Cincinnati Children’s has begun a collaboration with Orange Grove Bio, a preclinical drug investment and development firm, that focuses on developing and commercializing novel therapeutics that spring from scientific discoveries made by researchers at the medical center.

In addition to boosting promising technologies that emerge from Cincinnati Children’s, the collaboration aims to increase entrepreneurship and education.

“Our researchers are advancing novel science that has the potential to make a meaningful difference in the lives of patients dealing with a broad range of human disease,” said Abram Gordon, vice president of Cincinnati Children’s Innovation Ventures. “By collaborating with Orange Grove Bio, we are building a bridge that will enable more rapid translation of our researchers’ discoveries, accelerating their advancement into clinical development and toward the commercial market.”

These efforts will concentrate on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, oncology, and cell and gene therapies, according to a March 9 news release.

Orange Grove Bio, which is headquartered in the Cincinnati Innovation District, will provide commercialization guidance and support to Innovation Ventures.

“We have identified Greater Cincinnati as one of the most promising up-and-coming hubs of cutting-edge biopharmaceutical research within the U.S., and the talented scientists at Cincinnati Children’s are one of the primary drivers of this innovation,” said Marc Appel, chief executive officer of Orange Grove Bio.

Ryan Fox, chief business operations officer at Orange Grove Bio, will advise on the potential of emerging technologies from the Innovation Ventures pipeline. In addition, Orange Grove Bio leaders will be available to speak with interested post-doctoral students about internship opportunities and offer seminars for investigators and researchers.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with Cincinnati Children’s Innovation Ventures as well as their faculty and young scientific talent,” Fox said. “Importantly, the location of Orange Grove’s headquarters right near the main campus of Cincinnati Children’s will offer key accessibility advantages, allowing our team to directly interact with researchers.”

Cincinnati Children’s has a rich history of developing new innovations, including the Sabin oral polio vaccine, a vaccine to combat rotavirus, the first practical heart-lung machine, the identification of surfactant proteins as a routine treatment for respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants, and the first human esophagus organoid grown from pluripotent stem cells.

Additional information about technologies developed at Cincinnati Children’s may be found at Innovation.CincinnatiChildrens.org