISOA)/Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) to support diagnostic development work. (2)
Feb 2009,
Continued to build the relationship with J&J from the initial “gate-keeping” study to being their primary source for PET image data analysis and management. (1)
Presented to and signed CDAs with Astellas and Elan. (1)
Signed a CDA with Baxter and submitted an invited study proposal. (1)
Partnered with California Clinical Trials with regard to providing PET image data analysis to a clinical trial on which they were bidding. (1)
April 2009,
Gave oral presentations at the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) Investigator’s Meeting and the Human Amyloid Imaging Meeting, which both raised Abiant’s visibility to its customer audience as a commercial leader in the imaging field, particularly as related to Alzheimer’s Disease. (1, 2)
July 2009,
Gave oral presentation at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD) and was featured in an Alzheimer’s Association press release and video, again increasing Abiant’s visibility to its customer audience. (1, 2)
Aug 2009,
Was awarded a $200,000 investment from the ISOA/ADDF for the proposal submitted in Jan 2009. (2)
Progressed in work on an FDG PET imaging diagnostic analysis service / product to differentiate dementias. (2)
Sep 2009,
Howard Fillit, MD, Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation/ Institute for the Study of Aging, became an advisor to Abiant. (1, 2)
Oct 2009,
Gave oral presentation at the Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease conference, which led to two new customer leads and one request for a study proposal. (1)
Added collaborative partners to Abiant’s network of preclinical (animal) imaging sites. (1)
Nov 2009,
Accomplished multiple deliverables associated with ISOA funding of the development of an Alzheimer’s Disease diagnostic. These included obtaining and analyzing PET imaging scans of patients diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, a form of dementia that can be confused with Alzheimer’s Disease, and other forms of dementia, from the University of Munich and the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (2)
A publication featuring Abiant’s imaging study design and analysis capabilities, coauthored by Randy Andrews and Terry Brown with members of Johnson & Johnson, was accepted by the journal Psychopharmacology and published on November 13, 2009. (1)
Received permission from Pfizer to use, present, and publish on two important studies that had been performed by members of Abiant’s team using our FDG PET data collection and analysis methods. (1)
Year 2010 – Abiant gained traction and momentum in both its imaging study revenue stream and diagnostic development, achieved profitability EBITDA during the second two quarters, and laid groundwork for additional contracts and revenue growth in 2011.
Feb 2010,
Achieved very high accuracies in discriminating dementias, matching the accuracies previously reported by NYU on a more limited data set. (1, 2)
April 2010,
Became by invitation a member of a PET working Group for ADNI II (the follow on program to the original Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative). (1, 2)
Presented at the New York Biotechnology Association meeting, generating new investment contacts.
Signed a $394,240 contract for data analysis and methods development with Janssen Alzheimer’s Immunotherapy (J&J) and began work. (1)
June 2010,
The U.S. patent office issued the New York University (NYU) patent exclusively licensed to Abiant, titled “CSF biomarker dilution factor corrections by MRI imaging and algorithm”. (1, 2)
Booked first revenue from J&J contract. (1)
July 2010,
Moved headquarters to an office co-located within a bank in Grayslake, Illinois, increasing square footage while reducing costs. New office space and layout received well by customers.
Presented poster on Abiant’s imaging diagnostic advances at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD) 2010. (2)
Began operating at EBITDA profitability.
Submitted application for “Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Program” grant of $98,097 offered through the U.S. government.
Delivered on milestones in J&J contract. (1)
Aug 2010,
The U.S. patent office issued the New York University (NYU) patent exclusively licensed to Abiant, titled “Method, system and storage medium which includes instructions for analyzing anatomical structures”. (1, 2)
Provided a sample patient analysis for Dr. Fillit, head of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation at the year anniversary of the ISOA grant; report and information was extremely well received by Dr. Fillit and his radiologist. (2)
Delivered on additional milestone in J&J contract. (1)
Sep 2010,
Presented at the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Conference, which led to discussions regarding a potential relationship with GE Healthcare. (1, 2)
Delivered on additional milestone in J&J contract. (1)
Achieved a quarter of EBITDA profitability.
Oct 2010,
Began discussions with Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a leading developer of PET imaging agents for Alzheimer’s Disease and other neurological disorders, at their invitation, focused upon development of an automated analysis module for Avid’s amyloid PET tracer. (1, 2)
Received approval for “Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Program” grant of $98,097 offered through the U.S. government (no dilution, no repayment requirements).
Received invitation to submit proposal to ADDF for funding to support additional proof-of-concept demonstration of diagnostic image analysis in community based setting. (2)
Nov 2010,
Met with members of Takeda Pharmaceuticals to discuss possible pre-clinical (nonhuman primate) study of their Alzheimer’s Disease drug candidate. (1)
Abstract co-authored by members of Abiant and J&J accepted for oral presentation at the Human Amyloid Imaging Meeting in January 2011. (1)
Developed proof of concept regarding analysis of Avid data, and progressed in discussions with Avid toward a collaborative relationship. (1, 2)
Laid groundwork for relationship with world leader/collaborator in MRI image analysis that is complementary to our PET image analysis capability. (1, 2)
Dec 2010,
Submitted application with Predictek (partners in statistical image analysis methods) for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. (2)
Signed CDA with GE Healthcare and received indication of GE Healthcare’s intent to enter into a Master Services Agreement (involving co-marketing and possible investment) with Abiant. (1)
Received indication of Takeda’s intent to proceed forward with study; to be confirmed in contract. (1)
Signed CDA with Metabolic Solutions Development Company and received request for proposal for data analysis on an FDG PET study of their drug in Alzheimer’s patients. Submitted proposal and received verbal indication of intent to proceed forward. (1)
Delivered on additional milestones within the J&J contract. (1)
Continued to progress toward 21CFR Part 11 compliance. (1, 2)
Achieved second quarter of EBITDA profitability.
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