Symmetry Advisors Provides Translational Venture Funding Advisory Services to Burnham Institute for Medical Research

San Diego, CA, April 27, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Symmetry Advisors today announced the delivery of inductive recommendations for a Translational Venture Program (TVP) initiative. Developed by Symmetry at the request of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, the TVP "is designed to provide an innovative and flexible structure for strategic, mandate-driven, philanthropic, and financial investors to fund the preclinical and early-stage clinical development of drug candidates," said Riccardo Cannaviello, founder of Symmetry Advisors.

"The Translational Venture Program is a medium- to long-term strategic funding initiative, which Burnham can deploy to take advantage of improvements in the financial markets and in the economic climate," said Robert Zaugg, Vice President of Business Development for Burnham. "The TVP holds the potential to significantly leverage the Institute's leadership in translational medicine. The modular, dynamic structure proposed by Symmetry Advisors, offers the ability to create customized funding structures for drug-development programs, with appeal to a wide range of funding sources."

Symmetry Advisors specializes in creative deal origination and deal development for the innovation economy. Symmetry works with corporate, institutional, academic, and entrepreneurial clients, all world-class contenders in their respective fields. Symmetry is active in three areas:
- Technology Commercialization. Short- to medium-term engagements, to commercialize innovations created by leading scientists and engineers, in the Life Sciences and Information Technology sectors.
- Advisory services, at the nexus of strategy and finance. Medium to long-term development of transformational initiatives, for larger clients facing challenges at strategic inflection points, often leading to restructurings or to important strategic and financial transactions beyond the clients' traditional comfort zones.
- Merchant Banking for proprietary ventures. Long-term, high-risk development projects, undertaken at the point of inception with talented, creative inventors and entrepreneurs.

About the Burnham Institute

Burnham Institute for Medical Research is dedicated to revealing the fundamental molecular causes of disease and devising the innovative therapies of tomorrow. Burnham, with operations in California and Florida, is one of the fastest growing research institutes in the country. The Institute ranks among the top four institutions nationally for NIH grant funding and among the top 25 organizations worldwide for its research impact. Burnham utilizes a unique, collaborative approach to medical research and has established major research programs in cancer, neurodegeneration, diabetes, infectious and inflammatory and childhood diseases. The Institute is known for its world-class capabilities in stem cell research and drug discovery technologies. Burnham is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation.

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