Pendant Biosciences Receives Major Funding Boost, Announces Extensive Scientific Advisory Board

TORONTO, April 10, 2018 /CNW/ -- Pendant Biosciences (Pendant) has solidified its position as a major contributor to Canada's flourishing biotech industry with the receipt of a large government grant. The company has also assembled a who's-who of scientific product experts on their recently announced Scientific Advisory Board.

The grant, awarded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), guarantees about a million Canadian dollars will be injected into Toronto's tech scene. NSERC's award is valued at $412,000, with Pendant committing to an additional $615,000 in cash and in-kind support to secure the funding. "This has tremendous potential to create future job opportunities in the province of Ontario," says Dr. Christine Allen, Ph.D., the University of Toronto's GlaxoSmithKline Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery, who submitted the grant proposal through the university. "I can't overstate the benefit this kind of development has, not just on University of Toronto students, but for the entire biotech industry in Toronto, and beyond, for years to come."

More importantly to Allen, the products under development at Pendant are potentially transformative for Canadian health care. "The ability to deliver a drug over sustained periods following a single administration of a dosage has been shown to improve patient quality of life and patient compliance, reducing the economic and social burden on the Canadian health care system," she says. That means patients getting healthier, quicker, at a lower cost.

The grant award is the latest in a string of big wins for a company with a skyrocketing profile, as it was less than a year ago that Pendant was accepted into Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS (JLABS @ Toronto). Now, they've also announced a lineup of research and development all-stars on their Scientific Advisory Board that is causing investors and would-be acquirers to take notice. "I find the Pendant technology exciting because it lets us design materials, at the molecular level, that could become the basis of a new generation of innovative and potentially life-changing products," says Richard Korsmeyer, PhD. A former Executive Director of Technology & Innovation, Pharmaceutical Sciences, at Pfizer Worldwide R&D, Korsmeyer knows what it takes to shift biotech paradigms. "[Pendant CEO] Shawn Glinter has assembled a group that is equipped to tackle some of the most difficult problems utilizing this flexible technology. I look forward to seeing how Pendant and their SAB will create innovative products that will improve patient care."

Pendant has also announced the core group of their growing Scientific Advisory Board, where Korsmeyer and Allen are joined by Elliott Gruskin, PhD and Member, Roundtable on Biomedical Engineering Materials & Applications at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), and former Global Lead of New Ventures, Orthopedics, External Innovation & Enabling Technologies-Biomaterials at DePuy Synthes, Companies of Johnson & Johnson; David W. Grainger, PhD, University Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Bioengineering, and Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Utah; and Todd Emrick, PhD, Professor, UMass Amherst Polymer Science and Engineering Department, and Adjunct Faculty Member at the UMass Medical School.

About Pendant Biosciences
Pendant Biosciences is an upstart advanced materials company building innovative drug delivery methods. They're currently developing a new polymer-based platform (like the outdated PLGA, only different and better), which will serve as a product engine with broad utility in multiple therapeutic areas. With a sister company in Nashville, TN, Pendant has invested heavily in its Canadian presence, performing research and development on groundbreaking products from its home as a resident company at JLABS @ Toronto.

Contact at Pendant Biosciences, Inc.:
Shawn Glinter
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
615.491.3270
[email protected]

Contact at Alpha Echo Agency, LLC:
Marc Acton
Principal Partner
615.669.5482
[email protected]

SOURCE Pendant Biosciences