Colorado State University Spinoff Company VetDC Wins Colorado BioWest Venture Showcase

VetDC, a Colorado State University spinoff company, has won the Colorado Bioscience Association’s prestigious bi-annual BioWest Venture Showcase – an annual competition highlighting the state’s most promising startup bioscience companies.

VetDC was created to adapt innovative, underutilized technologies from human medicine for use in companion animals. The company works with pet owners and veterinarians at the CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital and Animal Cancer Center to assess, develop and advance promising new veterinary therapies.

Executives of VetDC competed with four other companies in Denver on Tuesday to pitch their technologies and business plans to a panel of bioscience experts and venture capitalists in the BioWest Venture Showcase, which is the signature event of the 2012 BioWest Conference. Also competing Tuesday was KromaTID, another spinoff from CSU.

VetDC took home the first prize and $7,500 in cash from the competition.

"We are thrilled and honored to be selected for this award, particularly given the high caliber of emerging bioscience companies participating in this year’s showcase," said Steven Roy, CEO of VetDC. “While transitioning medical advancements from animal testing to humans is quite common, innovations by human-focused biotechnology companies are rarely targeted for veterinary uses. Many of these therapies have great potential to benefit animals – and that’s where VetDC comes in.”

“We are pleased that VetDC won this competition and that two of our high potential startup companies are getting some well-deserved attention from the bioscience industry in Colorado,” said Todd Headley, president of CSU Ventures.

VetDC primarily focuses on cancer, which is considered to be the leading cause of death in adult pets today. The company is developing a novel anti-cancer drug that targets and attacks lymphoma – one of the most common cancers afflicting dogs in the United States. While lymphoma is typically treated in companion animals with old, generic human chemotherapy drugs, nearly all treated animals will ultimately relapse, leaving them with few viable medical options. The VetDC drug may provide a new alternative for pets suffering from this deadly disease.

More information about VetDC is available at www.vet-dc.com.

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