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4 n e w h a v e n B I Z | A p r i l 2 0 2 1 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m A r o u n d t h e R e g i o n Sikorsky lands two U.S. Army contracts worth $191M Stratford-based helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircra recently won two U.S. Army contracts totaling nearly $191 million for helicopter modification and support. Under a five-year $90.7 million contract with the Department of Defense, the Lock- heed Martin subsidiary would engineer, analyze and test H-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, which the Army uses to carry personnel and cargo. e contract also calls for Sikorsky to provide technical support for the H-60 fleet. Under a second, three-year $99.9 million contract, the helicopter maker will provide 25 modified Black Hawks to Saudi Arabia's national guard to fulfill a foreign military sales requirement. Goodspeed delays indoor reopening to fall Goodspeed Musicals is pushing back the start of its indoor theater season to September. Goodspeed artistic director Donna Lynn Hilton and managing director David B. Byrd said Connecticut's reopening guidelines, concerns about social distancing, and safety protocols required by artists' unions will make it impossible to stage performances inside East Haddam's Goodspeed Opera House by June, as originally planned. e company's production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "South Pacific" is now expected to open in September. Performances of "Anne of Green Gables" have been moved to the 2022 season. e company is planning to stage events this summer on the Goodspeed lawn. Cybrexa's tumor drug headed for human trials New Haven's Cybrexa erapeutics will begin human testing in April on its new drug to treat solid tumors aer getting the green light from the Food and Drug Administration. e phase one clinical trial for CBX-12 would be the first for the Science Park- based biotechnology company founded in 2017 by Yale physician-scientists and three successful Connecticut serial entrepre- neurs. e company has raised $25 million to fund the upcoming trial. e drug aims to fight solid tumors with fewer troublesome side effects by deposit- ing powerful cancer-fighting agents directly into tumor cells, leaving healthy tissue unharmed. It features a molecule that forms a corkscrew-like structure when meeting the acidic environment of a cancer cell. e structure then drills into the tumor cell to deliver the drug with precision. Guilford biotech scores in COVID-19 testing competition A Guilford biotech firm was named one of the winners in a $6 million global competition to develop better ways to test for COVID-19. U-Smell-It LLC, a company specializ- ing in innovative COVID-19 detection techniques, was one of the winners of the XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing competition, a six-month effort to develop faster, cheap- er and easier-to-use COVID-19 testing methods at scale. U-Smell-It won on the "Open Innova- tion Track," for firms "whose approaches demonstrated high potential for impactful screening solutions." e U-Smell-It test detects when a patient has lost their sense of smell, a common symptom of COVID-19. e test involves a card with five scent areas, such as banana and mint, with results ready in 45 seconds. Datto acquires cyber threat detection company Norwalk-based soware firm Datto Holding Corp., which provides cloud- based soware and technology solutions, recently acquired BitDam Ltd., an Israeli cyber threat detection company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. BitDam works to secure collaboration tools, such as Google Workspace, from ran- somware, malware and phishing. e company has technology that works to detect and stop unknown threats at first encounter and proactively defend against malware and phishing threats in a user's inbox, chat feature or cloud drive. According to Datto, phishing is the most common cause of successful ransomware breaches. Datto was founded in 2007. In addition to its Norwalk headquarters, it has offices in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Den- mark, Germany, Canada, Australia, China and Singapore. Haven Hot Chicken to open Orange location Downtown New Haven eatery Haven Hot Chicken is expanding. e restaurant recently announced it has secured a lease for a second location in Orange. e restaurant with the fire-breathing chicken for a logo opened its first location at 21 Whitney Ave. in New Haven last October. e new eatery will take up 1,400 square feet of the former Bertucci's restaurant at 550 Boston Post Road in Orange, co-owner Etkin Tekin said. e owners are working closely with the landlord and are planning a late summer opening, he said. BioXcel drug named 'breakthrough therapy' for dementia agitation e Food and Drug Administration has designated a BioXcel erapeutics drug a "breakthrough therapy" for dementia- related agitation, a label that has the potential to speed up the regulatory review process. e FDA reserves the designation for potential medicines that treat a serious or life-threatening condition and offer a substantial improvement over existing treatments. In addition to an expedited review timeline, companies developing breakthrough drugs qualify for more intensive guidance and more frequent interactions with the FDA. e drug, BXCL501, is a thin-film formulation of an older drug known as "Dex" (dexmedetomidine). It tastes minty and dissolves in the mouth, similar to a mouthwash strip. Post Univ. acquires Colorado healthcare college Waterbury-based Post University has finalized its acquisition of American Sentinel University, a merger aimed at expanding course offerings to those who want to work in the healthcare industry. e latter will now be known as American Sentinel College of Nursing & Health Sciences at Post University in Connecticut. e transaction also includes a related entity, Sentinel U, which licenses simulated healthcare educational experiences to other colleges, universities and healthcare institutions. Post officials declined to disclose the financial terms of the acquisition. According to Post University, healthcare professionals have long been in high- demand, and the pandemic has only increased this trend. B R I E F S P fizer Inc. is looking to fol- low up on its successful COVID-19 vaccine with a pill that people could take when they're first infected to prevent a severe case of the disease. e drug giant, which has a large Connecticut presence, recently began human testing on the pill, which can prevent the virus from making copies of itself within a cell. e drug has been described as a potential game changer because Pfizer begins human testing on new COVID pill it would be easy to administer and accessible to more people. Most available COVID treatments must be given intravenously and are limited to patients who are hos- pitalized or at high risk for severe symptoms. e drug is a protease inhibitor that binds to a viral enzyme to prevent the virus from replicating. Similar drugs have been generally safe and effective at treating other viruses like HIV and hepatitis C, Pfizer said. Pfizer said the drug showed potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 as well as other coronaviruses in preclinical lab studies. n Pfizer's campus in Groton. PHOTO | COURTESY SIKORSKY A Black Hawk helicopter. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Tim Weller, CEO of Datto PHOTO | TYLER RUSSELL/CONNECTICUT PUBLIC PHOTO | GOODSPEED OPERA HOUSE Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED U-Smell-It's signature COVID-19 testing product. PHOTO | COURTESY HAVEN HOT CHICKEN

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