Recent Tech Transfer Deals (03/2012)

START-UP’s monthly update on technology transfer deals--licensing agreements between companies and universities or other research institutions—in in vitro diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, research/analytical equipment & supplies, and medical devices.

IN VITRO DIAGNOSTICS

Iverson Genetic Diagnostics Inc.

Vanderbilt University

Iverson Genetic Diagnostics licenses breast cancer testing rights from Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University has granted Iverson Genetic Diagnostics Inc. (molecular testing) exclusive worldwide rights to develop breast cancer risk tests based on estrogen metabolism. (Feb.)

Vanderbilt’s Drs. Fritz Parl, Philip Crooke, William Dupont, and others have studied the mutations of certain genes responsible for synthesis of enzymes that regulate estrogen metabolism. Research has shown that estrogen metabolites are a determinant in the risk of breast cancer, based on the fact that breaking down estrogen well can put women at a lower risk for developing the disease. Iverson will use the licensed IP to continue working on its e-Metab GenoSTAT, which assesses the potential of breast cancer in women contemplating the use of hormone replacement therapy during menopause. The idea is that those showing a higher risk could opt to avoid that certain mode of treatment and potentially avoid developing cancer. The company hopes to include the new test in the women’s health section of its Physician’s Logic portfolio sometime later this year. Iverson already sells the Clopidrogel GenoSTAT, which looks for variants in the CYP2C19 gene to determine clopidrogel (Plavix) metabolism, and Warfarin GenoSTAT, which studies variants in the CYP2C9 and VKORC1 enzymes to determine warfarin metabolism and predict patient response to the drug.

University of Oxford

Isis Innovation Ltd.

Oxford Cancer Biomarkers Ltd.

Isis Innovation licenses CancerNav to Oxford Cancer Biomarkers

Concurrent with spinning out a new companion diagnostics company Oxford Cancer Biomarkers Ltd. (OCB), the University of Oxford and its tech transfer arm Oxford University Innovation Ltd. have licensed OCB rights to the CancerNav biomarker technology. The university has also taken a minority equity stake. (Jan.)

Invented by the university’s Nick La Thangue, PhD, and David Kerr, MD, the CancerNav DNA- and protein-based assay is designed to generate biomarkers that can help predict individual patient response to chemotherapeutics. Oxford U., Isis, and OCB also hope to use the biomarkers to forecast which patients will experience negative side effects to certain therapies, in an effort to tailor the most promising drug regimen to patients that will react positively. OCB hopes to commercialize the first biomarker by 2013. It plans to patent each biomarker, and will hold exclusive rights. In addition to CancerNav, OCB is also working on H-Test, a companion diagnostic for histone deacetylase inhibitors; ColoPredict, a DNA test based on genetic information from colorectal cancer patients; and P-Test, a companion kit for proteasome inhibitors. Concurrent with the licensing, CRO Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc. has invested £3mm ($4.7mm) in OCB, taking a 27.5% stake in the company and pledging to assist in future biomarker development and licensing activities.

PHARMACEUTICALS

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Ember Therapeutics Inc.

Ember gets irisin IP from Dana-Farber

Recently created Ember Therapeutics (metabolic diseases) received exclusive rights from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to technology surrounding irisin, a newly discovered hormone that has the potential to treat obesity. (Jan.)

Ember is creating new metabolic disease therapies by focusing on insulin sensitivity and the biology of brown fat, which burns off calories as opposed to white fat which stores energy. Present and identical in both mice and humans, irisin has demonstrated its ability to act on white fat cells to stimulate expression of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) and brown fat development. In preclinical studies using obese mice models, scientists found that irisin increased energy expenditure without changes in activity levels or food intake, and therefore resulted in better glucose homeostasis and weight loss. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and led by Dana-Farber’s Bruce M. Spiegelman, PhD, who is one of Ember’s founders and chairman of its scientific advisory board. Ember will use the licensed IP to optimize and develop a therapeutic candidate designed to augment and activate the body’s brown fat. The company was launched at the end of 2011 by Third Rock Ventures, which concurrently provided Ember with all $34mm of its Series A round.

Immuron Ltd.

Monash University

Immuron, Monash University ally in the development of antibodies for C. difficile

Australian biopharma Immuron Ltd. and Monash University seek to develop antibody products that can prevent and treat Clostridium difficile infections. (Jan.)

