Nanicula, Inc. was established as an Ohio company on February 08, 2018 using personal funds from the founder, Dr. Renukaradhya Gourapura, DVM, MS, PhD.  The intention of the company is to license the following three pertinent intellectual property (IP) from The Ohio State University:

(i) Renukaradhya G J, Sankar, R, and Selvaraj, R. “Nanoparticle Compositions for Salmonella vaccines for poultry.” Non-provisional US patent application PCT/US2018/000238, filed on August 16, 2018

(ii) Renukaradhya G J, Dhakal, S, Sankar, R. “Mucoadhesive Nanoparticle Entrapped Influenza Virus Vaccine Delivery System.” Non-provisional US patent application, 62/592,869 filed on November 30, 2018.

(iii) Cheng, X, Carson, K.L, McDonough, Gourapura, J.R, Lee, C.W, and Dhakal, S. “Liposomal Flu vaccine formulation.” Provisional US patent application #15/723,793 was filed on October 3, 2017.

These research activities were from the founder’s academic work on nanoparticle-based oral and nasal vaccine delivery technology in the Food Animal Health Research Program at The Ohio State University (OSU) to form the basis of our product development and commercialization efforts. 

 

Discussions are in progress with investors identified through the I-Corps@Ohio program this summer.  Mssrs. William Nemeth, Daniel Kellogg, and Elliot Reed (all of northeast Ohio and serial, successful entrepreneurs) are engaged with the team (Gourapura, Renu and Brummet) in a company and business planning effort to fully explore the commercial potential for the platform nanoparticle-based vaccine technology, with the first application of the company being the Sal-NP-Adjuvant vaccine described below in more detail.

 

Early stage development funds (OSU Accelerator Award) have been secured by the Gourapura and Renu team to address a question whether the Sal-NPs vaccine could be administered by mixing in drinking water and feed for natural oral administration in layer and broiler birds, and whether still it is efficacious in reducing the bacterial shedding and inducing the mucosal antibody and cellular immune responses in the intestines of birds.  This task is to do initial technology de-risking work and prepare for licensing of the IP to Nanicula.  Following the Accelerator Award project, Dr. Renu and Gourapura will apply for Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation & Start Up funding which supports equipment/ instrumentation and laboratory supplies purchase for a company licensing State University IP.  These funds will well prepare the company to pursue the SBIR projects of commercialization opportunities.

 

The commercialization pathway (along with regulatory requirements) is part of the ongoing team discussion/evaluation.  The company may partner with established veterinary pharma companies for distribution.  This approach has been successful for other small agbioscience companies.  Alternatively, the company may pursue a direct customer engagement, marketing, and sales approach.  The experienced investor/management team will be developing these plans in parallel with the product development work.  Dr. Gourapura serving is serving as Chief Scientific Officer and Dr. Renu as Project Director for the company.  Dr. Brummet will found, ex officio, and one the company board of directors.  The company will be housed in the BioHio Research Park incubator facility (8,500 SF office/lab building) adjacent to the founder’s research laboratory on the OSU Wooster campus.  We estimate that $1.5-2 million will be required to bring this product to market within the next two years.  Plans are in development by the technology and business teams.