When it comes to studying the nation’s shoplifting epidemic, Richelle Ross and Diego Rodriguez have a front-row seat. Working under the guidance of Read Hayes, a research scientist and criminologist at University of Florida, they are part of the Loss Prevention Research Council. It’s located in a high-tech lab inside of The Hub, part of UF Innovate, a business accelerator at the University of Florida.

The Council and the other startups within UF Innovate, as well as the accelerator itself, are vivid examples of what creativity and innovation expert James Taylor, based in Scotland, describes as SuperCreativity—a phenomenon that many business leaders are trying to foster in today’s fast-changing business environment. It is a concept that goes beyond creativity or innovation alone.

Since its establishment in 2019, Arranta Bio has focused on serving companies seeking to develop and commercialize therapies targeting the human microbiome. Partnering to secure the deep microbiome expertise that has become the foundation of Arranta was critical, so, in November 2019, Arranta Bio acquired UF Innovate | The Hub resident client Captozyme, now Oxidien Pharmaceuticals, which focused solely on process development and early clinical scale-up of LBPs. Captozyme’s founder Dr. Aaron Cowley (now Arranta’s Chief Scientific Officer) and his team bring to bear more than a decade of institutionalized knowledge and experience gained developing microbiome products that achieve critical product attributes (such as high final form cell viability, long-lasting stability, and the appropriate administration release profile), enabling microbiome products to have the best opportunity for clinical success. 

Arranta has completed the expansion of purpose-built microbiome process development laboratories in a new dedicated building, which creates capacity for up to 45 process development scientists at its Gainesville, Florida site. Dr. Aaron Cowley, chief scientific officer at Arranta and the founder of Arranta’s legacy company said, “These laboratories will allow Arranta Bio to apply our 11 years of deep experience in developing processes for microbiome products to meet the needs of an increasing number of client programs. Our proprietary actALIVE^™ program provides the fastest path to the clinic, from project start to IND submission in nine months, thus allowing clients to initiate proof of concept clinical trials on an accelerated timeline.”

Arranta Bio acquired UF Innovate | The Hub resident client Captozyme, now Oxidien Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a best-in-class enzyme therapeutic for secondary hyperoxaluria.

Dr. Aaron B. Cowley is the chief scientific officer at Arranta Bio, having been a co-founder and the chief technical officer of Captozyme, which served the microbiome CDMO market for 10 years since 2009 and merged with Arranta Bio in November 2019. Captozyme’s enzyme therapeutic assets were spun out as a newly formed biopharmaceutical company, Oxidien Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a UF Innovate | The Hub resident client, to continue clinical development under the leadership of Captozyme’s outgoing chief executive officer, Helena Cowley.

He was the recipient of the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for his post-doctoral work at the University of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Benedictine College, a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Kansas, and an MBA from the University of Florida.

Arranta Bio acquired UF Innovate | The Hub resident client Captozyme^TM, now Oxidien Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a best-in-class enzyme therapeutic for secondary hyperoxaluria.