Expanding an already huge market is a dream for any investor. It does not happen often and the process is never easy, but if it can be accomplished, the rewards are massive. Understanding the risk is important but not being involved is ignorance. Most companies within a market, that is large to begin with, understand this. An investor that also understands this is one that may find incredible rewards.

Aileron Therapeutics Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company, is currently working to develop a new class of pharmaceutical platform. Recently, the company has received an influx of $40 million in capital from several leading pharmaceutical companies. The financing was co-led by new investors SR One Ltd., the independent corporate venture fund of GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), and Excel Medical Fund.

To understand the significance of this particular company, one must understand that there are basically two major platforms that service the pharmaceutical industry, small

Immtech Pharmaceuticals (IMM) is an early stage biotechnology working on cures and treatments for infectious diseases such as African Sleeping Sickness and Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). While these diseases are rare in the developed world, they infect millions, if not billions, of people in the third world, meaning the market for Immtechs products could be nearly limitless at some point. The company is also working on a cure for malaria and sports a strong library of compounds aimed at treating bacterial and fungal infections, along with Hepatitis C.

Last month, Immtech reported a surge in fiscal first quarter sales along with a significantly narrower per share loss. For the three months ended June 30, 2008, revenues were $1,141,000, as compared to $826,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2007. The increase was primarily attributable to revenues from a research and testing agreement. Immtech’s net loss for the period was $1,383,000, or