Collaborations Between Biotechnology Companies And Government/Nonprofit Institutions: March 2 - May 17, 2006
Company* | University/ | Type Of Agreement | Product Area | Details (Date) |
Adherex | National Cancer Institute | Clinical trial agreement | The NCI is sponsoring studies of Adherex's ADH-1 (Exherin) | The agent targets N-cadherin, a protein present on certain tumor cells (4/5) |
AEterna | University | Agreement | Deal for preclinical research on the role of ghrelin in the development of obesity | The three-year project has an initial budget of C$1.2M (US$1M) (5/3) |
Affymetrix | Korea's National Institute of Health | Agreement | The Korean NIH will use Affymetrix GeneChip technology in genomic studies | The institute and its collaborators are working in the areas of diabetes, hypertension, asthma and metabolic syndrome (3/8) |
Alnylam | CBR Institute for Biomedical Research | License agreement | Alnylam got rights to technology that allows for targeted delivery of RNAi agents | The CBR Institute is an affiliate of Harvard Medical School; terms of the deal were not disclosed (5/9) |
Alnylam | U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases | CRADA | Deal to discover RNAi therapeutics targeting viral organisms, fever viruses including hemorrhagic | Terms of the agreement were not disclosed (4/12) |
Alnylam | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Agreement | Alnylam got access to liposome technology | Alnylam has an option to license the technology, which has shown promise for delivering RNAi therapeutics (3/27) |
Avecia Inc.* | Various entities | Partnership | Avecia is taking a lead role in a program to establish bioprocessing technology for tissue engineering | Partners in the effort include Durham University, the Blond McIndoe Centre and Smith & Nephew; the UK government is providing funding support (4/24) |
BioSystems | Northeastern University | License agreement | BioSystems licensed rights to a biomarker discovery and development platform | BioSystems gets exclusive, worldwide rights to the monoclonal antibody-based technology; terms were not disclosed (3/10) |
Callisto | University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center | Research agreement | M.D. Anderson will support development of the company's Degrasyn class of cancer compounds | Callisto is sponsoring research for two years at the cancer center, which previously licensed the compounds to Callisto (5/10) |
Cel-Sci Corp. | Naval Medical Research Center of the U.S. Navy | CRADA | They extended a deal to evaluate CEL-SCI's CEL-1000 in malaria applications | They are evaluating the small- peptide agent against several species of malaria and as an adjuvant with various malaria vaccines (4/20) |
Ceragenix | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Research agreement | Hopkins researchers will evaluate an anti- microbial wound dressing from Ceragenix | The Johns Hopkins Burn Center will evaluate the product in animal models of certain infections (5/10) |
Chimerix Inc.* | U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases | CRADA | Deal to to evaluate Chimerix's smallpox therapeutic, CMX001, in animal models | Chimerix will test CMX001 and potentially other candidates in USAMRIID's animal models of smallpox and monkey pox infection (4/18) |
Circadian | Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (Germany) and the University of Helsinki | Venture | The parties formed a company, Vegenics Ltd., to develop and sell vascular endothelial growth factors in cancer indications | Vegenics is 50% owned by Circadian and 50% by LICR and university affiliate Licentia Ltd.; Circadian is providing an initial equity investment in Vegenics (5/1) |
Clinical Data | Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy at Duke University | Agreement | IGSP is getting access to studies on genetic variants associated with the effect of statins on lipid parameters | Clinical Data will get the first right to negotiate a commercial license to resulting findings under the five-year deal (5/12) |
Cronos | Cancer Research Technology Ltd. (UK) | Collaboration | To develop a cancer therapy based on Cronos' GeneICE platformtechnology | GeneICE is an epigenetic gene regulation technology; they will work on inhibiting expression of an undisclosed gene target (3/27) |
CytoGenix | University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston | Research agreement | Deal for preclinical animal studies of the company's synDNA H5N1 vaccine | The synthetic synDNA technology is designed to produce millions of doses of a DNA vaccinewithin a few months (5/16) |
DNAPrint | Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences | Sponsored research agreement | Deal to study analogues of Ritalin for treating various conditions | The goal is to developtest/drug |
Dyadic | The Scripps Research Institute | Agreement | Deal to provide a complete annotation of the genome of a fungal organism | Scripps will help annotate the Chrysosporium lucknowense organism from Dyadic; terms were not disclosed (3/31) |
Edison | University of Bologna (Italy) and Columbia University Medical Center | Collaboration | To discover treatments for treating inherited mitochondrial diseases | They plan to identify new classes of compounds targeting diseases of the eye and brain, as well as molecular targets and clinical biomarkers (3/16) |
