News

3 million Buckeye bucks later, an original Hoosier biotech returns home

IKOTECH, which in 2006 was part of a $3 million grant from Ohio's Third Frontier fund, is moving to the Purdue Technology Center of Southeast Indiana.

CINCINNATI, Ohio — A second Cincinnati biotech startup this year has left for the state for Indiana.

IKOTECH, which in 2006 was part of a $3 million grant from Ohio’s Third Frontier Project, is moving to the Purdue Technology Center of Southeast Indiana, according to a news release. The company is a spinoff of the Indiana firm Techshot.

IKOTECH is commercializing magnetic cell separation technology that could, among other things, isolate bone marrow stem cells for transplantation or early cancer detection. While in Ohio, it worked with Ohio State University powerhouse researcher Dr. Jeffery Chalmers and used technology developed through Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute.

“We wanted to be part of the Purdue Technology Center of Southeast Indiana because it represents the central focus for innovation in the area and because of the opportunities available through the Purdue Research Park system,” IKOTECH President David Kennedy stated in the release.

Earlier this year, nanoparticle company PDS Biotechnology left Cincinnati due in part to $2 million from that state’s 21st Century Research and Technology fund.

IKOTECH also this week announced a fund-raise of $300,000, of which about $63,000 would be used to relocate its president, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.