Nanova Inc. signs agreements with WuJin District, Chinese venture capital firms

COLUMBIA, Mo. - March 27, 2013 - PRLog -- Columbia, Mo. medical device company Nanova Inc. signs agreements with WuJin District, Chinese venture capital firms

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Biomedical device firm Nanova Inc., formed by two University of Missouri professors and a chief scientist with the assistance of an expert team from the Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Centers (MO SBTDC), has signed an agreement with the WuJin Economic Development District, Chinese venture capital firm SummitView Capital and other Chinese investors to produce bioabsorbable bone screws, coronary stents and new dental health products based upon the company’s core nanomaterial technology. About $6 million will be invested directly in Nanova.

Nanova was founded by Dr. Hao Li, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the MU College of Engineering, and employs Dr. Qingsong Yu, MU associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and Meng Chen, Nanova chief scientist.

“We received multiple investment offers,” said Li at a March 26 ceremony held at MU to commemorate the investment. “We declined quite a few.” Li added that he and his partners were waiting for investors who could move the firm’s products to commercialization.

Dr. Jim Gann, director of technology business development with the MU SBTDC, has advised Li and Yu since the business was founded in 2006. Gann and a team of MO SBTDC technology business development specialists including Denise Fields of the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) SBTDC and Bill Stuby of the MO SBTDC’s sister program, the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers, helped the scientists with business planning and development. This included conducting intensive market research, obtaining federal Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and National Institutes of Health funding and facilitating introductions to key stakeholders in Columbia and in Missouri.
Li estimated that Nanova, with MO SBTDC help, has already received $10 million in product research and development funding before consummating the current agreement.

Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid, Dr. Michael Middleton, MU deputy chancellor and Bin Zhou, director of the WuJing District, also signed letters of intent among the University of Missouri, the City of Columbia and WuJin District for future research, trade and economic development opportunities.

Other guests at the ceremony included U.S. Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, Missouri Representative Chris Kelly, Regional Economic Development Inc. staff, representatives of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, MU faculty and representatives of the MU Office of Technology Management and Industry Relations, which licensed the MU technologies developed by Li’s team back to Nanova.

The WuJin District, considered one of China’s top high-technology industry development zones, is in the city of Changzhou, about two hours from both Shanghai and Nanjing. The district hosts about 100 foreign companies and joint ventures, nearly 20 of them Fortune 500 companies, and has an annual GDP of $25 billion, according to the district. The district and the capital investors hope to bring Nanova’s products to market in both China and the United States.

The Nanova researchers are continuing development on bioabsorbable nanofibers for reconstructive use almost anywhere in the human body and a plasma brush that may revolutionize dentistry. The nanofibers are 3,000 times stronger than calcium carbonate, said Li, and stronger than stainless steel and the carbon fiber used to manufacture some components of commercial and military airplanes. The plasma brush uses chemical reactions to disinfect and clean cavities, then uses fluorescent light and electrodes to form a "cool flame" that delivers and bonds dental sealer. Collaborative research on the brush included scientists from the UMKC School of Dentistry and the University of Tennessee-Memphis. Clinical trials with the brush have already commenced, with human trials likely starting this spring.

At the ceremony, Li referenced the Great Wall of China in saying, “We don’t want to be a wall. We want to be a bridge linking engineers and clinicians, Columbia and WuJin, research and industry.”

For more information, go to www.missouribusiness.net. Or call Mary Paulsell, director of communications, at 573/882-1353 or paulsellm@missouri.edu.