EvoGenix Ltd. | University of Massachusetts Medical School | License agreement | Evogenix got rights to an anticancer hamster antibody, DMF10 | UMMS is entitled to an upfront payment, as well as potential milestone payments and a small royalty on any resulting sales (4/10) |
Evotec AG | University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center | Purchase agreement | Deal for the purchase of Evotec's ultra-high-throughput screening system | The $2.8M system will be housed at UC's Genome Research Institute and eventually will be used by researchers throughout Ohio (4/4) |
4SC AG | University of Münster (Germany) | Collaboration | Deal to develop an agent for treating influenza virus infections | 4SC will work with the university's Institute of Molecular Virology in the effort; terms were not disclosed (4/12) |
Gen-Probe | University of Michigan | License agreement | Gen-Probe got rights to develop diagnostic tests based on genetic translocations | UM gets $0.5M up front, research funding, and potential milestone and royalty payments; the technology has been shown to be highly specific for prostate cancer tissue (5/1) |
Geron Corp. | University of Oxford (UK) | License and research agreements | Geron licensed rights to technology on dendritic cells derived from human embryonic stem cells | Geron also will fund work at the university to further develop the technology (3/27) |
HaptoGuard | University of Calgary (Canada) | License agreement | HaptoGuard got world- wide rights to a family of compounds directed against cardiovascular disease | The compounds are glutathione peroxidase mimetics; terms of the exclusive deal were not disclosed (5/9) |
Illumina Inc. | Cancer Research UK | Services agreement | Illumina will provide genotyping services on prostate cancer patients and controls | The deal is valued at nearly $7M; under a previous deal, Illumina is providing genotyping in the area of colorectal cancer for Cancer Research UK (4/11) |
ImmPORT | Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (Switzerland) and the Public Health Research Institute | Collaboration | Deal to to identify antigens useful for the diagnosis of tuberculosis | ImmPORT's whole-proteome microarray chip technology platform will be used in the effort to develop a fast and affordable diagnostic (5/15) |
Incitive Ltd. | Queensland Institute of Medical Research (Australia) | Agreement | Deal to evaluate Incitive's CCS product for inflammation and autoimmune diseases | The deal covers validation and preclinical evaluation of the agent against various disorders; terms were not disclosed (4/20) |
Invitrogen | NIH Chemical Genomics Center | Collaboration | Deal to identify small molecules that modulate signaling pathways associated with disease pathophysiology | The NCGC will use Invitrogen's cell lines and beta-lactamase reporter gene technology in the effort; data will be deposited in the NIH's PubChem database (3/6) |
Miraculins Inc. | Duke University Medical Center | Agreement | Deal to further develop Miraculins' prostate cancer diagnosticproject | Duke is providing research capa- bilities and its patient network to the effort; terms were not dis-closed (4/10) |
Mymetics Corp. (Switzerland; PK:MYMX) | National Institutes of Health | Agreement | The NIH agreed to test the company's HIV-AIDS mucosal prophylactic vaccine candidate | The preclinical study will test the vaccine in a nonhuman primate model, in parallel to an ongoing preclinical trial (3/9) |
NephroGenex | Vanderbilt University | License agreement | NephroGenex got rights covering the use of Pyridorin as a treatment for acute renal failure | Terms of the deal were not dis- closed (5/10) |
Norwood | Australian Stem Cell Centre and Monash University (Australia) | Research agreement | To develop a technology platform combining immune system research with stem cell know-how | The focus is on controlling the immune system to minimize rejection of stem cell therapies; Norwood and the ASCC would jointly commercialize resulting technology (3/21) |
Open | CIC bioGUNE (Spain) | Agreement | CIC joined OBI's Open Access RNAi Program | Through the deal CIC purchased OBI's whole- enome human retroviral shRNAmir library (5/11) |
Open | Northwestern University | Agreement | Northwestern joined OBI's Open Access RNAi Program | The program at Northwestern includes shRNAmir lentiviral libraries targeting the human and mouse genomes (3/8) |
Paratek | Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy | Collaboration | Deal to develop a small- molecule candidate for treating spinal muscular atrophy | They will focus on optimizing and advancing into the clinic a Paratek compound from the tetracycline class (5/17) |
Pharminox | Cancer Research Technology Ltd. (UK) | License agreement | Pharminox got rights to an oncology program focused on targeting telomere signaling | Pharminox has a 12-month option to license exclusive, worldwide rights; terms were not disclosed (4/19) |
Phoenix | Christus Stehlin Foundation | Collaboration | Deal to investigate a Phoenix drug against melanoma | Phoenix is developing botanical extracts in collaboration with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (5/3) |
PhytoMedical | Iowa State University and the USDA's Agricultural Research Service | Extended CRADA | New deal designed to accelerate plans to develop a compound for treating Type II diabetes | The research is focused on synthesizing certain insulin-enhancing or mimetic polyphenolic compounds designed to improve insulin function (3/21) |
