University of Arizona eyecare startup wins top honor at Governor’s Celebration of Innovation

On November 13, 2024, the Arizona Technology Council (AZTC) hosted its 21^st annual awards gala celebrating the accomplishments of leaders and visionaries making the greatest contributions to technology industry in the state. Three  University of Arizona and U of A-connected entitites that came out with top honors have worked directly with Tech Launch Arizona in their pursuit of excellence.

Along with Tech Parks Arizona, which earned the Ed Denison Business Leader of the Year honor, two groups that have worked closely with Tech Launch Arizona on commercializing impactful health care innovations received top awards: U of A startup iCRx, Inc., and the Valley Fever Center for Excellence. In addition, Tech Parks Arizona, another office within U of A Research, Innovation, and Impact and an ongoing partner of TLA, took home the honor of Ed Denison Business Leader of the Year.

“We’re proud to have played a role in each of these organizations receiving their recognitions,” said Doug Hockstad, associate vice president of TLA. “Both have been great partners and are working relentlessly to bring inventions stemming from Uof A research to bear for the public good. We wish them all the best as they take their next steps toward large-scale, real-world impact.”

Innovator of the Year Startup: iCRx, Inc.

iCRx, Inc., was launched in 2019 to commercialize its “one-minute eye exam” technology, a device that can produce an accurate and objective eyeglass prescription in less than a minute with no subjective input from the patient. The original innovation was developed by professors and inventors from the Wyant College of Optical Sciences and the College of Medicine – Phoenix, including: Professor Gholam Peyman, MD; former U of A optical sciences professor and NP Photonics board chariman Nasser Peyghambarian; University of Rochester research faculty member Nickolaos Savidis; and the late optical sciences professor James Schwiegerling. 

More than 100 million eye exams take place every year in the U.S., and two-thirds of Americans wear contacts or glasses. Still, it is estimated that 1 in 10 Americans have not had an eye exam in the last 5 years, so the need for faster, more accurate eye-care is greater than ever. The iCRx solves these problems with the one-minute eye exam, delivering accurate, refractive error correction in under 60 seconds. These results have been shown to be accurate and effective through multiple clinical studies. 

iCRx was built on over a decade of research at the U of A, founded in 2019 by Dr. Peyman, Dr. Peyghambarian, and Dr. Schwiegerling, with funding from University of Arizona Ventures.

The team worked with TLA to protect the intellectual property, assist with its launch, and license the technology to the new company. As they develop plans to launch production of their first product, they have moved their headquarters to Tech Parks Arizona and the UA Tech Park at Rita Road. 

Innovator of the Year Academia: The Valley Fever Center for Excellence

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AZTC awarded this honor to the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson led by founder and director John Galgiani, MD. Specifically, the award focused on the Center’s work to develop and bring to market a vaccine for valley fever. 

Valley fever is an infection caused by the inhalation of Coccidioides fungal spores. Common symptoms include cough, fatigue, chest pain, fever, rash, headache, joint aches and night sweats. Because these symptoms can be caused by other illnesses, a specific laboratory test is needed to identify Valley fever in patients. Two-thirds of all U.S. Valley fever infections are contracted in Arizona, according to the center. 

“This innovation, a vaccine to prevent Valley fever, was only discovered because there was a Valley Fever Center for Excellence. The inventors, Marc Orbach, PhD, and Lisa Shubitz, DVM, only came to work together because the VFCE attracted them to this problem.” 

Through a combination of basic research addressing fundamental requirements for virulence in the Valley fever fungus Coccidioides, and a multidisciplinary collaboration across the University of Arizona, the Orbach lab in the school of Plant Sciences has developed a vaccine against Valley fever for dogs. This vaccine is in the process of being commercialized as a veterinary product. The innovation this year is the successful application by the commercial partner, Anivive LifeSciences, for an NIH-NIAID contract to continue its development as a human vaccine.

This public-private partnership led to funding of an NIH grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to support the development of the canine vaccine toward commercial licensing. Studies in dogs have shown that the vaccine is safe and effective in canines; such studies are critical to licensing the vaccine through the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics. The canine vaccine’s success has led Anivive to team with the U of A and other entities to apply for a contract from the NIAID – which has been since awarded – to begin the process of development of a vaccine for humans.

Ed Denison Business Leader of the Year: Tech Parks Arizona

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Tech Parks Arizona plays a central role in advancing the Southern Arizona technology industry. Under the leadership of Vice President Carol Stewart, TPA offers a location and environment – what it calls “interactive ground” – to attract and retain technology companies and talent that align with the research and mission of the U of A. With nearly one billion dollars in research expenditures and programs that are graduating a talented and highly qualified workforce, the university is a magnet for industry and startups. TPA just celebrated its 30^th anniversary highlighting, amongst other accomplishments, an estimated two billion dollar annual economic impact for Southern Arizona.