Hartford Business Journal

12 Hartford Business Journal • August 8, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com Almassian guides CaroGen's Hepatitis B treatment closer to market By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com W ith decades of biotech industry experience under his belt, Bijan Almassian may be approaching one of his most significant career milestones yet: Raising millions of dollars for a startup he co-founded, which is developing a vaccine platform to treat multiple deadly viruses and other conditions, including Hepatitis B. Almassian is CEO of Farmington-based CaroGen, which the 63-year-old Iranian native said is close to securing the first $2 million of what could be an $8 million series A investment. If he raises the money, CaroGen plans to conduct more tests that will allow it to enter a phase 1 clinical trial for its Hepatitis B vac- cine within the next two years. A trial would also be a key milestone — one that would cost millions of dollars to complete — that could bring CaroGen's vaccine closer to market and make the company more attractive to investors and potential suitors, such as major pharma developers. Almassian, who has worked at seven companies in positions ranging from a chemist to CEO, said leading a startup bio- tech to something bigger has been one of his biggest career goals. "I work harder now than when I was in my 30s and 40s," Almassian said during an interview at CaroGen's laboratory at UConn Health's Farmington Technology Incubation Program (TIP) facility. "As a scientist, I've had a huge drive to have an impact on some- thing major and worldwide." The first target for CaroGen's vaccine plat- form is chronic Hepatitis B, which infects liver cells and can lead to deadly cancer and cirrho- sis. A vaccine exists to prevent the virus, but many people don't receive it, and there is no vaccine or other cure for the already infected. CaroGen's therapeutic vaccine hopes to provide that cure to help the estimated 240 million people worldwide suffering from Hep- atitis B. But the company does face competi- tion: Gilead already has a Hepatitis B vaccine in human trials. CaroGen's vaccine platform is based on virus-like vesicle (VLV) technology. It's a hybrid of two types of unrelated ani- mal viruses: A live virus-based vaccine, like what's used to make the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine, and an inactivated or "killed" virus, like the one used to produce the common influenza vaccine, said Caro- Gen Scientific Chairman John Rose, a Yale professor who developed the technology. CaroGen said those two viruses rarely cause human infection, so most patients won't be carrying antibodies inside them that could make the vaccine less effective. Since setting up its lab at UConn in early 2015, CaroGen has inked partnership agree- ments with scientists there to tackle other ailments as well including the digestive tract bacteria C. difficile, colorectal cancer and Zika virus. It also has relationships at Yale, where Rose runs a laboratory. CaroGen has raised about $800,000 since launching in 2012, the bulk of it from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund and its pre-seed fund, which are overseen by Connecticut Innovations, the state's qua- si-public venture arm. But to get to phase 1 clinical trials for its Hepatitis B vaccine, it's going to need a lot more capital. As of press time, Almassian said he was close to securing $1 million from CI and anoth- er $1 million from an unnamed Chinese inves- tor, who may kick in another $6 million later. If the fundraising round happens, CI would see its existing $650,000 investment in CaroGen converted to additional equity. Kevin Crowley, CI's managing director of investments who has been working with CaroGen for several years, said the promise of the fledgling company and its leader is multifold. "[Almassian] is a repeat entrepreneur with experience," Crowley said. "It's a Yale technology. He's taken advantage of the pre- seed program leveraged [bioscience fund] money, and here we are in discussions about the possibility of series A to bring this tech- nology to the masses and possibly help with Hepatitis B and other [diseases]." Future aspirations Almassian said CaroGen runs a lean operation, with an annual cash burn of approximately $250,000. Like many start- ups, management and advisors have taken equity stakes in exchange for their work. Almassian said CaroGen has already been approached with buyout offers (he thinks the company could fetch as much as $5 million from a suitor), but he's rejected them, not interested in making a quick profit. Instead, he and his team dream of build- ing a major Connecticut biotech company, like New Haven's Alexion Pharmaceuticals. That could take years, and the odds are typi- cally stacked against early-stage biotechs. "Biotech is high-risk, high-reward and the percentage of failure is extremely high," Almassian said. But despite that, his optimism is obvious. He said CaroGen isn't rushing its development process and wants to perform all the necessary Building Bioscience A N H B J S E R I E S O N C T ' S B I O S C I E N C E S E C T O R from page 1 Bijan Almassian is seen in CaroGen's UConn incubator lab with research scientist Marie Krady (left) and research associate Lorraine Apuzzo (center), who is pursuing her doctorate at UConn. P H O T O | S T E V E L A S C H E V E R

• Cover