Apeliotus Technologies, an Atlanta-based medical device company, is establishing one of its spinoff companies, Apeliotus Vision Science Inc., at the Hershey Center for Applied Research.
Working with researchers at nearby Penn State, the company will set up shop at HCAR to complete the development and testing of a patented diagnostic device for age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of adult blindness in the western world.
Dr. Greg Jackson, who first developed the technology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, recently took a position at Penn State College of Medicine, which will be working with Apeliotus to further develop and test the device. The Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania last month invested $500,000 in the company.
“We were pleasantly surprised to find to how welcoming Pennsylvania was as a state,” says John Edwards, CEO of Apeliotus. “Everywhere we turned, in terms of finance, collaboration and the industry itself, there was a lot of support.”
Apeliotus is now in first stages of commercialization, preparing to launch a final, large-scale validation study early in 2009 to be conducted primarily at Penn State, and also at John Hopkins University and Harvard University. Edwards says the company hopes to get FDA approval in last half of 2009 and begin product sales in early 2010.
According to Edwards, the market for this diagnostic instrument to eye-doctors is on the order of $200 to $400 million per year. The company plans to hire three employees by the end of 2009, and expand as it moves into product sales.
“Between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the life sciences industry is very big,” says Edwards. “And we look forward to the opportunity to hire the right people.”
Source: Apeliotus Technologies Inc., John Edwards, CEO
Writer: John Davidson
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