OWL Metabolomics to Open U.S. Headquarters in Virginia Beach
April 25, 2017
Company will Co-Locate with Sanyal Biotechnology in VABeachBio AcceleratorVirginia Beach, Virginia: One Way Liver S.L. (OWL Metabolomics) announced plans to open their U.S. Headquarters in the VABeachBio Accelerator in Virginia Beach as part of their strategic partnership with Sanyal Biotechnology. In turn, Sanyal Biotechnology will open its European headquarters under the auspices of OWL in its location in Bilbao, Spain. The two companies will share resources in their respective locations as they combine efforts to better serve their pharmaceutical clients. The agreement was made at last week's ILC/EASL Congress in Amsterdam, in collaboration with Virginia Beach Economic Development. OWL and Sanyal Biotechnology have worked closely together in the past providing contract research, particularly in the preclinical NASH market segment. Co-locating in Europe and Virginia Beach will allow both companies to better serve their clients and expand their customer base. OWL's CEO, Pablo Ortiz, MD, Ph.D., stated that "OWL Metabolomics and our team of liver research professionals are happy to be opening our U.S. headquarters in Virginia Beach's VABeachBio Accelerator with Sanyal Biotechnology. This location enables us to set up our operation economically, in an area which is actively seeking to grow its biotechnology sector, and to develop a core competency in NAFLD and NASH. In addition, locating our business in Virginia Beach with Sanyal Biotechnology will support future R&D and partnering efforts with local universities and biotechnology companies."Sanyal Biotechnology moved to the VABeachBio Accelerator in 2016, after securing an exclusive working relationship with Eastern Virginia Medical School, and has experience rapid growth in customer demand from around the world. "This strategic partnership with OWL will help us expand our business in Europe," says Rebecca Caffrey, Ph.D., CEO of Sanyal Biotechnology. "A significant proportion of our customers are European, and by partnering with OWL in Spain we will remove some of the logistical challenges we have faced in serving these customers. Because our business interests are so aligned, we can help one another grow. Virginia Beach was the ideal location for our headquarters and we are confident that OWL has made the right decision in choosing to locate in the VABeachBio Accelerator with us."The VABeachBio initiative, run by the Virginia Beach Department of Economic Development, is a strategic business development program designed to grow the existing biomedical cluster in Virginia Beach. The VABeachBio Accelerator, located on the Virginia Beach campus of Tidewater Community College, offers companies like Sanyal and OWL the chance to utilize office and lab space at a reduced rate. These benefits allow companies to focus on R&D and growing their business. "We are thrilled to welcome OWL Metabolomics to the greatest City in the world," stated Mayor William D. Sessoms, Jr. "The City is committed to growing our biomedical and healthcare cluster, and companies like OWL Metabolomics and Sanyal Biotechnology will put us on the map as centers of excellence in disciplines like NASH. In addition, the recently announced Telefonica transoceanic data cable will physically connect Virginia Beach and Bilbao, Spain, where OWL is based; this cross-company connection is sure to be the first of many for our two cities." About OWL Metabolomics OWL Metabolomics is a biotechnology company committed to the identification, validation and global commercialization of diagnostic assays for the liver and other prevalent human diseases, including the identification of potential therapeutic targets involved in the development of such diseases. Since its inception in 2002, OWL has pioneered novel diagnostic research within the fatty liver space.The 'OWL Liver' and 'OWL Liver Care' assays are the world's first metabolomics-based in-vitro tests for diagnosing NASH and hepatic steatosis (NAFLD), respectively, using micro-blood samples ( OWL Metabolomics is a privately-held company based in Derio, Spain and collaborates globally with hospitals, liver research centers, biotechnology groups and the pharmaceutical industry. For more information: www.owlmetabolomics.com About Sanyal BiotechnologySanyal Biotechnology is a contract research organization focused on accelerating the search for a cure for NASH. The company has proprietary technology, the DIAMONDtm mouse, which is a superior mouse model for the development of liver diseases that accompany the obesity and Type 2 diabetes epidemics. Sanyal Biotechnology's preclinical drug screening services enable pharmaceutical companies to identify the compounds which are most likely to succeed in human clinical trials, thus shortening the timeline to drug approval.Sanyal Biotechnology LLC is a privately held company based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The company was spun out of Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015.For more information: www.sanyalbio.com About Virginia Beach Economic DevelopmentThe mission of the Virginia Beach Department of Economic Development is to attract and retain national and international businesses to stimulate capital investment and create jobs. The Department of Economic Development received re-accreditation through the International Economic Development Council in 2016 and is one of only 50 economic development organizations in the world to have this recognition. Virginia Beach is the most populous city in Virginia with a population of 450,000, and it is the 37th largest in the United States. Virginia Beach is an emerging biomedical hub, and the VABeachBio initiative seeks to capitalize on and expand the City's existing biomedical cluster. Major biomedical and healthcare companies currently in the City include, among others, LifeNet Health, Operation Smile, Sanyal Biotechnology, and Sentara. The City has also created the VABeachBio Innovation Park, which will house more than 1,000,000 square feet of Class-A office, wet lab, and medical manufacturing space. For more information: www.yesvirginiabeach.com or www.vabeachbio.com.
