Start-up loan helps Charlotte-based Flutrends
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The North
Carolina Biotechnology Center has approved a $21,000 loan to help a young
Charlotte research-based company pursue more investment for developing its
flu-fighting products.
The Business Development Loan (BDL) was granted to Flutrends
International LLC to support inception activities necessary to launch the
company.
Flutrends, co-founded by Charlotte businessman Gregory Poole and Myrtle
Beach, S.C., physician Steven Schwartz, plans to develop viral barriers and
biotechnology-based therapies as a two-pronged approach to fighting flu,
said Poole.
"We intend to offer a new approach for preventing the influenza virus
from attacking the human host," he said, "while also delivering a therapy
capable of disabling the flu virus at the cellular level. We simply could
not get this done in the time frame we deem appropriate without the
assistance of the Biotechnology Center. "
The BDL program is one of more than 15 targeted grant and loan programs
administered by the Biotechnology Center to support biotechnology research,
business, education and workforce training statewide.
"The Biotechnology Center is one of the few viable options for
promising young biotechnology companies like Flutrends," said John Richert,
vice president of the Biotechnology Center's Business & Technology
Development Program. "We're glad we can be here for them, because virtually
all start-ups need this kind of help to make it through the inception phase
and prove their concepts to venture investors."
The Biotechnology Center is a private, non-profit corporation supported
by the N.C. General Assembly. Its mission is to provide long-term economic
and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology
research, business and education statewide.
SOURCE North Carolina Biotechnology Center
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Related links:
http://www.ncbiotech.org
http://www.flutrends.com
CONTACT:
Jim Shamp, news & publications editor, North
Carolina Biotechnology Center, +1-919-541-9366, or
jim_shamp@ncbiotech.org; or Greg Poole of Flutrends,
+1-704-843-6928, or gpoole@flutrends.com
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