Cherrystone portfolio company loaned $1M through Mass. program

CHERRYSTONE ANGEL GROUP portfolio company Windgap Medical has received a $999,696 loan from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to further its development of a compact and easy-to-use Epi-Pen.
CHERRYSTONE ANGEL GROUP portfolio company Windgap Medical has received a $999,696 loan from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to further its development of a compact and easy-to-use Epi-Pen.

(Updated 10:19 a.m.)
SOMERVILLE, Mass. – A Cherrystone Angel Group portfolio company, Windgap Medical Inc., was awarded nearly $1 million through a Massachusetts Life Sciences Center accelerator loan program.

The medical device company, based in Somerville, Mass., is developing a compact and easy-to-use epinephrine autoinjector – often referred to as an EpiPen – for the treatment of anaphylaxis, according to a press release Thursday.

Cherrystone made its initial investment into the company in the spring of 2014 and Thursday MLSC, a quasi-public agency, awarded $999,696 to help Windgap speed up its manufacturing design process and data collection, according to the release. The amount of Cherrystone’s investment was not made public.

Windgap’s product is designed to have an “increased shelf life compared to other treatments and the technology can be used to address the rapidly growing market of severe food, sting and drug allergies,” according to the release.

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MLSC is charged with implementing Massachusetts’ 10-year, $1 billion Life Science Initiative and Thursday it awarded $2 million in loans. The loans were made as a part of the eleventh round of its accelerator loan program.

“The program provides support to companies at a critical stage of their development cycle, enabling them to conduct vital research and proof of concept studies, and attract subsequent investment while improving the odds of bringing cutting-edge innovation to the marketplace,” according to the release.

To date, the program has awarded $20.8 million in loans to 30 companies and eight have paid back their loans early with interest.

Robert Manning, Cherrystone’s board representative to the company, says investors wouldn’t see any return on investment just yet, but that it is a “significant validation” from an external group and the company is heading in the right direction.

“We like [Windgap] a lot,” Manning said. “It is going to be a very solid company.”

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