SERVICES: Activate: Selected Experience
When our clients so desire, Technology Innovation Group will follow up our advisory work with a full commitment to its implementation. This may involve fundraising assistance, licensing the technology, recruiting management and directors, establishing operational and financial budgets, plans and policies, and identifying or negotiating joint venture opportunities.
The following descriptions give specific examples of the hands-on work we’ve done to create and promote the development of early stage ventures:
ODC Therapy, Inc.
Technology Innovation Group has partnered with the Baylor Health Care System to form ODC Therapy, Inc., a cancer immunotherapy company based on the conclusions of a technology commercialization assessment conducted by TIG in 2003. The mission of the company is to develop, produce and distribute customized cancer vaccines to individual patients and to monitor their immune response after treatment. In prior work, a team led by Drs. Jacques Banchereau and Karolina Palucka of the Baylor Research Institute had obtained promising results in four Phase I human clinical trials.
After an independent investment banking valuation analysis, the Baylor Health Care System invested $4 million in seed financing in July 2004. Rights have been secured to additional intellectual property identified in the TIG InnoMap™ study to enhance the Baylor Research Institute portfolio exclusively licensed to ODC . TIG co-founder Tom Turpen served as the president and CEO during the first year of operations to create and develop the new venture.
By 2005, TIG recruited experienced employees from both industry and the Institute and began working together within ODC to transfer the know-how and create the processes that will enable optimal dendritic cell therapies to be delivered to individual cancer patients. TIG personnel assisted ODC with the design, construction and validation of a proprietary manufacturing facility. Cancer vaccines will be produced to support clinical trails in compliance with current good manufacturing practices of the Food and Drug Administration and a Phase II trial to produce patient specific vaccines for late stage melanoma patients was initiated.
Management and Governance for TissueGen, Inc.
TissueGen Inc. was founded by Prof. Kevin Nelson, Ph.D. based on novel technology licensed from the University of Texas at Arlington. The inventions of Kevin and his co-workers enable new products for a variety of clinical applications based on proprietary bio-resorpable materials that combine features of tissue engineering with drug delivery.
A Technology Innovation Group management team worked closely with the scientific founder and principal scientists to guide the company through its early launch and development. They established internal controls and financial management procedures and worked to eliminate important risk factors. They renegotiated the terms of the university license and retained consulting expertise to further product development. The team negotiated two new joint ventures, one for a biodegradable vascular stent that releases an angiogenic drug, and the other for two urinary stents. They brought the company through its first seed round of equity investment and revenue-generating partnerships. Finally, the team recruited a permanent President and CEO with significant industry experience to lead the company through its next phase of growth. Two TIG prinicpals continue as board members of TissueGen to maintain continuity of leadership and help grow the company.