Recent Tech Transfer Deals (3/05)
This article was originally published in Start Up
In Vitro Diagnostics
Abbott Laboratories Inc.
PrognostiX Inc.
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Abbott, Cleveland Clinic sign cardiovascular diagnostics deal
Feb.—Abbott and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation will collaborate in developing an automated in vitro diagnostic for myeloperoxidase (MPO), which is an enzyme found in white blood cells.
Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic have determined that high levels of MPO can signify an individual's risk for cardiovascular diseases such as a heart attack. Abbott gets nonexclusive rights to the Cleveland Clinic's technologies associated with the utilization of MPO as an indicator for such cardiac events. The company also receives a worldwide license to commercialize products that incorporate the technology. Cleveland Clinic spin-out PrognostiX will offer Abbott any necessary development support. Abbott currently markets cardiovascular diagnostics such as the Architect and AxSYM systems.
Affymetrix Inc.
Institut Curie
Affymetrix, Institut Curie to develop cancer diagnostics
Feb.—Affymetrix (genomics) and European cancer research center Institut Curie seek to develop cancer diagnostics using the company's GeneChip microarray technology and the institute's snap-frozen methods for obtaining tumor samples.
Affymetrix and Institut Curie will identify genetic markers for detecting breast cancer and for use in determining the likelihood of disease regression. They also plan to study the progression of eye tumors. Each study will apply Affymetrix's GeneChip technology to 250 high-quality tumor samples from the institute's extensive library. GeneChip allows researchers to analyze genetic variations, such as DNA sequence and gene expression, and apply that information to the discovery of new drugs and diagnostics.
Genaissance Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Vanderbilt University
Genaissance gets license to Vanderbilt University patent
Jan.—Genaissance Pharmaceuticals (pharmacogenetics) has been granted an exclusive worldwide license to Vanderbilt University's US patent 6,458,542 covering the use of a test for the presence of a polymorphism in KCNE1 (a cardiac ion-channel gene) to determine if a patient could be susceptible to drug-induced cardiac arrhythmias.
This newly licensed IP adds to Genaissance's 50+ patent estate for genes that have been linked to Long QT syndrome (LQTS), including KCNQ1, KCNH2 (HERG), SCN5A, KCNE1, and KCNE2. The company already markets the genetic test Familion for either inherited or acquired LQTS and Brugada Syndrome (both of which can result in sudden cardiac death) to cardiologists and electrophysiologists. There are currently more than 50 FDA-approved prescription drugs that can prolong the QT-interval, thus leading to arrhythmias in some patients.
Pharmaceuticals
Aviva Systems Biology Corp.
University of California
University of California, San Diego
Aviva licenses UCSD's GREMA technology
Jan.—The University of California, San Diego licensed Aviva Systems Biology (technologies to study gene transcription regulation) exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the Gene Regulation Elements Mapping and Analysis (GREMA) technology.
Developed by UCSD professor Dr. Xiangdong Fu, GREMA allows researchers to detect, with high sensitivity, all DNA fragments--including promoters--that interact with proteins. The technology can ultimately be used to discover new drug targets by identifying specific transcription factor promoters and determining how their binding characteristics change in the presence of disease. Aviva has used bioinformatics to discover approximately 32k possible promoter sequences, of which 20k have been integrated into a DNA microarray.
Benitec Ltd.
Garvan Institute of Medical Research
Benitec, Garvan Institute develop diabetes and obesity drugs
Feb.—The Garvan Institute of Medical Research has granted Australian functional genomics company Benitec Ltd. exclusive IP rights to develop RNA interference-based metabolic therapeutics using its "hot mouse" gene knockout technology.
The companies are also considering a research collaboration to develop therapies that target the c-Cbl gene specifically to treat diabetes, obesity, and related disorders. The drugs could help the body turn food into heat (energy) instead of storing it as fat. The "hot mouse" technology is a genetically modified murine model that lacks the c-Cbl gene, which is associated with a protein that slows the conversion of fat to energy. Without this protein, the knockout mice eat an extra daily meal and still have half the body fat of mice with the gene intact. The "hot mice" also build more muscle and have demonstrated greater resistance to Type II diabetes. The deal builds on an earlier collaboration, under which Garvan reproduced the phenotype of the c-Cbl knockout mouse using Benitec's ddRNAi technology. Benitec is also developing RNAi-based therapeutics to treat hepatitis C and HIV.
BioLineRx Ltd.
BioLine Innovations Jerusalem
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
BG Negev Technologies & Applications Ltd.
BioLineRx licenses Ben-Gurion Univ.'s BL-1040
Jan.—BioLineRx (ethical drugs) has been granted an exclusive worldwide license to BL-1040 from Ben-Gurion University's BG Negev Technologies & Applications Ltd.
Preclinical BL-1040 will be developed by BioLine Innovations Jerusalem. The material, which was created by the university's professors Smadar Cohen and Jonathan Leor, is a biodegradable polymer that gets injected into the area that is damaged by a heart attack. Within a few minutes, the material goes between the cells and fibers in the heart and forms a scaffold that is designed to help the heart muscle recover and repair, and limits the size of the scar after the attack. It can also promote the growth of new blood vessels and cardiac regeneration. BioLineRx says it will have to invest $9mm (which it expects to receive under a grant from the Israeli government) for clinical trials of BL-1040 before it can out-license the agent.
