Funding: State Funding

HB 3319
Passed by the Texas Legislature in 2007, HB 3319 provides a sales tax exemption on all items that are required to make a facility a cleanroom, including pharmaceutical cleanrooms used in manufacturing that are built as part of a new facility. This includes (but not limited to) specialized plumbing and fixtures, air systems, surface and glass components, etc.

Recent Local ETF Recipients

Monebo
Monebo Technologies, Inc., a developing stage medical device company, was awarded a $500,000 ETF project grant to help accelerate the commercialization of its innovative heart monitoring products. Monebo has developed a heart monitoring system that allows patients to obtain their own electrocardiogram (ECG) in the comfort of their home, and wirelessly transmit it to their physician.

NanoMedical Systems, Inc.
Austin-based NanoMedical Systems received a $3,500,000 investment from the Emerging Technology Fund for their application of nanotechnology to drug delivery. NMS applies nanotechnology to drug delivery systems through its Personal Molecular Drug-delivery system, a small device inserted under the skin. The PMDS tailors the dosing of therapeutic agents to individual patients' needs decreasing side effects and cost of treatment. NanoMedical Systems is focusing on an anti-cancer drug that is used in long-term therapy for its first commercially viable product. NanoMedical Systems was founded by Randy Goodall and Dr. Mauro Ferrari. Dr. Ferrari, a founder in the field of biomedical nanotechnology, was recruited to Texas from Ohio State as part of an ETF research superiority grant to the UT Health Science Center at Houston in 2006.

Quantum Logic Devices
Quantum Logic Devices Inc., an Austin nanotechnology firm, is the recipient of $600,000 funded through the ETF. Quantum Logic Devices will use the grant to help accelerate the commercialization of its patented nanoelectronic platforms, which will promote knowledge generation in such fields as genomics, proteomics and drug discovery. Quantum Logic Devices, founded in 2000, develops single-electron devices that enable a simpler and less expensive way to analyze DNA, protein and molecular interactions.

Terapio
Terapio Corporation, an Austin-based company specializing in the development of innovative therapeutics for such things as the treatment and prevention of Hand-Foot Syndrome, will receive a $1.7 million ETF project award to hasten the commercialization of its product pipeline. The cornerstone of the systemic and topical therapies being developed at Terapio (Te.rah.pe.o) is the normally-occurring transport protein RLIP76 that moves free-radical toxins out of cells before significant damage can occur from chemical, burn and radiation insults. For many patients receiving chemotherapy, a common side effect is the chemical burns associated with Hand-Foot Syndrome (HFS), which is caused by small amounts of chemotherapy drug leaking into the skin and damaging those areas.