Omniox bets on oxygen-binding proteins

Stephen Cary doesn’t mind failure. He doesn’t invite it, either.
Omniox Inc., Cary’s young San Francisco company, is testing oxygen-binding proteins as treatments for aggressive cancers, heart attacks, strokes and battlefield wounds. It is the proverbial “multiple shots on goal” that is the aim of biotech company executives: You can miss wide with several indications, the thinking goes, as long as you score big with one.
The range of possibilities could be a boon for Omniox as it chats up potential venture backers, especially if proof-of-concept brain cancer and heart attack studies in animals over the next six months prove that the company is more than an extended research project.

Biotech seedlings flourish with SBIR grants

Bay Area biotech entrepreneurs working in their nascent ventures are turning to two long-running federal grant programs designed to spur research by small businesses.
Small Business Innovation Research, which debuted in 1982, and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program, which was modeled after the SBIR when it was created in 1992, provide grants for research that targets a specific product or commercial application. The grants are made through 11 participating government agencies.
The programs’ supporters argue that the grants are financing innovation and job creation at a time both are sorely needed.