Bioworks hosts lab research with anti-cancer promise

The Commercial Appeal
April 4, 2007
By Daniel Connolly

A few years ago, graduate student Michael Mohler noticed that a drug was killing brain cancer cells and leaving healthy cells alone.

That observation led to further development of a chemical compound at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and the launch of a new company to take it to the market.

The firm, ED Laboratories Inc., will soon begin renting lab space from the Memphis Bioworks Foundation. The company's leaders hope to develop an effective treatment against glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer.

The firm will share the space with a related company spun off from university research, RxBio Inc. That company will develop an experimental drug to reduce the effects of radiation on the human body.

The story of the firms demonstrates the Bioworks Foundation's strategy for developing science-based businesses in Memphis: create lab space, nurture small companies and help bring experimental drugs from the laboratory to the patient.

The two new companies will move into an existing medical laboratory at 959 Madison donated to the foundation earlier this year by Baptist Memorial Health Care.

Steve Bares, head of the Bioworks Foundation, said it took just days to rent the 2,200-square-foot space, which had been vacant for years and needed renovation.

"It tells you the fundamental demand we have from new companies and entrepreneurs in the area," Bares said.

The Bioworks Foundation hopes to replicate the model on a grand scale -- it is building a $450 million research complex on the site of the old Baptist Memorial Hospital Downtown that will offer lab space to more firms.

The story also demonstrates the potential of some of the science under development in Memphis. The creators of the glioblastoma drug say they hope it could save people who currently have little chance of survival.

Mohler's observation stemmed from an experiment organized by UTHSC professors Eldon Geissert and Duane Miller.

They tested compounds against cancer because of what such experiments could teach them about their target, hepatitis C. They expected the compound to kill the healthy brain cells, not the cancerous ones.

"That's good for a whole different reason, but it wasn't what we intended," said Mohler.

Researchers spent years refining the drug. Today, it can be injected into a vein and reduces the size of tumors in rats, the researchers said.

Handling the business side of both the brain cancer firm and the radiation drug firm will be W. Shannon McCool, a pharmaceutical consultant who now lives in Johnson City.

He's organized a management team of people with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

He said that both companies have experimental compounds that are likely to get speedy consideration from the federal government and could be on the market in three to five years.

The government is willing to put the brain cancer drug on a fast track for Food and Drug Administration consideration because victims would likely die otherwise, he said.

And the radiation protection drug might become part of the nation's strategic stockpile even before it receives FDA approval because of its potential as a counter against terrorist attacks, he said.

"There could also be many therapeutic uses," said Miller, a professor of pharmacy who worked with Dr. Gabor Tigyi to discover the experimental anti-radiation compound.

Tests in rodents show that the compound protects the animals both before and after exposure to radiation, and it could be useful to reduce side effects in patients receiving radiation therapy, he said.

After his observation, Mohler went on to earn his doctorate in medicinal chemistry from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in 2005.

Today he works for GTx Inc., another biotech startup spun off from UTHSC research. He said he's excited that the company is developing the brain cancer drug.

"My feeling is if they are successful, and I think they might be, it will be a great thing," he said.

-- Daniel Connolly: 529-5296