BioVeris Corp.
National Research Council of Canada
BioVeris licenses vaccine candidates from NRCC
Feb.—BioVeris (diagnostics and vaccines) licensed exclusive worldwide patent rights from the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) to vaccine candidates for group B streptococcus (GBS) Type II and Type V and group B meningococcus (GBM).
Under the deal, the company will use the GBS vaccine technology to develop products to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases, such as sepsis, pneumonia, and meningitis in newborns, which are caused by the bacteria. For the GBM vaccine technologies, BioVeris receives exclusive worldwide rights (excluding Canada) to develop treatments for meningitis and sepsis. In return for the license, it pays a minimum of $10k yearly and will provide sales royalties upon commercialization of any resulting product. Last month, BioVeris licensed a vaccine candidate for Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B from the Children's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland. Analysts suggest that the worldwide market for a both a GBS and GBM vaccine could exceed $1bn annually. GBS is prevalent in about 25% of pregnant women, who can transmit the infection to the baby during birth. Of the 1.2mm people throughout the world who are afflicted annually by GBM, about 10% die as a result.
ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
University of Texas
MD Anderson Cancer Center
ChemGenex licenses anticancer agent from MD Anderson
Feb.—The University of Texas's MD Anderson Cancer Center has licensed ChemGenex (treatments for oncology, metabolic disorders, and depression) CXS299, a platinum anticancer agent designed to overcome cancer therapy resistance.
Developed by MD Anderson's Drs. Zahid Siddik and Abdul Khokhar, CXS299 is in preclinical studies to selectively block tumor cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. The drug candidate acts against the wild type p53 gene, a gene that is frequently present in patients who have failed to respond to traditional chemotherapy treatments. ChemGenex believes that physicians can more effectively treat patients that have the wild type p53 gene by identifying them sooner and by using specific treatments--such as CXS200--to which the patient is less likely to be resistant. The company will add the drug to its pipeline that currently includes the Phase II compounds Ceflatonin and Quinamed in development for leukemia and solid tumors, respectively.
Generex Biotechnology Corp.
Antigen Express
Emory University
Imperial College London
Antigen Express inks vaccine deal with two institutions
Feb.—Generex Biotechnology's wholly owned subsidiary Antigen Express signed agreements with Emory University and the Imperial College London for the development of a smallpox (vaccinia) vaccine.
The company's founder, Dr. Robert Humphreys, will lead the program with assistance from vaccinia experts Dr. Geoffrey Smith of the Imperial College and Emory's Dr. Rafi Ahmed. Dr. Smith has performed extensive studies of the immune system's response to smallpox and discovered important proteins for use as potential vaccines against the virus. (Currently, there are no safe smallpox vaccines available for use.) Dr. Ahmed has been studying how the immune system can recall previous exposures to infections (such as HIV and smallpox) and, upon ensuing infections, evoke a response to the agent. Antigen Express has developed a technology that uses modified peptide antigens to stimulate immunity with T helper cells. The technology has already shown its potential in preclinical studies. (The company soon expects to commence clinical trials in breast cancer.)
Medicure Inc.
University of Manitoba
University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa Heart Institute
Medicure gets rights to U. of Manitoba, U. of Ottawa's IP
Jan.—Medicure (cardiovascular therapeutics) has been granted exclusive worldwide rights to technology from the University of Manitoba and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute relating to the development of lipid-lowering drug candidates to treat cardiovascular diseases including hyperlipidemia.
The IP, which is based on a natural process called autophagocytosis, was discovered by the University of Manitoba's Drs. Jim Jamieson and Gro Thorne-Tjomsland and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute's Dr. Zemin Yao. It helps lower cholesterol and triglycerides by acting on targets in the liver's mechanism to produce and remove very low density lipoproteins (VLDLs) that carry triglycerides in a patient's blood. The US cholesterol-lowering therapeutics market generated revenues of over $22bn for 2002, and is expected to continue increasing.
Supplies, Equipment & Devices
Osteotech Inc.
Rutgers University
Osteotech licenses polymers from Rutgers University
Feb.—Osteotech (transplantable bone and connective tissue technologies) licensed a class of polymers from Rutgers University, which the company will incorporate into its patented Plexus technology. The university will receive an up-front payment of $50k, $250k for the first two milestones completed, and another $350k for the three milestones to follow. The company would also make quarterly minimum license payments until a product is marketed, after which time it pays either royalties or the minimum licensing fees, whichever is greater. Osteotech's Plexus bone and tissue transplantation technology enables orthopedic surgeons to fuse grafts (consisting of bone and polymer composites) into a patient's bone and mold the grafts into any size and shape. Because of Plexus's flexibility, even donated musculoskeletal allograft tissue can be implanted into the patient. Osteotech currently markets Grafton demineralized bone matrix products and Graftech structural allograft systems for use in musculoskeletal surgeries.