For Investors

PITCH leads research to create new paths forward in disease treatment.

What makes a target novel? We define a novel target as a completely new route to cure disease. Our founder teams have novel, often unpublished insights, into how a target (usually a protein) impacts disease. What they don’t have in hand is a molecule that they can add to cellular models, or animal models, and show an effect that relates to the disease mechanism. PITCH projects are working in the whitespace outside of the targets being pursued within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.

By taking on the early work of finding a tool molecule, PITCH de-risks and validates novel targets for disease intervention. We generate the decision-making datasets investors rely on when making investment decisions.

With funding from the State of Connecticut, we have the innovation, talent pool and incubator spaces to drive new disease concepts forward through creation of new Connecticut-based biotechnology companies. Building on the most exciting research from laboratories at Yale University which recieves the majority of all NIH funding to the state, we will keep our discoveries near our research core. With a network of Innovation Hubs around the State, we can leverage entrepreneurial resources to move quickly. New companies are a key facet to building Connecticut’s innovation economy.

Founders are made. We work with faculty members to navigate the transition into a founding role. From the getgo, applicants wear the mantle of entrepreneur, describing their disease concept in a pitch deck from a supplied template. With milestone-driven work plans, criteria for progression and quarterly reporting, PITCH presents research progress to high professional and industrial standard. Founders are coached prior to Venture Advisory Board meetings, and we work closely with them during follow-on conversations and during investor diligence.

Value to Investors

• An early look at projects that have initial seed investment dollars and that have been matured and de-risked by a team of skilled drug developers
• View of early-stage opportunities with an ability to specify the data needed to assess the opportunity’s value
• With Yale receiving the majority of NIH-funded research in CT, a window into the breadth and depth of innovative research in the state