PRESS RELEASES   Selexys receives $3M grant 02/19/2009 BY STEVE LACKMEYER Published: February 19, 2009 Selexys, a startup bio-pharmaceutical company at the Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park, confirmed Wednesday it has received the largest federal innovation grant to date for its efforts to treat sickle cell anemia. Scott Rollins, chief executive at Selexys, said the $3 million grant will allow for its Anti-P-Selectin to be developed and then manufactured by the research park’s Cytovance production facility, with testing to be done by doctors across the state. Rollins said he recently was surprised to learn from the Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology that the Small Business Innovation Research Grant, issued through the National National Institute of Health, was the largest ever awarded in Oklahoma. The Anti-P-Selectin antibody targets the P-Selectin molecule and is intended to prevent blood clots from forming in patients with Sickle Cell anemia, Rollins said. "Sickle Cell disease is a pretty devastating anemia that strikes primarily African Americans in the United States,” Rollins said. "There just aren’t good therapies for this disease available to patients.” Rollins said his company, which employs four people, will be gearing up as development of the drug advances. Rollins co-founded Alexion in Connecticut, which was a $3 billion company when he sold his share and returned to Oklahoma last year. "The first thing we did was to file for this grant,” Rollins said. "This grant will allow us to hire new people in a very high-tech biotech company.”