Special Events : Awards Dinner

Cleveland Clinic Innovators Recognized at September 21, 2009 Awards Banquet

Hoyoung Huh, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO, BiPar Sciences, Inc.

Cleveland Clinic recognized more than 200 medical innovators at its sixth annual Innovator Awards Dinner on Monday, September 21st at the Miller Rooftop Pavilion. Awards were given out in recognition of Cleveland Clinic's innovators, licensees, spin-offs and equity partners.

Hoyoung Huh, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO, BiPar Sciences, Inc., was the keynote speaker.

South San Francisco-based BiPar Sciences, is an oncology drug development company focused on the development of novel DNA repair inhibitors for breast, ovarian, lung, and other cancers. BiPar was recently acquired by the French pharmaceutical firm sanofi-aventis for $500 million. BiPar is now an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary and center of innovation within sanofi-aventis.

Prior to joining BiPar, Dr. Huh served as Chief Operating Officer and Head of the PEGylation Business Unit at Nektar Therapeutics, a drug development company focused on oncology, CNS/pain, diabetes and infectious diseases. At Nektar, Dr. Huh engineered and led significant, partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies, including Amgen, Bayer, Baxter International Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, and Roche.

Prior to Nektar, Dr. Huh was a Partner at McKinsey and Company, where he was a leader in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical sectors in the United States, Europe and Asia, with areas of expertise in innovation management, technology and product licensing, mergers and acquisitions and product launches.

As an industry thought leader, Dr. Huh speaks frequently about technology licensing, mergers and acquisitions, innovative product development, and commercialization strategies. He currently serves on the Board of Directors at BayBio (biotechnology industry association), SciDose (private biotech), and Interplast (medical non-profit). Dr. Huh holds an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, a Ph.D. in Genetics/Cell Biology from the Cornell University/Sloan-Kettering Institute, and a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Dartmouth College.

The Ferchill Milestone Award recognizes Cleveland Clinic spin-off companies or equity partners that have achieved a significant milestone in the advancement of medical technologies. The 2009 recipients were:

Autonomic Technologies, Inc. (2007) is developing autonomic nervous system stimulation for headache and pulmonary disorders. ATI's $20 million Series B financing was provided early this year by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Versant Ventures, InterWest Partners and the Cleveland Clinic.

Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (2003) is a publicly traded biotechnology company leveraging its proprietary discoveries around programmed cell death to develop a pipeline of drugs for multiple medical and biodefense applications. CBLI closed a Series D Preferred financing in March of this year, raising $5,428,000. The Company intends to use the proceeds of this private placement for working capital purposes. The Company is focusing on development of biodefense applications for its radioprotectant drug, CBLB502, which is in advanced clinical trials.

Cleveland Heart, Inc. (2008) is developing cardiac assist devices intended to provide long-term mechanical circulatory support for patients with terminal heart failure who are unresponsive to conventional therapies. This summer, Cleveland Heart closed a $525,000 seed financing led by Gaston Biomed.

Intelect Medical, Inc (2005) is developing an implantable neuromodulation system for stroke and traumatic brain injury recovery. Intelect closed a Series B1 licensing and financing deal with existing investors Boston Scientific Corporation and Greatbatch, Inc. The equity portion of the round provided between $11 million and $13.5 million plus the potential for future payments. The company plans to use the proceeds to continue its investigational work on traumatic brain injury (TBI) recovery therapy, in an expanded clinical feasibility study in Europe, and for a U.S. trial for its stroke recovery therapy, both using deep brain stimulation (DBS).

The P.K. Ranney Foundation New Product Award recognizes a member of the Cleveland Clinic community who has brought benefit to patients through the introduction of a new product.

This year's recipient Isador H. Lieberman, M.D., is a fellowship trained Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgeon who was recruited to join the Cleveland Clinic in 1997. He is board certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, and holds specialist certification from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He completed Medical school and residency at the University of Toronto. He completed Spine surgery and Trauma surgery fellowships at the Toronto Hospital in Canada and at Queen's Medical Center in Nottingham, England. He held a full time academic appointment at the University of Toronto and was on the Academic staff of the Toronto Hospital up to his recruitment to the Cleveland Clinic. He obtained his Masters degree in Business Administration from Cleveland State University.

