Biotech Idea Takes First Place at University of Chicago Graduate School of Business New...

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1, 2004

If a winning business plan is any indication of a winning business, then Midway Pharmaceuticals and its founders, MBA students Robert Durden, Dhiren Jhaveri, and Ana-Maria Nicolau at the University of Chicago Graduate School

Midway Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company that is attempting to commercialize preventative treatments for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), won first place and $15,000 at the annual Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge business plan competition hosted by the Chicago GSB's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship.

"Midway Pharma has a great combination of U of C technology and GSB talent," said Steve Kaplan, Neubauer Family Professor Entrepreneurship and Finance at Chicago GSB and faculty director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship.

Even in its infancy, the company shows promise. Led by a scientist who is already a seasoned venture funded entrepreneur, its product could help babies who develop NEC from premature birth.

Of a total of 51 business plans, only 10 made it to the finals. Team members presented their plans to a panel of 16 judges made up of venture capitalists and successful entrepreneurs from all over the U.S. Title sponsor for the event was Edward L. Kaplan, founder, chairman, and CEO of Zebra Technologies Corporation; and gold sponsors included Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, LLC, and Sachnoff & Weaver.

Two teams tied for second place and $10,000 each: Internet Marketing Institute, a corporate training company that delivers Internet marketing resources, research, and education to small and medium enterprises; and TixNix, a company that provides online services for traffic ticket attorneys. Fourth place was also a tie between two teams: HealthSource Global Staffing Inc., a permanent solution to the massive nursing shortage problem in the US; and Interome Biosciences, a company that develops biomaterials that promote specific biological functions. Both teams won $5,000. The remaining five teams each went home with $1,000, totaling $50,000 in prize money won at the competition.

Ellen Rudnick, clinical professor of entrepreneurship at Chicago GSB and executive director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship commented on the outstanding effort of this year's teams, "Our finalist teams made enormous progress during the course of the quarter. One team actually received funding, two others launched their businesses during the quarter, and several have already attracted investor interest."

In the eight years since the New Venture Challenge was founded, over 25 teams have gone on to create operating companies.

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship is part of The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Founded in 1998, the Entrepreneurship Program, named the Polsky Center in 2002, supports the development of cutting-edge curriculum, faculty research, experiential learning, and outreach programs in order to provide GSB students and alumni with skills and resources to pursue their entrepreneurial endeavors. For more information on the Polsky Center, visit the Web at gsbwww.uchicago.edu/entrepreneur.