A trip to 43North, but no win for Abcombi Biosciences

UB spinoff Abcombi Biosciences beat out hundreds of contenders to land a spot in this week’s finals of the prestigious 43North business competition.

But the company’s journey in the contest ended Wednesday when judges failed to advance the firm to the event’s closing rounds.

The business competition, with a $1 million grand prize, asks startups from around the globe to pitch their business concepts. Winners agree to relocate to Buffalo for at least one year.

Abcombi was one of just 16 companies invited to make a pitch out of a pool of 542 candidates. The company is developing a portfolio of products for fighting infectious disease, including a pneumonia vaccine and a flu treatment that are based on UB research discoveries.

As for the company’s run in 43North?

No regrets, says CEO Charles Jones, who cofounded Abcombi in 2015 while earning his PhD in UB’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

“The competition was a wonderful experience all around — the energy, the atmosphere was great,” Jones says. “Beyond that, the opportunity to polish our pitch and participate in a contest of that caliber was eye-opening.”

He had words of praise for his 43North rivals: “I don’t feel cheated at all. The maturity of the competition this year was just outstanding and I would be happy to welcome any of the winners to Buffalo. They’ll be a great addition to the ecosystem here.”

Jones says participating in the contest has energized Abcombi. The company will now move quickly to raise capital through angel investment and venture capital funding.

“We have not put all of our eggs in one basket,” he says.

He adds that Abcombi plans to remain in Buffalo, where the company can continue to leverage support from UB to accelerate its growth.

Since 2015, the university has backed Abcombi in a variety of ways, such as through seed funding, research partnerships with faculty and UB-sponsored networking events — including one that helped attract a former Merck executive to Abcombi’s advisory team.

Blaine Pfeifer, Jones’ PhD adviser and an associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, is a cofounder of the company. Jones delivered Abcombi’s pitch at 43North this Wednesday with a third co-founder, Andrew Hill, a PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin who serves as the firm’s chief science officer.