Brown University Research Foundation
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Brown has a particular leaning towards creating biotech spin-offs, perhaps because of the infrastructure that cell therapy company Cytotherapeutics Inc. created in Providence, the locale of Brown's main campus. Seed stage funding from the Slater Center for Biotechnology, which funds Rhode Island biomedical start-ups, has also helped many Brown spin-offs get off the ground.
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Spherics Inc.
Spherics' intellectual property, which emanates from Brown University, centers on two separate drug delivery platforms. A bioadhesive platform allows drugs to adhere to mucosal surfaces, to increase residence time and consequent drug absorption. A second technology permits the nano-encapsulation of drugs in microspheres in a wide range of sizes, under gentle process conditions that don't harm biomolecules.
Cell Based Delivery
Cell Based Delivery is engineering human muscle to serve as "living factories"--implantable bioreactors which have been genetically engineered to overexpress biotherapeutics--for making and delivering drugs such as growth factors, growth hormones, cytokines, or antibodies, over long periods of time. The company is first using its system, called ImPACT, in cardiovascular disease.
Wound Solutions Ltd.
Wound Solutions Ltd. looks to the paradigm of patient self-care in diabetes to address the gaps in chronic wound care, where the feedback provided by blood glucose monitoring encourages changes in behavior. A small device that is placed under a compression bandage helps patients with venous leg ulcers comply with the steps they should be taking to support wound healing, in the process, collecting data that helps clinicians make informed therapy decisions.