Wednesday, September 27, 2000
Children's to profit
Canadian firm pays for rights to medicine
By Tim Bonfield
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A Canadian company has agreed to pay at least $589,000 to Cincinnati's Children's Hospital Research Foundation for rights to develop a line of medications that could be used to treat colon cancer and other diseases.
The licensing deal is the biggest to flow from research conducted at Children's Hospital Medical Center in at least four years. If further research lives up to initial hopes, the product could be among the institution's most influential discoveries, officials said.
“We consider this to be a platform technology, leading to not just one product but possibly several,” said Dr. Joseph Fondacaro, director of the foundation's office of technology transfer.
On Monday, Axcan Pharma Inc., based in Quebec, announced it has obtained the licensing rights to a series of sulfated derivatives of ursodeoxycholic acid compounds patented by the Children's Hospital Research Foundation.
The compounds were discovered by Dr. Kenneth Setchell, a worldwide expert on bile acids and liver disease.
The research leading to the agreement began about five years ago as part of an effort to prevent a type of liver failure that commonly occurs when children (and adults) depend on IV feedings.
In many cases, IV feeding results in a sharp decline in bile acids moving through the digestive system, which in turn causes the liver to shut down.
In animal testing, Dr. Setchell has shown that adding a certain type of bile acid to an IV feeding solution can help reactivate the liver.
While this discovery by itself could help many patients, Dr. Setchell also has shown that these modified bile acids can reach the colon — which normally does not occur. In theory, these acids may help re duce or prevent polyps that lead to colon cancer.
Colorectal cancer is the nation's fourth most common type of cancer, with 130,000 new cases and 56,300 deaths a year, according to the American Cancer Society.
For the initial product rights, Axcan will pay the foundation $589,000. If a polyp-reducing effect can be proven in animal testing, the foundation would get another $425,000. If a product passes human clinical trials and reaches market, the foundation would collect further royalties and bonus payments.
If all goes well, SUDCA medications could be used for treating liver failure within two to four years. Human testing for possible colon cancer applications could begin within three years.
It would likely take another five years for the product to reach market, Dr. Fondacaro said.
The Children's Hospital Research Foundation, launched in 1931, employs about 300 full-time and part-time faculty members.
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