Primagen | University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center | License agreement | Primagen expanded its rights to the CD133 diagnostic biomarker | Its worldwide license to the bio- marker was expanded to include the cardiovascular field; terms were not disclosed (4/25) |
Primagen | European Union | Agreement | Primagen was chosen to participate in the EU- funded GRACE project on combating antibiotic resistance | Primagen will screen samples of patients with respiratory tract infections to identify novel viruses, along with the Leiden University Medical Center (3/28) |
Reata | Dartmouth College and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center | License agreement | Reata got exclusive rights to a new class of anti- inflammatory compounds | The compounds, tricyclic bisenones, are activators of the transcription factor Nrf2; terms were not disclosed (4/17) |
Santaris | University of Copenhagen (Denmark) | Agreement | They formed a microRNA research consortium | The work focused on developing microRNAs as drug targets is being funded in part by the Danish Advanced Technology Foundation (5/1) |
Serologicals | Australian Stem Cell Centre | Agreement | A Serologicals subsidiary got rights to stem cell reagents developed at ASCC | Chemicon International Inc. got exclusive rights to commercialize and distribute the reagents to scientists worldwide (4/21) |
Shanghai | PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative | Agreement | PATH will support development of a pediatric malaria vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum | The deal will allow for improvements in the manufacturing process and lead to a safety evaluation of the vaccine candidate, PfCP2.9 (3/15) |
Sirna | University of Massachusetts Medical School | License agreement | Sirna got rights to patents covering microRNA technology for the modulation of gene expression | Sirna got exclusive rights to the Zamore miRNA patents for all uses; terms of the deal were not disclosed (5/10) |
SpeciGen Inc.* | Montanta State University | License agreement | SpeciGen got rights to protein cage-based nanotechnologies | The technology will be used for targeted delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic agents; SpeciGen also will sponsor research at MSU (4/28) |
Sunesis | University of California at San Francisco | Research and license agreement | UCSF got rights to use Sunesis' fragment- based Tethering drug discovery technology | Sunesis gets exclusive rights to any resulting improvements to the technology or fragment libraries, and would have first rights to license resulting small-molecule drug candidates (4/7) |
Syntarga BV* | Georg-August University (Germany) | License agreement | Syntarga got exclusive, worldwide rights to anticancer agents | Syntarga will incorporate the alkylating agents in antibody- drug and other conjugates; terms were not disclosed (3/14) |
Target | University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center | Collaboration | To develop a new generation of cancer diagnostic assays | Target Discovery will use its mass defect technology to validate protein biomarkers from samples provided by M.D. Anderson (4/20) |
Target | Eastern Virginia Medical School | Collaboration | To develop clinical assays that will help guide treatment of prostate cancer | They plan to validate protein iso- form biomarkers and integrate them into Target Discovery's Isonostics clinical platform (3/21) |
TiGenix Inc. | Hospital for Special Surgery | Collaboration | The hospital will help develop TiGenix's lead cartilage repair product | The product, ChondroCelect, is a cell-based therapy designed for the repair of cartilage defects of the knee (3/28) |
Vaxon Biotech* | Institut Pasteur(France) | License deal and collaboration | Deal to develop new vaccine products and animal transgenic models | Vaxon intends to develop products covering major HLA super-families for treating cancers; terms were not disclosed (4/3) |
Vertex | Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc. | Collaboration | Deal to to accelerate development of VX-770, an oral agent being developed to treat CF | CFFT will pay Vertex about $13.3M in development support through 2007; Vertex retains worldwide rights (3/23) |
VM Discovery | Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center | Collaboration | To jointly pursue a discovery program for cancer drugs | VMD will use its design and optimization technology to generate lead compounds, while the center will contribute its expertise; terms were not disclosed (3/31) |
Notes: | ||||
This chart does not include grants or contract awards, or agreements between biotech companies and clinical trial centers. | ||||
* Denotes privately held company. | ||||
@ Some institutions listed have for-profit components. They are located in the U.S. unless otherwise noted. | ||||
CRADA = Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. | ||||
Unless otherwise noted, shares are traded on the Nasdaq exchange. | ||||
AMEX = American Stock Exchange; ASX = Australian Stock Exchange; CDNX = Canadaian Venture Exchange; FSE = Frankfurt Stock Exchange; OTC BB = Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board; PK = Pink Sheets. | ||||