ONCOLOGIST HAS IDEAS, LOOKS FOR STARTUP CASH

May 2, 2008 - Oncologist and part-time entrepreneur Edward Kaplan has found a new way to deliver chemotherapy to the body, but he's still learning how to craft a successful startup. Despite an earlier failed venture, the Boca Raton cancer specialist got a small vote of confidence earlier this year when his new company, Microspherix LLC, was awarded a "Phase 0" grant by Enterprise Florida. The $3,000 grants are aimed at subsidizing grant writing, market research, patent filing, site visits and other expenses to help a company compete for larger, highly competitive grants from federal agencies. Of the 16 companies that have been awarded state grants, three have gone on to win larger federal grants. Two are awaiting the outcome of their small-business grant application for more than $100,000 a year. So far, Kaplan has three patents, with two pending. But he says that's not enough in establishing a startup company. "If all you have is the paper, it's almost worthless. Everyone is always looking for the serial entrepreneur and the seasoned investigator," said Kaplan, meaning an experienced chief executive and lead scientist. Kaplan's idea is to shoot pellets the size of cupcake sprinkles into cancer tumors. Each pellet carries time-released nanoparticles of chemotherapy drugs. Once injected into the tumor, the drug concentration is 1,000 times greater than if it had been injected intravenously. "It reduces the side effects to near nothing," Kaplan said. "So for people who aren't candidates for chemo now, suddenly they are." Kaplan's Microspherix has no employees, and his treatment, which he's dubbed entotherapy (from the Greek entos, for "within"), would need drug trials and approval by the Food and Drug Administration. But if he can secure a $150,000 small-business grant from the National Cancer Institute, he could attract the attention of potential strategic partners and venture capitalists. Donny Strosberg, a Scripps Florida scientist and entrepreneur, helped Kaplan write an executive summary for his company to shop around at the BioFlorida conference last year. "I thought (the technology) was pretty good. He had the patents, which are of course more than many people have. The one issue is that it's a relatively niche market," Strosberg said. Strosberg acknowledged that Kaplan may have trouble finding financial backing because he is so early in the development of his treatment, and early-stage companies typically have trouble finding venture money in Florida. "Even though he has patents, he needs validation and clinical development," he said. "But it's certainly very exciting." During the 1990s, Kaplan's first attempt at starting a company failed, despite getting $3 million in venture capital. This time around, he asked for help from the Small Business Development Center at Florida Atlantic University and is talking to drug companies who could manufacture his cancer-killing pellets. He would first target brain tumors in children or pancreatic cancer. The FAU center recommended Microspherix in February to Enterprise Florida, which had the company write a grant application that would be similar to those required by the Small Business Administration. That application was forwarded to a consulting firm with experts from around the country. They evaluate it, but Enterprise Florida then decides on the findings in several criteria, including whether the technology is new and different and whether it has commercial potential, said Bill Keane, senior director at Enterprise Florida. Byline: STEPHEN POUNDS, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer DATE: May 2, 2008 Publication: Palm Beach Post, The (FL) Section: Business