Small Wonder: Solixia Wins Wharton Business Plan Competition Grand Prize with Highly Potent Nanoparticle Breast Cancer Treatment
Top Award Goes to Patent Pending "Hot Dot” Anti-Cancer Treatment Whose Payload is Tiny But Powerful

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., May 2, 2008 -- The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announced that student team Solixia, whose "Hot Dot” cancer treatment platform is the size of a small protein fragment yet 20 times more powerful in diagnosing and treating cancer than currently used radiopharmaceuticals, won the $20,000 grand prize of the 2008 Wharton Business Plan Competition, which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. The prize was awarded at the Wharton School's annual Venture Finals April 30, 2008 where student finalists received a total of $73,000 in combined cash prizes, access to capital and in-kind legal/accounting services.

Solixia co-founders Brian W. Smith, PhD and Irene Susantio, Wharton MBA second year students, have already received recognition for their efforts. Brian Smith recently won a Philadelphia Business Journal "Philly 40 under 40” Award, as a "proven performer”; Fox Chase Cancer Center has agreed to team up with Solixia for submission of an STTR proposal to the National Cancer Institute; and this year Solixia was selected for acceptance to the Wharton Venture Initiation Program, Wharton's educational incubator.

This year, for the first time, the Venture Finals included a People's Choice award. During the day-ending reception, an audience of hundreds listened to brief elevator pitches from all Finalists while the Venture Finals judges were sequestered. Just before the judges returned, the audience voted for their own favorite pitch, awarding $3,000 to Innova Materials. Innova's plan focuses on a process for spraying antimicrobial particles into plastic, such as water carrying pipes, to increase sanitary conditions. Innova, led by an undergraduate student, Michael Young, also won two other prizes: Second Prize overall and the Gloeckner Award.

The 2008 Wharton Business Plan Competition winners are:

  • Grand Prize: $20,000 to Solixia (developers of "Hot Dot” nanoparticle treatment for cancer)
  • Second Prize: $10,000 to Innova Materials (spray process for embedding antimicrobial particles into plastic, such as water-carrying pipes, to increase sanitary conditions)
  • Third Prize: $5,000 to Proteza (makers of "SmartSock” pain alleviating prosthetic liner for below-knee amputees)
  • Frederick H. Gloeckner Award: $5,000 for highest ranking Wharton undergraduate team to Innova Materials
  • People's Choice Award: $3,000 to Innova Materials
This year's Venture Finals, the culminating event of the year-long Competition, attracted nearly three hundred venture capitalists, business leaders, faculty and students. The Venture Finals judges who selected the winning teams represented a range of organizations and included:
  1. John Clarke, WG'82, Managing General Partner, Cardinal Partners
  2. David L. Ferguson, WG'85, Partner, Weston Presidio
  3. David A. Piaquad, WG'84, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Schering-Plough Corporation
  4. Aydin Senkut, WG'96, Founder & President, Felicis Ventures

    Note: WG=MBA alum; W=Undergraduate alum

Brian Smith, PhD, a member of grand prize winning team Solixia, has spent years seeking a way to deliver a faster, yet more potent payload to allow for earlier and more accurate diagnosis of cancers such as breast and ovarian cancer. Solixia has filed three patents while pursing an exclusive license option agreement with the University of Pennsylvania. In its Venture Finals presentation the team noted that the market for their treatment is $1.4 billion with 16,000 breast cancer patients alone potentially benefitting.

Over the years, the Wharton Business Plan Competition, which is open to any University of Pennsylvania student and managed by Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, has seen numerous student teams go on to become successful businesses including PayMyBills.com, buySAFE, NetConversions, Stata Labs, DealMaven, Verge Solutions, Embrace Pet Insurance, PetPlan USA and MicroMRI.

In fact, at least six of the grand prize winners from the past decade are still in business with several earning millions in revenue and/or financing. Information about past participants is available on the Wharton BPC website.

About the Wharton School and Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs
In 1973, The Wharton School became the first school to develop a fully integrated curriculum of entrepreneurial studies. Today Wharton, through Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, supports and seeds innovation and entrepreneurship globally through teaching, research and outreach to a range of organizations through its many programs, initiatives and research centers. At the same time, Wharton students and alumni are helping to build entrepreneurial enterprises around the world and impacting virtually every industry.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania -- founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school -- is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 8,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 82,000 graduates.

For more information go to the Wharton Business Plan Competition website.

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