Houston CRO expands oncology network with addition of global clinical trial center

strategic partnership

Houston-based Proxima Clinical Research has expanded its footprint thanks to a recent partnership. Image via proximacro.com

Houston-based Proxima Clinical Research announced this month that it will expand its clinical trial offerings by adding NEXT Oncology to its Early Phase Oncology Network, or EPON.

NEXT Oncology is a Phase I clinical trial treatment center with locations in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Virginia, as well as international locations in Barcelona and Madrid. These centers provide innovative and investigational treatments and therapies to patients with advanced forms of cancers.

The addition of NEXT Oncology's clinics brings Proxima's oncology network up to 14 physical locations and eight clinical practices, Robbin Frnka, executive director of clinical development and strategy at Proxima CRO tells InnovationMap.

“Early phase oncology trials are some of the most delicate and important trials to conduct, both from a science perspective and in offering hope for late-stage patients,” Dr. Anthony Tolcher, CEO and founder of NEXT Oncology, says in a statement. “We proudly designed NEXT Oncology specifically to bring the best new agents to patients through our specially designed centers located around the world. This new relationship with Proxima CRO’s EPON will help us further enhance our mission and contribute to our life’s work of advancing cancer treatments to save more lives from cancer around the world.”

Proxima is a Houston-based contract research organization focused on supporting life science startups as they grow and scale. It was recently named to the the Inc. 5000 regional rankings for the Southwest for its fast-growing revenue.

The company launched its EPON in March to support Phase I and Phase II clinical oncology trials and a group of oncology-specific scientific experts. The Mary Crowley Cancer Research, a specialized clinical research center in Dallas, was one of the first to join the network.

"Finding the right clinical sites and investigators with the right patients is one of the biggest struggles of early phase clinical trials," Frnka says in a March statement. "Our Early Phase Oncology Network, which we're calling EPON, includes some of the most prominent investigators in early phase trials. Receiving expert feedback, insight, and guidance from this skilled scientific panel is critical to the success of these earliest phase trials."

In addition to work in the cancer field, Proxima also launched its M1 MedTech accelerator last year aimed at helping startups quickly grow their health tech businesses. Its inaugural cohort included startups with new tech and treatments for heart arrhythmias, ultrasounds, bioelectric implants in the body and more.

The company also recently expanded its footprint within the Texas Medical Center Innovation Factory.

InnovationMap spoke with Proxima CEO and Co-founder Kevin Coker on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

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Here's what you missed at Houston House at SXSW. Photos courtesy

Podcast: Houston innovators discuss energy transition, diversity, and health tech at SXSW

Houston innovators podcast episode 125

SXSW has descended on Austin, and while the two-week conference and festival is still going strong, the Greater Houston Partnership's Houston-focused activation has wrapped for 2022.

Houston House, which first originated last year in digital form in 2021, took place Sunday, March 13, and Monday, March 14. The nine panels and two nights of networking covered topics from energy transition and med tech to diversity in venture capital and innovation in aerospace.

For SXSW badge holders, some of the Houston House discussions are available online. However if you’re not out and about at SX and you missed these incredible panels, I spoke to four Houstonians after their discussions to dig a little deeper into some key points from the panels.

Here are the Houston Innovators I spoke with at SXSW:

Denise Hamilton, CEO of WatchHerWork
Kevin Coker, president and CEO, Proxima
Grace Chan, investment associate at bp Ventures
Dale Winger, managing director of Halliburton Labs

Listen to these conversations below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes, which will return to interview-style conversations featuring Houston guests next Wednesday.

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New energy innovation and coworking spaces open at the Ion

moving in

Houston-based Occidental officially opened its new Oxy Innovation Center with a ribbon cutting at the Ion last week.

The opening reflects Oxy and the Ion's "shared commitment to advancing technology and accelerating a lower-carbon future," according to an announcement from the Ion.

Oxy, which was named a corporate partner of the Ion in 2023, now has nearly 6,500 square feet on the fourth floor of the Ion. Rice University and the Rice Real Estate Company announced the lease of the additional space last year, along with agreements with Fathom Fund and Activate.

At the time, the leases brought the Ion's occupancy up to 90 percent.

Additionally, New York-based Industrious plans to launch its coworking space at the Ion on May 8. The company was tapped as the new operator of the Ion’s 86,000-square-foot coworking space in Midtown in January.

