john mcculloch phd venture group advisor mars discovery district
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John McCulloch PhDVenture Group Advisor
MaRS Discovery District
Post-doc at UCL Medical School, London, UK Licensed monoclonal antibodies to US
company Negotiation, license and transfer process Impressions◦Ease of funding vs. grant system◦Calculation of value and royalty rates◦Seeing our work make a difference in the outside
world UK academic culture re. commercialization
Drug Royalty Corporation in 1994 (DRI Capital)
$1.0 billion under management Life sciences investor – acquires royalties on
drugs, diagnostics, etc. Security = due diligence Reviewed hundreds of opportunities, many
arising from academic labs in the US and UK Joined MaRS in 2007
MaRS is an international convergence centre based in Toronto
Our mission is to create successful global businesses built from Canada’s science and technology
We provide advisory services, entrepreneurship programs, conference space and office/lab facilities
Wide range of tenants at MaRS: startups to Merck Recently launched MaRS Innovation◦ Will commercialize innovations from 16 Toronto institutions◦ Will select most promising inventions and provide funding for
patent prosecution and pre-investment development (POP and “de-risking”)
Government◦ Medical Research Council◦ $1.0 billion R&D 2007-8◦ 130 patent families◦ $152 million license revenue in 2007-8
Private◦ Wellcome Trust ($23 billion endowment)
Charities◦ Cancer Research UK◦ Arthritis Rheumatism Campaign◦ National Heart Research Fund◦ Diabetes UK
National Research Development Corporation (1948)◦Mission: to commercialize publicly funded research
Fused with National Enterprise Board in 1981 to create the British Technology Group (BTG)◦BTG became custodian of many NRDC assets◦1992 – management buyout◦1995 – LSE flotation = BTG plc
Major BTG assets = MRI, BeneFIX, Campath Initially “de-risked” technologies and licensed
out Evolved to product development focus
Founded in 1913 Numerous landmark discoveries:◦ Influenza virus◦ Penicillin◦DNA◦ Link between smoking & lung cancer◦Monoclonal antibodies◦C. elegans genome
35 MRC institutes across UK
Founded in 1947 (Cambridge, UK) 13 Nobel laureates Basic molecular biology research led to a
wealth of antibody technologies:◦Monoclonal antibodies (Milstein & Kohler, 1975)
NRDC did not file patents!◦Chimeric antibodies (Neuberger & Rabbits 1984)◦Humanized antibodies (Winter 1986)◦Human antibodies (Winter 1990s)◦Human antibody genome mice (Neuberger 1990s)◦Single domain antibodies (Winter & Tomlinson
2000)
Humira (Abbott) RA, Crohn’s, psoriasis US$1.54 billion sales
Tysabri (Biogen Idec) MS
Actemra (Roche/Chugai) RA
Campath (Genzyme/Bayer) lymphoma, RA
Vectibix (Amgen) Colorectal cancer
Celltech acquired by UCB ($2.25 billion)
Cambridge Antibody Technology acquired by AstraZeneca ($1.25 billion)
Domantis acquired by GlaxoSmithKline ($411 million)
Licenses to 37 other companies MRC-LMB has played a critical role in the
development of powerful, selective drugs for autoimmune disease and cancer
2000-2006◦Humanized antibodies = $150 million◦Human antibodies = $227 million
MRC-sourced antibody products are still growing◦Humira is a blockbuster drug◦>$1.5 billion sales/year
MRC uses the revenues from antibody technology to support basic research and expand research infrastructure
The UK has been extremely successful in life sciences commercialization based on top tier research
If you can’t patent an initial technology, keep innovating!◦ LMB created five next generation technologies after
mABs Get the technology out in the field as widely as
possible via non-exclusive licenses Reinvest the proceeds in basic research◦ Main driver of innovation in MRC-LMB case
Importance of angels
