The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has executed the first Carolina express license agreement with UNC spinout Synereca Pharmaceuticals, Inc., also of Chapel Hill. The Carolina express license is a standard license agreement created by the University to foster more spinouts from academic research conducted on campus. (For an in-depth article on the Carolina express license, see the article in Technology Transfer Tactics, January 2010.) “We expect that Synereca is the first of many spinout companies from Carolina research that will use the Carolina express license,” says Cathy Innes, director of the University’s Office of Technology Development. Interested spinouts are prequalified to satisfy funding, business strategy, and management experience thresholds. “The response has been exceptionally positive across the academic technology transfer community as well as from our own faculty,” Innes says.
Under the agreement, Synereca will license inventions resulting from research conducted by Scott F. Singleton, PhD, associate professor in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Singleton’s research addresses bacterial resistance to current antibiotics. Synereca aims to develop orally active drugs that sustain the efficacy of existing antibiotics by inhibiting the bacterial enzyme RecA — a key factor in bacterial DNA repair and in the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance. Synereca’s prototype RecA inhibitors potentiate the killing of a variety of bacteria by a range of antibiotics, including a fluoroquinolone (ciprofloxacin) and penicillin (ampicillin) — representatives of antibiotic classes with combined annual sales exceeding $10 billion.
W. Bennett Love, vice president for business operations at Synereca, says the Carolina express license reflects a well-conceived approach. “The qualification standards needed from a spinout company to satisfy the licensee requirements, combined with diligence commitments on the company’s part, insure that the university’s interests are well protected,” he says. “Yet the milestone parameters do not place an undue economic burden on the spinout company early in its development — the time when spinouts can least afford the cash drain. Additionally, having a set of standard terms in the agreement will materially shorten the time from company concept to realization.”
Sources: Triangle Business Journal and Synereca