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Collaborative academic medical product development: An 8-year review of commercialization outcomes at the Institute of Translational Health Sciences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2017

Lynn M. Rose*
Affiliation:
Benaroya Research Institute, University of Washington School of Pharmacy, Seattle, WA, USA
Fiona Wills
Affiliation:
University of Washington CoMotion, Seattle, WA, USA
Connie Bourassa-Shaw
Affiliation:
University of Washington Foster School of Business, Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, Seattle, WA, USA
Terri L. Butler
Affiliation:
University of Washington Foster School of Business, Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, Seattle, WA, USA
Jeanette Griscavage Ennis
Affiliation:
University of Washington Foster School of Business, Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, Seattle, WA, USA
Kim Emmons
Affiliation:
Washington Research Foundation, Seattle, WA, USA
Patrick Shelby
Affiliation:
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Business Development & Industry Relations, Seattle, WA, USA
Meher Antia
Affiliation:
Institute of Translational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Kim Folger Bruce
Affiliation:
Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: L. M. Rose, Ph.D., Benaroya Research Institute, 1201 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101-2795, USA. (Email: lrose@benaroyaresearch.org)
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Abstract

Introduction

The Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS), a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA)-funded program at the University of Washington (UW), established the Drug and Device Advisory Committee (DDAC) to provide product-specific scientific and regulatory mentoring to investigators seeking to translate their discoveries into medical products. An 8-year retrospective analysis was undertaken to evaluate the impact of the DDAC programs on commercialization metrics.

Methods

Tracked metrics included the number of teams who consulted with the DDAC, initiated a clinical trial, formed a startup, or were successful obtaining federal small business innovation awards or venture capital. The review includes historical comparisons of the startup rates for the UW School of Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, two ITHS-affiliated institutions that have had different DDAC utilization rates.

Results

Between 2008 and 2016, the DDAC supported 161 unique project teams, 28% of which went on to form a startup. The commercialization rates for the UW School of Medicine increased significantly following integration of the DDAC into the commercialization programs offered by the UW technology transfer office.

Conclusions

A formalized partnership between preclinical consulting and the technology transfer programs provides an efficient use of limited development funds and a more in-depth vetting of the business opportunity and regulatory path to development.

Information

Type
Education
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Association for Clinical and Translational Science 2017
Figure 0

Fig. 1 Numbers of unique product development teams meeting with the Drug and Device Advisory Committee (DDAC) per year. This graphic does not include follow-on meetings with those teams or introductory meetings with the Director of Research Partnerships or Institute of Translational Health Sciences Navigator.

Figure 1

Table 1 Quantitative analysis of Drug and Device Advisory Committee (DDAC) interviews (n=17 investigators)

Figure 2

Table 2 Quantitative analysis of interview responses for commercialization summer fellowships (n=9)

Figure 3

Table 3 Support of entrepreneurial medical product teams 2008–2016 by Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) programs