The Pirate Entrepreneurship Fund, LLC announced today that it has made a significant investment in ECU startup Amalgent Therapeutics, Inc.
The Pirate Entrepreneurship Fund, LLC (“FUND”) announced today that it has made a significant investment in Amalgent Therapeutics, Inc. (“Amalgent”), a clinical stage pharmaceutical development company whose products are based on research and IP from East Carolina University (“ECU”). The underlying technology was co-created by ECU professors Drs. Kori Brewer and Stephan Clemens. This new combination technology addresses two critically important human needs today – (1) reducing/eliminating addiction resulting from prescription pain relievers, and (2) providing a new set of drugs capable of resolving acute and chronic pain without the use of high or increasing doses of opioids, which is the current treatment protocol today. Amalgent’s new drugs aim to provide better pain reduction without the addictive and adverse side-effects that have led to dependence and death during the opioid epidemic.
Amalgent’s breakthrough technology effectively combines multiple previously approved drugs to boost the analgesic effect needed to resolve human pain endured because of surgeries, accidents, sports, and diseases such as osteoarthritis. Dr. Michael Harris, J. Fielding Miller Distinguished Professor and Interim Dean of ECU’s College of Business has watched this technology move quickly from the laboratory to a startup company and states “this technology represents an exciting new breakthrough to address human suffering, and clearly demonstrates the entrepreneurial spirit of ECU faculty striving to commercialize innovation coming from advanced life science research at the university”.
Sam Tetlow, Amalgent’s President states, “We’re truly excited to be able to commercialize a technology so desperately needed in addressing pain treatment and management today. ECU’s researchers immediately understood the importance the technology would have in addressing opioid addiction all too prevalent in North Carolina and around the world – while providing a new tool to more effectively mitigate pain and suffering. The entire management team is pleased to be partnering with ECU, the Pirate Entrepreneurship Fund and East Carolina Angels.”
Amalgent represents the FUND’s third investment. The multi-million dollar fund was launched in early 2022 in support of ECU startups, research partners and alumni businesses. This investment is well aligned to the goal of supporting ECU entrepreneurship and technology commercialization at an accelerated pace. Anthony Patterson and Matt Crisp, strong ECU supporters and FUND investment committee members state “this is exactly the type of innovation we would hope to come from ECU’s cutting-edge research and actually arose from hallway conversations between two researchers investigating human applications for two very different drugs. What they discovered when they combined the drugs not only surprised them, but also gave them hope that they had created the next generation of pain medications without high dose opioids. It’s another clear example of Pirates rolling up their sleeves and working together to solve today’s most pressing issues. It is true Pirate “grit” at its best!”
For more information, please contact the fund manager at info@eastcarolinaangels.com. For more information about Amalgent Therapeutics, Inc. or their products, please visit the company online at https://amalgent.com/.
Senior Advancement Officer at East Carolina University
2yThis will be a game changer!