Earlier this month, Autonomix Medical went public. The company's technology is geared toward treating pain stemming from pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. Photo via nasdaq.com

The Woodlands-based medical device company Autonomix Medical grossed more than $11.1 million in its recent IPO.

The company’s stock now trades on the NASDAQ market under the symbol AMIX. On February 1, company officials range the NASDAQ’s closing bell. The stock closed February 5 at $5.60 per share.

The NASDAQ listing “represents a pivotal moment in the growth of our [company] and a significant corporate milestone leading to what we believe will be an exciting future for Autonomix,” says Lori Bisson, the company’s CEO.

In the IPO, Autonomix sold nearly 2.24 million shares of common stock at $5 each. The gross amount raised excludes sales commissions and other expenses.

In a January 19 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Autonomix had eyed gross IPO proceeds of more than $21.2 million — nearly half of what the company actually raised — from the sale of up to 4 million shares.

For the six-month period ended September 30, 2023, Autonomix tallied a net loss of $6.9 million and a deficit of nearly $30.5 million.

Outside investors BioStar Ventures (with a 15 percent pre-IPO stake) and Tricord Holdings (5.5 percent), according to SEC documents. Before the IPO, seven Autonomix executives and directors controlled 50.6 percent of the company’s common stock.

The first medical device being developed by Autonomix, founded in 2014, is a catheter-based microchip that the company says can detect and differentiate neural signals with about 3,000 times greater sensitivity than current technology.

On its website, Autonomix cites a potential $100 billion global market for its technology.

Initially, Autonomix’s technology is geared toward treating pain stemming from pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. Other uses for the technology, protected by dozens of patents, include management of post-surgery pain, treatment of high blood pressure, and treatment of organ-related conditions.

A day after the January 29 IPO, Autonomix announced it had wrapped up an $8 million all-stock deal to regain exclusive worldwide rights for use of its technology in the cardiology sector. In December 2021, Autonomix granted a license to Impulse Medical for use of its technology for cardiac purposes. In exchange for 1.6 million Autonomix shares, Impulse sold back those rights to Autonomix.

“Regaining the cardiology rights to our innovative technology broadens our development opportunities and provides further optionality related to our development strategy moving forward. Looking ahead, we remain focused on our pancreatic cancer pain development program and are on track to commence our first-in-human clinical study this quarter,” Bisson says.

Autonomix says its catheter-based sensing technology is designed to sense neural signals associated with pain or disease and then target those nerves for treatment.

“Autonomix believes this technology is a better alternative to the current approaches commonly used today, where doctors either rely on systemic drugs like opioids that lose effectiveness,” say the company, “and have unwanted side effects or treat suspected areas blindly in hopes of hitting the right nerves, an approach that is often inaccurate and can miss the target and even cause collateral damage to surrounding parts of the body.”

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Texas lands top 10 spot in new future of tech study

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Texas is among the top 10 states making the biggest investments in digital innovation, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by web-hosting company Hostinger, puts Texas in eighth place among the states when it comes to these key metrics:

  • Financial impact of the digital economy
  • Amount of venture capital and grants received by digital startups
  • Number of government-run tech hubs
  • Presence of top-rated business incubators

“To many, the Texas story is one of oil magnates and real estate tycoons. But in recent decades, the state has emerged as an innovation and high-tech hub,” according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

On a scale of 1 to 100, Texas received a score of 79. California nabbed the top spot with a score of 100. Appearing behind California and ahead of Texas in the ranking are:

  • No. 2: New York
  • No. 3: Washington
  • No. 4: Illinois
  • No. 5: Massachusetts
  • No. 6: Missouri
  • No. 7: Wisconsin

In terms of ranking factors, Texas benefited the most from landing at No. 2 among the states for its impact on the digital economy. The study pegged Texas’ digital economic impact at $141.7 billion, well below California’s impact of $492.8 billion.

Hostinger relied primarily on government data on 31 states to come up with the ranking. “The research provides a detailed ranking based on a composite score that reflects each state's overall investment and capacity for digital innovation,” the company says.

More than 30,000 businesses in Texas participate in the digital economy, according to the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA). Those businesses employ more than 633,000 people and account for over six percent of the state’s GDP, a key measure of economic strength.

“As technology companies face increasing scrutiny through state and national legislation and litigation, it’s crucial to recognize the significant positive impacts of the digital economy that resonate across the United States,” says the CCIA.

TMC names 2025 cohort of cancer treatment innovators

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Texas Medical Center Innovation has named more than 50 health care innovators to the fifth cohort of its Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics (ACT).

The group specializes in immunotherapy, precision drug discovery, monoclonal antibodies, and diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, according to a statement from TMC.

During the nine-month ACT program, participants will enjoy access to a network of mentors, grant-writing support, chemistry resources, and the entrepreneur-in-residence program. The program is designed to equip participants with the ability to secure investments, develop partnerships, and advance the commercialization of cancer therapeutics in Texas.

“With over 35 million new cancer cases predicted by 2050, the urgency to develop safer, more effective, and personalized treatments cannot be overstated,” Tom Luby, chief innovation officer at Texas Medical Center, said in a news release.

Members of the new cohort are:

  • Alexandre Reuben, Kunal Rai, Dr. Cassian Yee, Dr. Wantong Yao, Dr. Haoqiang Ying, Xiling Shen, and Zhao Chen, all of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • Dr. Andre Catic and Dr. Martin M. Matzuk, both of the Baylor College of Medicine
  • Cynthia Hu and Zhiqiang An, both of UTHealth Houston
  • Christopher Powala, Aaron Sato, and Mark de Souza, all of ARespo Biopharma
  • Daniel Romo, Dr. Susan Bates, and Ken Hull, all of Baylor University
  • Eugene Sa & Minseok Kim, both of CTCELLS
  • Gomika Udugamasooriya and Nathaniel Dawkins, both of the University of Houston
  • Dr. Hector Alila of Remunity Therapeutics
  • Iosif Gershteyn and Victor Goldmacher, both of ImmuVia
  • João Seixas, Pedro Cal, and Gonçalo Bernardes, all of TargTex
  • Ken Hsu and Yelena Wetherill, both of the University of Texas at Austin
  • Luis Martin and Dr. Alberto Ocaña, both of C-Therapeutics
  • Dr. Lynda Chin, Dr. Keith Flaherty, Dr. Padmanee Sharma, James Allison, and Ronan O’Hagan, all of Project Crest/Apricity Health
  • Michael Coleman and Shaker Reddy, both of Metaclipse Therapeutics
  • Robert Skiff and Norman Packard, both of 3582.ai
  • Rolf Brekken, Uttam Tambar, Ping Mu, Su Deng, Melanie Rodriguez, and Alexander Busse, all of UT Southwestern Medical Center
  • Ryan Swoboda and Maria Teresa Sabrina Bertilaccio, both of NAVAN Technologies
  • Shu-Hsia Chen and Ping-Ying Pan, both of Houston Methodist
  • Thomas Kim, Philipp Mews, and Eyal Gottlieb, all of ReEngage Therapeutics
The ACT launched in 2021 and has had 77 researchers and companies participate. The group has collectively secured more than $202 million in funding from the NIH, CPRIT and venture capital, according to TMC.