Recent Tech Transfer Deals (1/05)
This article was originally published in Start Up
In Vitro Diagnostics
DiagnoCure Inc.
McGill University
DiagnoCure licenses breast cancer biomarker from McGill
Dec.—Immunoassay and molecular diagnostics company DiagnoCure has licensed from McGill University exclusive worldwide rights to the CDP/Cux protein to detect breast cancer.
Researched extensively by McGill's Dr. Alain Nepveu along with staff from the University of Manitoba and the University of California, San Diego, the licensed protein is expressed in high amounts during the early stages of breast cancer. DiagnoCure hopes to use it to develop a diagnostic for early detection of the disease; under the deal, the company also has the rights to use the protein in the development of diagnostics for any other type of cancer. DiagnoCure will add any resulting products to its portfolio that currently includes its first product, ImmuoCyt/uCyte+ for bladder cancer, and uPM3, a noninvasive prostate cancer diagnostic.
Invitrogen Corp.
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Invitrogen, Mayo Clinic sign cancer diagnostics deal
Dec.—Invitrogen Corp. (functional genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, and cell biology) and Mayo Clinic seek to identify and develop biomarkers that enable physicians to provide personalized medicine.
Mayo Clinic will add to the collaboration its clinical resources including a library of disease samples as well as its expertise in diagnostic assays. Invitrogen will contribute its capabilities--including high-density human protein microarrays, engineered cell lines, cell-based assays, and cloning and expression technologies--to develop new biomarkers that can help to diagnose and provide a prognosis for diseases such as cancer. The company is responsible for financial and research support, and gets the option to an exclusive or non-exclusive license for further development of any resulting technologies.
Nanomix Inc.
University of California
University of California, Los Angeles
Nanomix licenses detection technology from UCLA
Dec.—Nanotechnology company Nanomix Inc. licensed exclusive rights from the University of California, Los Angeles to a patent-pending technology for use in detecting biomolecules, such as DNA and proteins.
Nanomix will utilize the technology--developed by UCLA's Dr. George Gruner--to create products such as biomolecule sensors and detectors for the medical, diagnostic, industrial, and forensic fields. Potential applications include glucose monitoring and viral and infectious disease detection. Dr. Gruner's invention relates to nano-structured electronic devices that consist of biological probe molecules, which generate electrical effects when they bind or interact with a target molecule. Nanomix believes the sensors could enable the direct detection and identification of biomolecules more quickly, easily, and cost-effectively.
Pharmaceuticals
Allos Therapeutics Inc.
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research Technology Ltd.
University of Colorado
University of Salford
Allos licenses chemo candidate from U. Colorado and CRT
Dec.—Allos Therapeutics (cancer drugs) has licensed exclusive worldwide rights from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, the University of Salford (UK) and Cancer Research UK's Cancer Research Technology unit (CRT) to develop and market RH1, a new chemotherapeutic candidate.
Allos pays an up-front fee, milestones based on development, regulatory, and sales goals, and royalties. Cancer Research UK and CRT will continue to fund the candidate through the end of Phase I trials, and then Allos will take over responsibility for all further costs and development. (The company also has the option at that point, for a fee, to license the Phase I results to use in its development projects.) RH1 is a cancer-killing prodrug that is activated in the body by the DT-diaphorase enzyme, an enzyme overexpressed in a variety of tumors including colon, lung, breast, and liver. The University of Colorado's Dr. David Ross believes that, based on preclinical studies, the candidate may be able to selectively target DTD-expressing tumors, allowing for more precise tumor therapy.
Cell Therapeutics Inc.
Cell Therapeutics Europe SRL
Roche
University of Vermont
Roche licenses Cell Therapeutics bisplatinum compounds
Dec.—Cell Therapeutics' European subsidiary Cell Therapeutics Europe SRL licensed exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize bisplatinum compounds for cancer developed by Roche and the University of Vermont.
Cell Therapeutics also receives a global license for the compounds under Roche's patents. Both Roche and the university are eligible for milestones and royalties. Bisplatinum compounds are a new class of platinum-containing anticancer agents known as platinates, which have potential in treating a variety of cancers including lung, ovarian, and colorectal. Patients using currently marketed cancer platinates--that contain one platinum molecule--often develop resistance to the drugs. Bisplatinum compounds, however, contain two platinum molecules and therefore may help in limiting resistance, which Cell Therapeutics intends to study further. The company hopes to move a candidate into clinical trials by 2006.
Cryptome Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
University of Queensland
Institute for Molecular Biosciences
Cryptome, Univ. of Queensland in cardiovascular alliance
Dec.—Cryptome Pharmaceuticals (proteomics-based technologies) and the University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Biosciences have signed a memorandum of understanding covering the identification of drug candidates for cardiovascular disease.
Cryptome will screen IMB's compound libraries with its Cryptomics drug discovery technology, which uses high-throughput means to generate, screen, and identify small-molecule fragments. Cryptome, which was formed in early 2002 at the Baker Heart Research Institute in Melbourne, is first developing antithrombotics to manage cardiovascular disease. It is also developing therapeutics for cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases. IMB is using bioinformatics, genomics, developmental and structural biology, and drug design technologies in its research of proteins and genes in plants, animals, and humans. Its discoveries are marketed through its IMBcom division.
Genencor International Inc.
National Institutes of Health
National Cancer Institute
US Department of Health and Human Services
Genencor gets cancer candidates from NCI
Dec.—Protein engineering company Genencor has licensed exclusive worldwide rights from the US Department of Health and Human Services (public health department) and the National Cancer Institute to two recombinant immunotoxin proteins currently in development to treat cancer.
