Recent Tech Transfer Deals, June 2013
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Derived from Strategic Transactions, Elsevier Business Intelligence’s premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Tech Transfers column provides a monthly update on technology transfer deals, reporting licensing agreements between companies and universities or other research institutions in the In Vitro Diagnostics, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceuticals sectors.
IN VITRO DIAGNOSTICS
Cancer Genetics Inc.
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine
OncoSpire Genomics
Mayo Clinic, Cancer Genetics form biomarker JV OncoSpire Genomics
Following two years of discussions, the Mayo Clinic and newly public Cancer Genetics Inc. (DNA-based cancer diagnostics) have formed a joint venture, OncoSpire Genomics, which has been tasked with discovering and commercializing new cancer tests that will utilize next-generation sequencing. (May)
The JV is owned 50/50 by its originators, though Cancer Genetics has committed to funding the entity with $6mm ($1mm at closing, $1mm six months later, and $2mm on each closing-date anniversary for two years following, assuming certain operational milestones are met). A six-member scientific review committee (three from Mayo and three from Cancer Genetics) will choose from programs that were originally identified through the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine’s Biomarker Discovery Program, with an initial focus on using next-generation sequencing to discover and validate biomarkers for hematological and urogenital cancers (which includes but is not limited to cancers of the kidney, prostate, testes, uterus, liver, ovaries, cervix, and bladder). There is also the possibility for expansion into other cancer areas, including solid tumors such as esophageal, head and neck, breast, and lung tumors. In addition to the capital investment, Cancer Genetics will also lend its commercial experience to the JV, while Mayo contributes sequencing and lab resources, and other research expertise. OncoSpire’s research activities will be conducted in medical and life sciences laboratories at Mayo, including the department of laboratory medicine and pathology, and the medical genome facility. Under a related three-year joint development intellectual property agreement, Cancer Genetics and Mayo have both agreed to nonexclusively license any pertinent IP amongst themselves and to OncoSpire; the JV will hold ownership of any IP it creates, but Mayo and Cancer Genetics are eligible to license rights to diagnostic products and lab services. The venture comes just a month after Cancer Genetics went public in a $6.4mm IPO. In addition to its relationship with Mayo, the company also has partnerships with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute, and the Cleveland Clinic. Earlier this month, the company announced the launch of UroGenRA, a microarray for kidney cancer diagnosis.
PHARMACEUTICALS
BioTime Inc.
University of California
University of California, Los Angeles
BioTime gets rights to stroke treatment therapy from the University of California, Los Angeles
Regenerative medicine firm BioTime Inc. has licensed exclusive global rights to the University of California, Los Angeles’ technology relating to the treatment of stroke. (Apr.)
The IP, developed in the UCLA laboratory of Tom Carmichael, MD, PhD, uses one of BioTime’s HyStem hydrogels/growth factor matrix to deliver locally released growth factors directly into the stroke cavity to improve a patient’s recovery. Preclinical studies have already shown that the delivery of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has drastically improved post-stroke motor function in a murine model of ischemic stroke. Concurrent with the alliance, BioTime has penned a sponsored research agreement with UCLA for ongoing preclinical studies to continue developing the technology and create data that will support a future IND filing in the next 3-5 years. BioTime holds exclusive worldwide rights to the HyStem technology (excluding veterinary medicine) from the University of Utah.
Evotec AG
Harvard University
Evotec, Harvard ally in antibacterials
Evotec AG and Harvard University have teamed up to identify and develop a new class of small-molecule inhibitors of bacterial cell wall synthesis. (May)
To the collaboration, Harvard will contribute assays, antibacterial chemical starting points, and x-ray crystallography tools. The university’s research was led by professors Daniel Kahne and Suzanne Walker. Evotec will apply its drug discovery technologies and expertise in peptidoglycan biosynthesis (PGB) to develop antibacterial agents that target PGB. The company will have rights to commercialize any resulting therapeutics. The target family being studied is highly validated yet underexploited and could represent a therapeutic option at a time when antibiotic resistance is prevalent. Harvard and Evotec have worked together in the past; in 2011, they (along with [Howard Hughes Medical Institute] established the CureBeta R&D program as a means to link industry and academic IP and knowledge to help speed up the identification and development of disease-state modifying therapies.
Johnson & Johnson
Crucell NV
Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Scripps Research Institute
Janssen, Crucell sign five-year deal with Scripps Research Institute
Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. has signed a five-year agreement with the Scripps Research Institute (SRI). The partners will collaborate on infectious disease research projects, with an initial focus on influenza. (May)
Janssen gets certain rights to the research results and will be assisted in the R&D by its Crucell Vaccine Institute, which has experience with structural biology technologies, to quickly move new therapies and vaccines into development. Crucell has been working with SRI since 2008 on a single universal flu vaccine (as opposed to ones that change annually based on predictions of which flu strain will be most prevalent). About a year ago SRI announced a five-year deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb covering the development of chemistry methodologies and related activities. SRI anticipates penning additional deals for oncology, neurodegeneration, and immunology.
Institut Pasteur
Institut Pasteur Korea
Qurient Co. Ltd.
Roche
Roche R&D Center (China) Ltd.
[Institut Pasteur Korea], Qurient, and Roche team up on infectious disease drug discovery
[Institut Pasteur Korea] (IP-K), South Korean biotech Qurient Co. Ltd., and Roche R&D Center (China) Ltd. have teamed up to perform drug discovery, research, and development in the area of infectious diseases. (Apr.)
They are collaborating on multiple research programs, which will be funded by Roche. The partners will develop assays, screen drug candidates, discover targets, and perform other related activities. IP-K is contributing its expertise in infectious disease drug discovery, including visualization and imaging technologies to analyze disease models. The tech transfer entity’s PhenomicScreen platform combines robotics and phenomics to allow for fully automated screening of cells in real time for compounds or genes that reverse cellular disease phenotypes. In tandem, IP-K has created the PhenomicID to detect therapeutic targets within a cell, and PhenomicTD for identifying target proteins and pathways of potential drug candidates. Qurient, a 2008 IP-K spin-off (the first commercial company to come out of IP-K), holds exclusive rights to certain IP-K programs and the PhenomicScreen system. As a result of the current deal, Qurient and Roche may pursue development of one of those Qurient/IP-K candidates (including potentially a preclinical anti Mycobacterium agent for tuberculosis that IP-K licensed to Qurient in March 2010). Within the last month, Qurient has also secured exclusive rights to an anticancer Axl kinase inhibitor from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and the Lead Discovery Center GMBH. Qurient’s other pipeline projects focus on atopic dermatitis and asthma. The biotech, formerly known as Quro Science, has raised $9mm to date in venture financing from Hanwha Investment, Novartis Venture Funds, and Atinum Investment.