Dallas-based Common Desk previously operated the space, which was expanded by 50 percent in 2023 to 86,000 square feet.

CBRE agreed to acquire Industrious in a deal valued at $400 million earlier this year. Industrious also operates another local coworking space is at 1301 McKinney St.

Industrious will host a launch party celebrating the new location Thursday, May 8. Find more information here.

Oxy Innovation Center. Photo via LinkedIn.

Houston improves ranking among best U.S. cities to start a business

Business News

Houston's reputation for being an entrepreneurial and business powerhouse was confirmed in WalletHub's new list of the "Best Large Cities to Start a Business" in 2025. The Energy Capital of the World moved up four spots this year and ranked No. 34 nationwide.

The annual report ranked 100 U.S. cities based on 19 metrics across three main categories: business environment, access to resources, and costs. Factors considered in the report include five-year business survival rates, job growth comparisons from 2019 and 2023, office space affordability, and more.

The sunny Florida city of Orlando (No. 1) topped the list as the best large city for starting a business this year.

Houston's business climate has improved slightly since 2024, when the city previously ranked No. 38.

Houston performed the best in the national business environment category, ranking No. 33 out of all 100 cities in the report. It fell behind in the categories for "business costs" and "access to resources" ranking No. 50 and No. 65, respectively.

"Starting a business can be very scary, considering one in every five startups doesn’t make it past the first year," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. "That’s why it’s especially important to live in a city that provides an environment where new businesses can thrive, with enough capital, workers and customers to keep it going long-term."

Elsewhere in Texas
Austin was the only Texas city to rank among the top 10 best big cities to start a business in 2025, climbing up into the No. 3 spot.

"Businesses that are currently in Austin are thriving, as the city has a very high growth rate in the number of small businesses," the report said. "It also has the best employment growth in the country, which makes it more likely that new businesses will be able to find employees."

Dallas-Fort Worth had the greatest concentration of cities on the list, contributing six out of 13 total Texas cities, and all of them among the top 50: Fort Worth (No. 11), Arlington (No. 15), Dallas (No. 16), Irving (No. 22), Garland (No. 29), and Plano (No. 43).

Other large Texas cities that were named among the best places to start a business in 2025 include Lubbock (No. 33), Laredo (No. 44), San Antonio (No. 64), El Paso (No. 67), and Corpus Christi (No. 70).

The top 10 best large cities to start a business in 2025 are:

No. 1 – Orlando, Florida
No. 2 – Tampa, Florida
No. 3 – Austin, Texas
No. 4 – Jacksonville, Florida
No. 5 – Miami, Florida
No. 6 – St. Petersburg, Florida
No. 7 – Boise, Idaho
No. 8 – Atlanta, Georgia
No. 9 – Raleigh, North Carolina
No. 10 – Hialeah, Florida

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A version of this story originally appeared on our sister site, CultureMap.com.

Houston space tech leader lands up to $10 million for Earth re-entry vehicle and lab

space funding

Houston-based space technology, infrastructure, and services company Intuitive Machines has been awarded a state grant of up to $10 million to help develop an Earth re-entry vehicle and in-space biomanufacturing lab.

The Texas Space Commission approved the grant, which is coming from the state’s Space Exploration and Research Fund.

Intuitive Machines says the money will support its “critical risk-reduction platform” for returning lunar samples to Earth. The funding will go toward an early 12-month phase of the project.

“Returning samples from space is one of the most complex challenges in exploration,” says Tim Crain, chief growth officer at Intuitive Machines.

In 2022, Intuitive Machines began preliminary design work on an Earth re-entry vehicle for missions returning from low Earth orbit, the moon, or Mars. In tandem with development of the re-entry vehicle, the company has teamed up with Houston-based biotech company Rhodium Scientific on in-space biomanufacturing. This biomanufacturing will involve certain materials, processes and pharmaceuticals that can be handled more efficiently in space or that exhibit unique non-Earth properties.

Gámez Holzhaus, founder and CEO of Rhodium Scientific, says his company’s federally backed work “has enabled us to establish all hardware and protocols necessary for a pipeline to develop and scale biomanufacturing in space.”

Intuitive Machines and Rhodium Scientific say the state grant should pave the way for future grants and large-scale projects to bring the re-entry system closer to flight readiness.

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