UTRF bridges gap between innovation, commercialization; new grants aid process

Memphis Business Journal
February 15, 2008
By Michael M. Hill

Scientific innovation and the development of new consumer products occur in two disparate worlds. The University of Tennessee Research Foundation helps make those worlds collide; and in Memphis, UTRF concentrates its activities almost primarily on the health sciences.

"UTRF is our mechanism to take discoveries from within the university to commercial products," says Duane D. Miller, chair of the pharmaceutical sciences department at UT's Health Science Center.

A few years ago, Miller and his colleague, Jim Dalton, worked together to develop a new series of drugs that increase muscle and bone tissue in the body. Such drugs have application in the treatment of sarcopenia, which is the loss of muscle due to old age, as well as certain types of cancer that destroy muscle and bone tissues. UTRF assisted Miller and Dalton in licensing their drugs to GTx, Inc., a Memphis-based biopharmaceutical company, in early 2000. GTx has since entered into a research collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc., and is about to initiate Phase III clinical testing of the drugs.

The commercialization process always begins with a faculty member who, after working on his own research for a year or two, comes to see that his work may have a marketable value. The faculty member then contacts UTRF to see if it is commercially interesting. It is important to approach UTRF before scientific publication because, upon publication, one loses all patent rights in Europe and Japan, although one still has a year to patent in the U.S.

"We fully recognize that the university is not going to do all the advertising and sales that the idea requires," says Richard Magid, a licensing associate with UTRF.

UTRF seeks outside patent firms to write the patents and advises the faculty member as to which company would be the most appropriate to commercially develop the research into a product.

"Each situation is unique. It all depends on the particular application of the research as to whether it would be best suited for a national, an international, or even a small start-up company," Magid says.

UTRF has been so successful in helping the university commercialize its research that it is now able to channel money back into research itself. Most of the faculty who approach UTRF are already working with money granted by outside organizations, such as the federal government or a nonprofit research foundation, for example. However, the initial research funds are not always sufficient to develop their research fully to market.

"There is sometimes a gap between government funds and what a company wants to see," Magid says.

To help fill this gap, UTRF has this year started offering internal grants to faculty members who need additional funds to bring their discoveries to a marketable stage. This maturation funding program is open to any faculty member, who can receive up to $15,000 for additional research.

Richard Lee and Julian Hurdle have received one of the internal grants for their work on a new antibacterial agent.

"We've developed a compound that's quite good at killing the nasty MRSA strain of staph infection," Lee says. "We have a patent on the compound class, but we need more data to make it more marketable."

Before the grant, Lee and Hurdle did not have the funds to test their antibacterial agent on live animals. The grant they have received will enable them to test a skin infection model using lab mice.

"If it can cure mice of skin infections, companies will be much more interested in it," Lee says.

UTRF has issued grants to 10 programs across the state for 2008, totaling a $165,000 investment in the university's research.

University of Tennessee Research Foundation

Promotes and manages research and technology
Commercialization offices: Memphis and Knoxville
Local address: 920 Madison, Suite 515
Web site: utrf.tennessee.edu

CONTACT freelance writer Michael M. Hill at hillm882@newschool.edu