download - Wellcome Trust

48 | TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust seeks to maximise the impact of research
innovations on health by facilitating their development to a point at which they can be
further developed by the market.
Development work on vaccines for pandemic flu, tuberculosis and
leishmaniasis was supported this year, alongside innovative research on
biocompatible materials for cartilage repair and production of blood
substitutes from human stem cells. In addition, a £45 million initiative in
medical engineering was launched to drive forward the development of
new products.
Translation Awards support a diverse
array of technologies, covering the
physical sciences and mathematics as
well as biology; they are available to both
academic institutions and early-stage
companies. Of 43 full applications
received during 2007/08, 37 per cent
were successful. The mean value of
awards was £608 000 (range £25 000–
1.6m) and the average duration was 30
months (range 9–42 months). Funding
decisions are generally made within three
to four months.
Projects funded address a wide range of
potential applications, including
therapeutics, vaccines, diagnostics,
medical devices and enabling
technologies.
CellMedica Ltd received funding to
develop a virus-specific T-cell therapy for
immunosuppressed patients. In surgery,
an award to Orthox Ltd is supporting
work on a novel approach for repair of
cartilage tears within knee joints using a
bioresorbable, load-bearing cartilage
implant, while Morgan Alexander and
colleagues at the University of
Nottingham are using high-throughput
microarrays to identify polymers resistant
to bacterial colonisation, to prevent
biofilm formation.
In veterinary medicine, Andrew Waller
and colleagues at the Animal Health Trust
were awarded funding to develop a
point-of-care test for horses infected with
Streptococcus equi (the cause of
‘strangles’).
Several awards reflected the needs of
developing countries. Paul Kaye and
colleagues at the University of York, for
example, are developing a therapeutic
T-cell-based vaccine for human visceral
leishmaniasis, while Cambridge
Optronics Ltd is working on a low-cost
compact microscope for routine
diagnostic use in resource-poor settings.
Strategic Translation Awards are
designed to support translational
research in areas of key importance to
the Wellcome Trust. Twenty-two
applications have been considered to
date (mean value £3.3m, range
£1m–8.6m), in diagnostics, vaccines,
regenerative medicine, genotyping
technology, medical engineering and
drug discovery.
Seven new projects in academic
institutions and companies were taken
forward this year. These included
research on vaccines against
tuberculosis (Helen McShane, University
of Oxford) and pandemic influenza (Dan
Henderson, PaxVax, Inc.), as well as
antiviral drugs for dengue fever (Alex
Matter, Novartis Institute for Tropical
Diseases). Mike Stratton and Andy
Futreal, leaders of the Cancer Genome
Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger
Institute, are working with colleagues in
the USA on high-throughput screening
and genotyping techniques to identify
drug-sensitising genotypes in human
cancer cells.
Other notable awards covered the
possible use of human embryonic stem
cells to generate red blood cell
concentrates for blood transfusion and
an innovative bacteriophage-based
approach to treat Staphylococcus
aureus and MRSA.
The £91m Seeding Drug Discovery
initiative, launched in 2005, has so far
made 17 awards over four rounds of
funding (mean value £3m; range
£1.3m–5.0m). In 2007/08, seven awards
were made for drug discovery programmes
in therapeutic areas spanning sepsis,
malaria, bacterial infections, cardiovascular
disease and degenerative central
nervous system disorders.
During the year, a new £45m initiative in
medical engineering was launched in
partnership with the Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council. It
aims to support the development of
centres of excellence integrating
medicine with the physical sciences,
mathematics and engineering to foster a
culture of innovation and product
development in areas of unmet medical
need. Final funding decisions will be
made in 2008/09.
Several companies that received support
through Translation Awards for validation
of their technologies have had success in
raising further funds, including the start-up
companies Population Genetics
Technologies Ltd, Aircraft Medical Ltd,
Achaogen, Inc. and CardioDigital Ltd.
Overall, companies and projects funded
through Technology Transfer have raised
over £273m in third-party support to date.