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Global biotech company Biogen and Alachua-based UF startup AGTC announced a collaboration to develop gene-based therapies for multiple ophthalmic diseases. Biogen will make an upfront payment of $124 million to AGTC, which will be eligible to receive further upfront and milestone payments exceeding $1 billion. This is the first billion-dollar deal for a startup company based on research developed at the University of Florida. The collaboration will focus on the development of a portfolio of AGTC’s therapeutic programs, including a clinical-stage candidate and a pre-clinical candidate for orphan diseases of the retina that can lead to blindness in children and adults. Pictured above, AGTC CEO Sue Washer won the S. Clark Butler Entrepreneur of the Year award, presented by UF President Kent Fuchs at the annual Celebration of Innovation startup showcase. The company also recently launched a YouTube channel; learn more about AGTC's gene therapies and see presentations here.
Nearly 300 investors, entrepreneurs and other professionals from across the country attended this year's Celebration of Innovation startup showcase. Read more about the event in the Gainesville Sun. Be sure to register early for next year's showcase, March 8, 2016, and take advantage of the special $59 early-bird rate. The University of Florida ranks among the nation's leaders at transferring world-class research to partners who turn these discoveries into commercial products that make the world a better place. If you are an investor, entrepreneur or other interested party who has the resources needed to partner with us, we hope you will join us at A Celebration of Innovation. Follow @ufotl on Twitter or Facebook to hear the latest announcements about presenting companies and expert panelists.
The UF Office of Technology Licensing helped to launch 16 startup companies based on UF research discoveries in fiscal year 2013. According to statistics recently released by the Association of University Technology Managers as part of its annual licensing survey, UF ranked sixth in the nation, among such institutions as the University of California and Texas systems. Breaking into the top ten in three categories in the survey, UF ranked eighth for US patents issued (107) and seventh for licenses and options completed with companies commercializing researchers’ discoveries (140). That statistic includes agreements completed by UF's Office of Technology Licensing and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. These inventions are the result of a record $702 million in research conducted at UF. In life sciences alone, UF also ranked among the top universities in the nation in a recent Nature article: 11th for top tech transfer office output in the life sciences, ninth for number of life science licenses and options executed, 15th for life science licensing income, sixth for life science startup activity, and 13th for NIH funding/number of awards. UF ranked 13th in international patent applications, according to a World International Patent Organization report published in Inside Higher Ed.
With the close of the Spring session, the Empowering Women in Tech Startups (Ewits) program reached a milestone: Almost 200 women have gained entrepreneurial skills and built confidence since the program launched in 2012. Read more about the spring investor pitch on the Ewits blog. The program also launched a new website that can accept donations; you can help expand Ewits to 50 cities in 50 months. Consider yourself invited to the next session of Ewits in Gainesville: Sign up for the waiting list so you'll know as soon as we announce dates.
Xortx, a startup based on UF research, is participating in a new funding program established under a JOBS Act exemption that enables early-stage companies to publicly raise funds through general solicitation of accredited investors. The consortium of startups in the beta launch also includes companies from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Colorado. Xortx is developing pioneering, first-to-market therapeutics that target unmet medical needs caused by improper uric acid metabolism in orphan diseases, a $2.3 billion market annually.To learn more about this opportunity, visit the consortium's offerings on HealthiosXchange and Angel List, and see this press release.
The annual BioFLorida Celebration of Biotechnology at Progress Park in Alachua grew to 94 tables from 80 last year to house the show's biotech companies and businesses offering lab equipment, patent attorneys and construction services. Nearby, work continued to prepare sites for construction of more lab and office space for growing companies. Statewide, the industry has grown 93 percent in six years.
Based on UF technology that manages data from clinical trials, contract research organization Clinipace Worldwide closed on $50 million in new financing to propel its ambitions for further acquisitions.
For her work founding the Empowering Women in Technology Startups Program, OTL Associate Director Jane Muir won a Spirit of Gainesville award from The Gainesville Sun and a Woman of Distinction award from the Girl Scouts of Gateway Council.
UF startup ViewRay, which markets the only MRI radiation therapy system that images and treats patients simultaneously, has installed its MRIdian machine in the hospital charged with caring for the Pope,
UF materials science and engineering professor Anthony Brennan found inspiration in the bacteria-resistant texture of sharkskin, which led to the founding of the startup Sharklet Technologies.
Sister companies based on UF vapor-sensing technologies, HyGreen and Xhale announced major business developments this year. HyGreen, which spun out of Xhale, will distribute its handwash monitoring system to more than 500 hospitals in Africa. HyGreen also began working with US hospitals to promote good hygiene among healthcare workers in the wake of the Ebola threat. Xhale launched its SMART Softgels for clinical research, Self-Monitoring and Reporting Therapeutics that use markers in a patient's breath to determine whether clinical trial participants are taking medications.
Advanced fPAT Imaging Inc., a medical-device company commercializing a breast-imaging system developed at UF, announced that its JBI-360 breast-imaging system was able to track the metabolic effects of chemotherapy on a breast tumor during treatment. THe JBI-360 uses functional photoacoustic tomography to create maps of key physiological markers within the breast.
Surfplasma, a startup commercializing a UF-developed plasma energy surface sanitizer, made it into the Sweet Sixteen Round for the sixth annual $50,000 Cade Museum Prize honoring early-stage inventors and entrepreneurs in Florida. Surfplasma's sanitizer destroys viruses, bacteria and fungi in indoor environments.
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