UBC Innovation is Advanced by the Centre for Drug Research and Development and Licensed by Global Healthcare Company

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) today announced that Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, has licensed an innovative drug-delivery platform technology invented by UBC researcher, Pieter Cullis. This transaction represents the first successful licensing agreement of a technology jointly developed between a UBC researcher and the full drug development platform available at CDRD.

“This technology would never have been developed without CDRD. The remarkable expertise and dedication of CDRD personnel took a project that was little more than a good idea to a fully developed product with demonstrable clinical potential”

“This technology can be applied to a wide variety of therapeutics, and allows drugs that cannot usually be loaded to be delivered via liposomal nanoparticle (LNP) technology. LNP delivery can enhance drug potency and reduce toxic side effects. The current focus is on anti-cancer compounds, but the platform could be applied to many other therapeutic areas,” said Dr. Pieter Cullis, Director, NanoMedicines Research Group, UBC.

“This technology would never have been developed without CDRD. The remarkable expertise and dedication of CDRD personnel took a project that was little more than a good idea to a fully developed product with demonstrable clinical potential,” added Dr. Cullis.

“This licensing agreement further validates the successful collaboration model at CDRD, where we can provide drug development knowledge, technical infrastructure, commercialization expertise, and funding for researchers across Canada so they can carry out critical experiments to further advance their discoveries into new therapeutics,” said Karimah Es Sabar, Senior Vice President, Business and Strategic Affairs for CDRD. “CDRD is delighted to have enabled a commercialization pathway for this technology through a licensing agreement with Covidien,” added Ms. Es Sabar.

After the initial discovery at UBC, the Cullis research project was transferred to CDRD for further preclinical advancement and development, and received funding support from CDRD through the “Pfizer-CDRD Innovation Fund,” which was created to fast-track the commercialization of academic research projects into high-value medicines. CDRD team members performed analytical work, scale up of drug derivatives, formulation, physical and chemical stability studies and ADME/tox studies. CDRD also created a technology dossier to be used for marketing the innovation to interested companies. Following completion of this work, the University-Industry Liaison Office (UILO) at UBC was able to negotiate the licensing agreement with Covidien.

About CDRD

The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) (www.cdrd.ca) provides drug development expertise and infrastructure to enable researchers from leading academic and health research institutions to advance promising, early-stage drug candidates. CDRD combines its drug development platform with a commercial arm, which licenses technologies from affiliated institutions and establishes working collaborations with other biotech and lifesciences companies. The Government of Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence program has recognized CDRD as a Centre of Excellence in Commercialization in Research (CECR).

About the University of British Columbia (UBC)

The University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the 40 best universities of the world. Surrounded by the beauty of the Canadian West, UBC embraces bold new ways of thinking that attract exceptional students and faculty. It is a place where innovative ideas are nurtured in a globally connected research community, providing unparalleled opportunities to learn, discover and contribute in one’s own way. UBC is a place of mind.