To Market, To Market

 


Emory Start-Ups and Licensees

  Emory Start-Up Companies

Atherogenics

Emory founders: cardiologists Russell Medford and Wayne Alexander
Location: Norcross (soon to occupy cornerstone building in North Point Center West Biotechnology Park, Alpharetta)
Emory benefits: royalties and equity

Developing new drugs to treat atherosclerosis and cancer. Current clinical trials are testing a compound designed to lower cholesterol and treat atherosclerosis by reducing arterial inflammation. Clinical trials of a new class of chemotherapy drugs designed to treat colon cancer will begin in early 1999.
 




Atherogenics CEO Russell Medford and 31 staff members will soon occupy the cornerstone building of a new biotech park in Alpharetta.

Atrionix

Emory founder: cardiologist Jonathan Langberg
Location: Palo Alto, California
Emory benefits: patent costs, signing fees, milestone payments, royalties, stock, and equity

Developing a diagnostic system that will improve treatment for patients with the impaired heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation. The company also is designing a nonsurgical technology that uses a catheter to cure severe cases of the disorder. Animal trials have been completed on the new technique, and human trials are scheduled to begin early next year.
 


Neotonus

Emory founders: neurologist Charles Epstein, urologist Niall Galloway
Location: Marietta
Emory benefits: royalties and equity

Developing technology to deliver magnetic stimulation to muscles and neurons. The Neocontrol Pelvic Floor Therapy System for incontinence was approved by the FDA in 1998, and rapid rate transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is now being tested in clinical trials on patients with medication-resistant early-onset depression.
 



Urologist Niall Galloway uses electromagnetic stimulation to treat urinary incontinence, a problem experienced by 15 million Americans.

Octagen

Emory founder: hematologist Pete Lollar
Location: Atlanta, Philadelphia
Emory benefits: patent reimbursement, signing fee, milestone payments, royalties, common stock, and sponsored research.

Developing improved factor VIII products to correct hemophilia in patients with inhibitors and to limit inhibitor development. Some hemophilia A patients develop inhibitors to the most common therapy - replacement factor VIII, a protein co-factor in the blood required for normal clotting. Octagen has strategically allied with French pharmaceutical company Beaufour-Ipsen, Inc.
 

Pegasus

Emory founder: cardiologist Neal Scott
Location: A virtual company
Emory benefits: patent costs, royalty fees, and equity (under negotiation)

Designs and manufactures catheters for use by interventional cardiologists and interventional radiologists. A catheter being developed for intracoronary radiation therapy during angioplasty is easier to use, more accurate, and less expensive than many other radiation-delivering catheters.
 



With a catheter developed by cardiologist Neal Scott, physicians may treat small and large arteries during angioplasty using beta or gamma radiation.

Pharmasett Inc.

Emory founder: virologist/pharmacologist Raymond Schinazi
Emory benefits: patent costs, signing fees, milestones, royalties, and equity

Focuses on neucleoside analogs for treating HIV, hepatitis B and C, herpes, and cancer. Licenses preclinical compounds that bridge the gap between university and pharmaceutical companies. Partners are Novirio Inc. and Microbiologica Inc.
 

Renalogics

Emory founders: nephrologists Kamal Badr, Juha Kokko
Location: Atlanta
Emory benefits: patent costs, royalties, and equity

Developing drugs and blood tests to diagnose and treat glomerulonephritis (GN), a progressive condition leading to end-stage kidney disease. Testing promising new therapeutic compounds that counteract ADH, a hormone present in kidney disease that causes water imbalance.
 

Triangle Pharmaceuticals

Emory founder: virologist/chemist Raymond Schinazi
Location: Durham, N.C.
Emory benefits: patent costs, signing fees, milestones, cash payments, royalties, equity

Develops small molecules to treat viral disease and cancer. Licensed three antiviral compounds from Emory: Clinical trials are under way for FTC and CS-92, and DAPD is in preclinical development. FTC appears to shut down the AIDS virus' ability to reproduce and has shown strong in vitro activity against HIV-1 and hepatitis B.
 

Virtually Better, Inc.

Emory founder: psychologist Barbara Rothbaum
Location: Advanced Technology Development Center (Georgia Tech)
Emory benefits: patent costs, royalties, and equity

Uses virtual reality exposure therapy to treat patients with phobias, such as fear of heights and post-traumatic stress disorder related to experiences in Vietnam. Patients use headsets and video to recreate their phobia. Future treatments may include fear of driving and social phobia. Co-founded by Larry Hodges at Georgia Tech.
 

Companies Licensing Emory Technology

Acorda Therapeutics

Emory researcher: cell biologist Marla Luskin
Location: New York

Licensed Emory's patent of discoveries of a unique population of neuronal cells in the brain that can divide and proliferate, and that might lead to treatments for neuromuscular diseases like Parkinson's.
 

Idun Pharmaceuticals

Emory researcher: former Emory biochemist Xiadong Wang
Location: La Jolla, California

Licensed Emory's patent application for model system to study the biochemistry of apoptosis (programmed cell death). Idun plans to use Emory's technology to develop drugs that regulate cell death and could be useful in treating cancer.
 

IMPRA

Emory researcher: hematologist Stephen Hanson
Location: Tempe, Arizona

Licensed a porous, tubular vascular graft that allows for local drug delivery to prevent clotting and abnormal tissue growth. Will complete human trials in two years with IMPRA, a C.R. Bard, Inc. subsidiary.
 

Novoste

Emory researchers: cardiologist Spencer King, oncologist Ian Crocker, researcher Keith Robinson and former faculty member Ron Waksman.
Location: Norcross

Licensed the patented Beta-Cath system, developed by Emory researchers and Novoste engineers. Delivers low-dose radiation to arteries during angioplasty to reduce restenosis. Approved for sale in Europe; awaiting FDA approval in the US.
 

Sofamor Danek Group, Inc.

Emory researcher: orthopedic surgeon Scott Boden
Location: Memphis

Licensed exclusive rights to manufacture and market products related to the discovery of the LMP-1 gene. This gene encourages growth of bone tissue and has potential in treating fractures, trauma, infections, tumors, and osteoporosis.

In this Issue


From the Director  /  Letters

From Mind to Market

Emory Start-Ups and Licensees

Grow West, Entrepreneur

Preparing for the Year 2000

Cardiac Pathways

Learning On-line

Moving Forward  /  Noteworthy

A Question of Service

Cap Worn Around the World

 


Copyright © Emory University, 1999. All Rights Reserved.
Send comments to the Editors.
Web version by Jaime Henriquez.