He was appointed to the faculty of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at the rank of Professor of Surgery. He most recently transitioned his practice and administrative duties to Cleveland Clinic Florida where he was appointed Chairman of the Spine Department. Dr Lieberman specializes in the surgical treatment of spinal disorders. His clinical interests include; minimally invasive/endoscopic spinal surgery, adolescent and adult scoliosis, deformity reconstruction, cervical and lumbar degenerative disorders including herniated discs and stenosis, spinal tumors, infections and trauma. Dr Lieberman's research interests include; clinical outcomes in spinal surgery, biomechanics of spinal implants, robotics for spinal surgery and disc replacement technologies. He has also conceived and developed a number of spinal surgery instruments and implants and has twelve issued and twelve pending U.S. patents. He has served as a consultant and scientific advisor for many established and start up medical device companies.

He was instrumental in the development and teaching of the Kyphoplasty procedure, the Axialif procedure and many other minimally invasive spinal techniques. Likewise he was instrumental in the conception and development of the Freedom Lumbar Artificial Disc replacement and Freedom Cervical Artificial Disc replacement from Axiomed Inc, as well as the GOLIF robotic spine fixation system from Mazor Surgical technologies. He is the inventor of the "Merlot technology", a unique bone anchorage system which is the foundation of the Cleveland Clinic spin off company Merlot OrthopediX. Along with all his innovative activities he established the Uganda Charitable Spine Surgery Mission which provides services to the less fortunate in Uganda who are afflicted with spinal ailments including tuberculosis and scoliosis.

The Ferchill Partner Award recognizes the Cleveland Clinic spin-off company whose achievements have had a significant economic impact in Northeast Ohio.

This year's recipient, AxioMed® Spine Corp., Cleveland Company formed in 2001, focuses on development of products with a goal of restoring spinal function to patients with degenerative spine disease. This year, after completion of multi-center European clinical study, AxioMed® received CE Mark approval for its Freedom® Lumbar Disc, an elastomeric total spinal disc replacement device. The CE Mark cleared AxioMed to introduce the medical device into the European Union market. Focusing on restoration of the natural function of the spine, AxioMed will enhance human health through research, innovation, development and service world-wide.

The Early Career Innovation Award recognizes a member of the Cleveland Clinic staff who contributions have led to further commercialization of Cleveland Clinic technology. The recipient must be a current member of the staff and must be between two and ten years of last degree and under the age of forty.

This year's recipient is Wael Barsuoum, M.D. Dr. Barsoum is a joint replacement surgeon with particular interest in the biomechanics and kinematics of the knee and hip. His work in this area has been commercially and federally funded by grants from Stryker Orthopaedics, Exactech, the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation, and the State of Ohio. He has worked in collaboration with members of the Department of Biomedical Engineering to develop robotics and computer models of the knee and hip. In addition to his clinical practice and productive research program, Dr. Barsoum has been a valued member of several design teams, including the lead designer for the Novation hip replacement system (Exactech), and a designer of a unicompartmental knee replacement system, a core decompression kit, a revision knee system, and several surgical instruments used in arthroplasty surgery. He currently has 7 patents pending for these devices.

Dr. Barsoum completed his medical school training at The Ohio State University in 1995, and went on to finish his orthopaedic surgery residency training at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 2000. Following his residency he completed advanced studies in Adult Reconstructive Surgery as an Otto E. Aufranc Fellow at the New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Barsoum began his practice at the Cleveland Clinic in Naples, Florida, and subsequently moved to the main hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2003. As Vice Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Barsoum is an avid researcher and innovator. He is the recipient of the Dennis W. Jahnigen Career Development Scholar Award from the American Geriatrics Society as well as Cleveland Clinic Innovator Awards in 2004, 2006, and 2007.