OTTBD News Items

5/9/12
National Institutes of Health unveils NCATS – National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
The NIH has launched a novel initiative titled “Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules” to help match researchers with a selection of compounds from pharmaceutical industry partners including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly and Company. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) will direct researchers’ attention to a pool of more than 20 valuable compounds that have already cleared several key steps in the development process, including safety testing in humans but are no longer actively pursued by the pharmaceutical company.

For the initial pilot phase NCATS will provide up to $20 million to fund two- and three-year staged, cooperative agreement research grants for pre-clinical and clinical feasibility studies. The academic research partners will own any intellectual property they discover through the research project with the right to publish the results of their work.

For more details about this program visit "Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules" or contact The UMDNJ Office of Technology Transfer and Business Development at OTTBD@umdnj.edu.

02/29/12
Biosearch Technologies Acquires Worldwide Rights to Non-FRET Probes Patents: Biosearch Technologies, Inc. (Biosearch), a leading supplier of sophisticated oligonucleotide components to the rapidly growing molecular diagnostics industry, today announced that the company has acquired worldwide rights from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) to United States Patent 6,150,097, titled "Nucleic Acid Detection Probes Having Non-FRET Fluorescence Quenching and Kits and Assays Including Such Probes," as well as counterpart patents in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan, that disclose and claim, inter alia, probes having quenchers and fluorophores that are not FRET pairs, as well as their use. In addition, Biosearch has acquired rights to sublicense the non-FRET probes patents to companies that may wish to commercialize current and future non-FRET probe-based products. See FULL PRESS RELEASE

12/13/11
Foundation Venture Capital Group a Model for Other Universities
Foundation Venture Capital Group (FVCG), an affiliate of the Foundation of UMDNJ/New Jersey Health Foundation, is the focus of the lead article in the most recent edition of the newsletter Technology Transfer Tactics/. The article describes how administrators at the University of Michigan decided to use money from their $7.8 billion endowment to fund start-up companies and turned to FVCG for advice. FVCG, which has become a model for other universities, works closely with Vince Smeraglia, director of UMDNJ's Office of Technology Transfer and Business Development, to invest exclusively in research at UMDNJ by funding new life science companies. The article quotes Smeraglia and FVCG president James Golubieski. The two explain the wisdom behind creating a venture capital fund using endowments and describe the risks and rewards of investing in early-stage technologies.

Industry Interactions

Industrial Sponsorship of your Research

Industrial Sponsorship of University research is becoming increasingly common. Such research contracts are likely to contain elements that are restrictive. While all such contracts must pass through the normal Grants and Contracts process, other divisions of the administration may become involved over certain issues. Our office can help to resolve many of these issues or can direct you to the appropriate University resource.

Here are a few issues that we may wish to negotiate with your industrial contact beforehand:

Indemnification and Hold Harmless Clauses . Are we being asked to indemnify or hold harmless the firm that is sponsoring the work against claims that might be made against UMDNJ in the performance of the work? If so the wording must conform to guidelines and be specifically approved by Risk & Claims Management.

Jurisdiction . Avoid phrases that ask that the Laws of the State of {Not New Jersey} be used in settling disputes. This is usually easy to resolve.

Publication Restrictions . The University understands the need to delay publication from time to time, for short, well-defined periods, to allow appropriate measures to be taken to protect Intellectual Property. Such clauses should rarely ask for more than a few months delay. Call the Office of Technology Transfer and Business Development for appropriate wording or ask to see our Model Contract.

Patent Rights . Most industrially sponsored research contracts will contain some language concerning ownership or licensing of patents that might result from the work. Our Model Contract contains one2acceptable version of the rights we would grant under these circumstances. Please feel free to involve The Office of Technology Transfer and Business Development in the negotiations with the company early in the process to resolve such issues.

Confidentiality. Many industrial concerns will wish to have confidentiality agreements in place before you can work with them. These agreements also protect the University. On the following pages is a typical format in the event that we wish to disclose information to a commercial firm ad wish to restrict the uses to which they may put the information. Similar mutual confidentiality agreements are possible.