The proteins--BL22 and HA22--are in development for hairy cell leukemia (HCL), refractory pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. (BL22 is in Phase II for HCL and Phase I for the other diseases. HA22 is a second-generation form of BL22 and is in the investigational new drug application stage of development for expanded patient subsets with the same conditions.) NCI's Dr. Ira Pastan will work with Genencor under a CRADA to further develop the compounds in preparation for registration and commercialization. Genencor says the candidates (which it will rename GCR-3888 and GCR-8015, respectively) will complement the company's solid tumor compound GCR-8886/2141.
Genta Inc.
Temple University
Genta acquires rights to cancer drug from Temple University
Dec.—Antisense cancer therapeutics company Genta has acquired exclusive worldwide rights from Temple University to LR3001, an anticancer compound and its related intellectual property.
Developed by Temple's Dr. Alan Gewirtz, LR3001 is an antisense compound that has already been tested in two Phase I trials in patients with drug-resistant myeloid leukemia. The therapeutic works by targeting the c-myb gene, which binds DNA and regulates the growth of cancer cells. It is believed that over-expression of the c-myb protein promotes cell proliferation and decreases apoptosis--two functions that are key in the growth and spread of cancers. The company has requested orphan drug designation from the FDA for the treatment of chronic myelocytic leukemia. Genta will add LR3001 to its pipeline of oligonucleotide and small-molecule cancer candidates.
GenVec Inc.
National Institutes of Health
GenVec licenses rights to NIH's PEDF for ocular diseases
Nov.—GenVec (focused on cancer, vision loss, and cardiovascular diseases) licensed exclusive worldwide rights for all ocular indications from the National Institutes of Health to develop and sell products that use Pigment Epithelium-Derived Factor (PEDF) protein to prevent, diagnose, and treat all ocular conditions.
GenVec will study PEDF as a therapeutic for macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. The company has already conducted Phase I dose-escalation safety trials of the protein for severe age-related macular degeneration; it intends to now test it in people with a less severe form of the disease to determine retinal appearance and visual acuity improvements. PEDF is a natural protectant of vision-sensing cells (photoreceptors) in the eye; it also regulates blood vessel growth. It is estimated that up to 15 million people in the US have a type of AMD and over 1.6 million have the "wet" form of AMD.
Wyeth
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Boston Biomedical Research Institute
Wyeth gets Alzheimer's technology from BBRI
Nov.—Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has licensed a patented immunotherapy technology for Alzheimer's disease from Boston Biomedical Research Institute.
Wyeth pays an up-front fee, patent costs, milestones, and potential royalties. Based on work conducted by the institute's Dr. Vic Raso, the licensed technology will be used to bolster Wyeth's existing relationship with Elan Corp. PLC covering the development of a beta amyloid immunotherapy to treat Alzheimer's. Dr. Raso's studies concentrate on the control of beta amyloid levels and senile plaque in the brain in relation to the hypothesis that blocking beta amyloid production reduces the formation of plaque--a key component in the thinking disruption that is so disabling to Alzheimer's patients. Wyeth and Elan are evaluating data from a discontinued project--AN-1792 (discontinued due to illness in trial patients)--to see if the results of beta amyloid immunotherapy suggest the need for further study; Wyeth will contribute its access to BBRI's technology.
Research/Analytical
Scienion AG
Max Planck Society
Scienion AG obtains exclusive patent license from Max Planck
Nov.—Microarray development and analysis start-up Scienion AG has licensed exclusive rights to a Max Planck Society patent relating to a dispensing technology that the company will apply to biological sample handling in the research and diagnostics industries.
The technology, developed in part by Dr. Holger Eickhoff (formerly of MPS, now CEO of Scienion), involves aspiration and release of tiny volumes of liquid using a piezoelectric multi-channel dispensing system. Scienion will incorporate the IP into its sciFlexarrayer--a liquid handling system--which aspirates and dispenses aqueous and organic solutions and living cells that have been configured for a broad range of substrates (glass slides, MALDI-MS sample plates, etc.) enabling their use in industrial batch production, genomics and proteomics research analysis, DNA diagnostics, and drug discovery and development. Scienion, a 2001 spin-off of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, develops biochips containing a microarray coating that allows bioactive molecules to adhere to its surface, without changing the molecules' properties. This coating assures that a highly homogenous concentration of biomolecules is obtained and these samples are correctly positioned for improved signal detection and analysis.
Supplies, Equipment & Devices
Terumo Corp.
Massachusetts General Hospital
Wellman Laboratories of Photomedicine
Terumo gets rights to Massachusetts General's technology
Dec.—Terumo has agreed to work with Massachusetts General Hospital on the development of intravascular imaging technology (known as optical frequency domain imaging or OFDI) that will be used to diagnose and manage coronary artery disease.
Terumo has received exclusive worldwide development, manufacturing, and marketing rights to any products that result from the collaboration. It has agreed to pay Mass General up-front fees, development-based milestone payments, plus royalties on net sales. OFDI is a light-based technology that can view tissues in vivo with histological resolution and sensitivity. A technician delivers infrared light to the site to be imaged via a single optical fiber that is located inside a catheter. Physicians can obtain real-time and 3-dimensional images using OFDI, which was developed by Mass General's Wellman Laboratories for Photomedicine's Brett Bouma, PhD, Gary Tearney, MD, PhD, and Johannes de Boer, PhD. (These researchers will continue to help develop the technology.) Wellman researchers say the platform is better than ultrasound and faster than other optical techniques for examining vulnerable plaques that can accumulate in coronary arteries and result in acute myocardial infarction.