Two new firms `spin-out' of University

Two new `spin-off' companies—one based on a new class of medical drugs and the other a new form of computer hardware—are being launched this week. Igx Oxford Hepatitis, a biotechnology spin-off company resulting from a collaboration between researchers at the Glycobiology Institute at the University and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, could bring hope to the millions of hepatitis sufferers world-wide. It has been created to develop a particular class of drugs known as imino-sugars, initially for the treatment of Hepatitis B and C (HBV and HCV respectively). Scientists discovered that the drug N-nonyl-deoxynojirimycin (NN-DNJ) is able to eradicate HBV in infected animals at doses which appeared to target specifically the virus without being detrimental to the animals. There are around 350 million HBV and HCV sufferers world-wide, the majority of whom will die from liver failure if left untreated. Current therapeutic options for these people are limited and problematic. If NN-DNJ proves to be as effective in humans as it has been in animals, it would herald a significant and much-needed breakthrough in anti-hepatitis therapy. IgX Oxford Hepatitis, unlike most other biotechnology start-up companies, has also been structured like a scientific consortium rather than a company where business investors reap the rewards. The major beneficiary will be the Hepatitis B Foundation, a Philadelphia-based charity set up and run by Professor Timothy Block of TJU, a company founder, and his wife Joan. The University also benefits in the form of a £350,000 research grant over two years, supporting three new research positions in the Glycobiology Institute, and facilitating the pre-clinical studies which are a prerequisite for gaining approval for clinical trials. Financial backing has come from the American biotechnology company IgX Corp., with Monsanto contributing to the patent estate. Professor Raymond Dwek, founder of Oxford GlycoSciences, now a successful, publicly quoted biotechnology company, and Professor Baruch Blumberg, the Nobel Laureate who first discovered HBV and a former Master of Balliol College, are two of the company directors. `This new drug has a completely novel therapeutic angle for the treatment of HBV and HCV,' said Professor Dwek. `I am also delighted that the Hepatitis B Foundation is going to benefit most from the company. This shows the deep ethical commitment we all share in developing spin-off technologies from academic research.' Embedded Solutions Ltd. draws on the work of Mr Ian Page, Reader in Computing Science, and his co-workers in the Hardware Design Group within the University's Computing Laboratory. Their research has led to the development of a significant new design tool, known as Handel-C, which enables a software engineer to design chip hardware. The architecture of computer chips can be modified by software to suit the task in hand. Embedded Solutions has created, and now markets, the commercial version. The company has been re-financed with capital from Richard Farleigh, a private investor in the high-tech sector. Equity is held by the investor and senior executives of Embedded Solutions Ltd., as well as by the University. The spin-off arrangements were managed by Isis Innovation, the University's technology transfer company. Embedded Solutions Ltd. is the fourth University spin-out managed by Isis this year. Opsys Limited, a spin-off company launched earlier this year to develop twenty-first-century display technology, has appointed Sir John Fairclough, Director of Psion PLC, and Chairman of Rothschild Ventures and the Prince of Wales Innovation Initiative, as Chairman. Sir John has served on the main Board of IBM UK, and was Chairman of IBM UK Laboratories until 1986, when he became Chief Scientific Adviser to the Cabinet Office. His three-year appointment comes as the company finishes raising more than £600,000 to fund the expansion of its current programme of sponsored research into new families of light-emitting compounds which could be a critical step on the road to paper thin, flexible, and cheap displays for computers, phones, car dashboards, advertising hoardings, and sales machines (see Gazette 4467, page 861).