The company and university will jointly own any resulting products, and Immuron gets worldwide commercialization rights. Monash is funding the project through a government grant. The parties will develop therapeutic antibodies using Immuron’s hyperimmune colostrum platform technology, which involves the collection of polyclonal antibodies from calves’ first milk containing colostrums with high quantities of immunoglobulins and other proteins including antigen target immunoglobulins specific to the vaccine. Resulting antibodies are designed for delivery topically or to the gastrointestinal tract and the upper respiratory tract. The active ingredients are then freeze-dried into powder. Immuron’s process is more cost-effective compared to the production of monoclonal antibodies. The technology was incorporated into Immuron’s first antibody product Travelan for prevention of traveler's diarrhea.

Harvard University

Harvard Medical School

Insero Health Inc.

Insero starts operations with IP from Harvard

Insero Health Inc. (naturally derived therapeutics) is starting operations with an exclusive license to key patents from Harvard University pertaining to the start-up’s lead preclinical CNS candidate huperzine. (Feb.)

Insero will use Harvard’s IP, discovered by Harvard Medical School’s Steven Schachter, MD (who is now the chairman of Insero’s scientific advisory board), to develop huperzine for epilepsy and potentially other diseases. Huperzine is extracted from Chinese club moss and has been used in traditional Chinese medicines for memory loss, fever, swelling, and inflammation. In the US, the drug is sold as an OTC dietary supplement to maintain memory. Huperzine has also been tested for Alzheimer’s--Neuro-Hitech advanced the compound into Phase II. (Since switching focus to cough and cold medicines in 2008, the company has been looking for a partner for the program.) Insero will be pursuing epilepsy based on huperzine’s ability to inhibit the excitory neurotransmitter glutamate, which causes neurons to fire and could trigger seizures. In animal studies, the candidate was shown to prevent seizures. By the end of 2012, Insero plans to begin a Phase I/II trial in epilepsy. The start-up will also use its screening and drug discovery platform to identify other naturally sourced compounds for epilepsy and other indications. Concurrent with the Harvard license, Insero also received exclusive rights to a highly efficient synthetic manufacturing process developed by Yale University’s Seth Herzon, PhD. This method will allow Insero to produce commercial-scale batches of huperzine as well as novel huperzine-like compositions. Previous processes to synthesize huperzine have required multiple steps and only achieved a 2% yield, whereas Dr. Herzon’s method requires only eight steps and produces a 40% yield. Insero recently raised $1.1mm in seed funding from the Reich Group.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

OncoPep Inc.

OncoPep licenses cancer vaccine technology from Dana-Farber

OncoPep Inc. (cancer drug discovery) has licensed exclusive worldwide rights to a multi-peptide therapeutic cancer vaccine technology developed at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. (Feb.)

OncoPep was formed in 2010 based on the work of Dana-Farber’s Kenneth Anderson, MD. Dr. Anderson and others designed the vaccine platform that combines synthetic peptides into one vaccine that targets specific antigens on the surface of multiple myeloma cells. The first candidate to come out of the technology is PVX410, which is entering Phase I/II trials later this year in patients with smoldering multiple myeloma, a precursor to multiple myeloma that does not cause symptoms but in about 80% of cases will develop into advanced cancer. Now that OncoPep has exclusive rights to the IP, the company hopes to eventually expand its pipeline to include additional vaccines.

MEDICAL DEVICES

Columbia University

Titan Medical Inc.

Titan Medical licenses robotic surgery technology from Columbia University

Surgical robot developer Titan Medical Inc. has licensed exclusive rights to develop and sell a single-port robotic surgery system originally designed at Columbia University. (Feb.)

The university’s Dr. Nabil Simaan developed the Insertable Robotic Effector Platform (IREP), which is believed to be the smallest in the world in terms of diameter required to enter the body. The system is made up of an endoscope and two flexible arms, all contained in one lumen that can perform single-port surgeries such as gallbladder, trans-vaginal, trans-oral, and trans-anal. While many existing minimally invasive robotic systems require three-to-five separate incisions to gain access to the surgical field, IREP allows surgeons to work through either natural orifice openings or one 15mm cut in the abdomen. The robot is small enough that it can mount directly to the surgery bed (as opposed to other systems that are too large to do so), and it can also provide imaging information such as force feedback and intra-abdominal ultrasound. Titan looks forward to expanding its line of surgical robots through the Columbia licensing. The company is already developing the Amadeus Composer for surgical procedures in small-to-medium spaces, and the next-generation Amadeus Maestro, which uses four arms and the company’s Titan True Touch technology and is designed for procedures in large spaces.