RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC — Nine North Carolina firms cracked the 'Biotech 15', a ranking of promising high-growth biotech firms in the Southeast as selected by

TechJournal South

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Companies were selected by bioindustry experts and investors based on criteria including uniqueness of technology, management teams, size of market, and having raised less than $40 million in funding.

"The Southeast biotech community is thriving with numerous companies uniquely positioned with their technology," said Eric Gregg, publisher of TechJournal South. "With the Biotech 15 list, we have simply tried to identify some of the future stars of biotech out of the many to choose from in the region."

The list includes:

Affinergy (Research Triangle Park, NC) Applied Genetic Technologies (Alachua, FL) AxoGen (Gainesville, FL) DiaKine Therapeutics (Charlottesville, VA); Entegrian (Research Triangle Park, NC); Gentris (Morrisville, NC); InsectiGen (Athens, GA); Metabolon (Durham, NC); NovaMin (Alachua, FL); Oncose (Athens, GA); Oriel Therapeutics (Durham, NC); Qualyst (Chapel Hill, NC); Regado Biosciences (Morrisville, NC); Respirics (Raleigh, NC); Syntherica (Durham, NC)