TOM FISCHER
& STAN ESKRIDGE
Co-founders, Entegrion
Dr. Thomas Fischer knew he’d
inherited a revolutionary medical
technology when he became scientific
director of UNC’s Francis Owen Blood
Research Laboratory. But even he was
surprised where it would lead.
Fischer and colleagues built on that
technology to develop a process to
dry and store blood platelets, giving
them a longer shelf life and a way to
add therapeutic properties that control
bleeding and help wounds heal.
As Fischer prepared for the capital-intensive U.S. Food and Drug
Administration approval process, he
needed to raise private funds. “I thought
the best way to do that would be to
create a company,” he says. “For that
I needed help.”
Enter Launching the Venture, the
Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative’s
signature venture-creation program
directed by Kenan-Flagler Business
School’s Center for Entrepreneurial
Studies and UNC’s Office of
Technology Development.
Turning Ideas into Enterprises
Experiential Education ; Research ; Venture Creation
www.unc.edu/cei
The program helped Fischer
develop a business plan. It also
introduced him to Stan Eskridge,
UNC graduate, career entrepreneur,
and coach for the program, who
was drawn to Fischer’s idea.
The result is Entegrion, a company
they created that is developing
a range of new products that
control bleeding and treat wounds
in battlefields, accident sites,
emergency rooms, and surgery.
“These products are going to change
medicine,” says Eskridge,“and we have
Launching the Venture to thank for
getting them out of the lab and into
the world.”
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