University of California, Irvine’s research deal with Large Scale Biology,the school’s largest ever,has blossomed into a fruitful endeavor, both parties say.
“The collaboration has exceeded my expectations,” said Dr. Michael Selsted, lead research scientist for UCI’s College of Medicine.
“We’ve been very happy with the work so far,” said Bob Erwin, CEO of Vacaville-based Large Scale Biology. The company, formerly called Biosource Genetics, bought Large Scale Biology in 1999 and changed its name to avoid being confused with a similarly named company. LSB has 87 employees and conducts most of its research and development in conjunction with UCI.
The deal is going well enough that parties involved say that the $9.6 million, seven-year contract,signed in 1994,is likely to be extended.
Meanwhile, Selsted and his staff of 10 have had some fundamental breakthroughs experimenting with small protein molecules called peptides. The project is pursuing both medical and commercial breakthroughs.
The UCI researchers are looking at the peptides to develop cures for traditional antibiotic-defying viruses, which have become a major concern in the healthcare community.
“It could be a significant advance in medicine,” Erwin said of the products’ potential. LSB’s objective is to create “personalized medicine opportunities,” which means consumers would be able to purchase over-the-counter virus-killing medicines. Erwin anticipates it will be at least three more years before a product gets to market. Its first product would likely be a topical treatment for eye and skin infections.
Another drug Erwin hopes to commercialize is an antibiotic targeted at a particular type of breast cancer. Although it would only be effective in about 25% of patients, it still would be an advance in treatment, Erwin said. many prescription drugs work for about 60% of the people who use them, he noted.
Once the products have been developed, LSB will decide on a manufacturing location and a distribution outlet. Erwin said Orange County would be considered as a potential manufacturing site.
The UCI team has been issued six patents and has five pending. UCI holds the patents and receives royalty fees from LSB. The inventor and research staff share in the royalties.
Now the team has to figure out how to affordably make and deliver large quantities of peptides to immune system-troubled humans, Selsted said. “All of the companies that are developing peptides are facing the same problem.”
The research that provided the basis for the Large Scale project was funded by the National Institutes of Health. It was UCI’s early NIH-funded studies that brought Biosource to UCI, Selsted said.
UCI’s first level of five-year incremental funding from NIH was $150,000. NIH funded UCI again for $900,000 and its latest round of funding is worth $1.8 million.
UCI is No. 66 on the list of NIH-funded organizations, receiving a total of $48.5 million for 181 research grants. (Johns Hopkins University, based in Baltimore, is No. 1 with 791 research grants funded for $306.8 million.) Overall, the College of Medicine accounted for $70.9 million or 49.6% of UCI’s total 1998-99 contracts and grants.
LSB’s principal competitor is Boston-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a public company that was founded in 1993. n
