Another Gazette story a few days back....
Medical test jells for LR startup, Acetaminophen ODs are flagged
By Michael Lipkin
One of the more interesting quotes I found in this story was this..... (meaning UAMS Bioventures was of little help for them....
"BioVentures patents UAMS discoveries and usually finds entrepreneurs interested in the technology to run the newly formed companies. But Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics was founded by James and by Drs. Dean Roberts and Jack Hinson, both at UAMS.
Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics “is absolutely atypical,” Douglas said. “They haven’t gone outside to raise private money or use consultants. They’ve done it all using their minds and their reputations. It’s a glorified research project.”
The company also has been assisted by the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Commission.
Running the company essentially like an academic laboratory felt natural, James said.
“We could have tried private investors, but I think people in academics aren’t used to thinking that way,” James said. “We don’t think in terms of a business model.”
Translation...if we go the research park, academically run, (Bioventures) route...we loose ALL control of our business model....
Just something for you to think about when the Mayor ask you to vote for his 22 million $todola MEGA tax increase to build a park with "maybe - futuristic" jobs...that in the end the guys who start them loose ALL control over them....
..you should tell him and Bioventures what these guys told them..."Thanks, but no thanks"...
As said before still working on how to make it possible for you to upload pdfs...
-Otherwise here is the whole story...on the jump...
Further note....check out the economist link referred to in the previous post
Further note....check out the economist link referred to in the previous post
Medical test jells for LR startup, Acetaminophen ODs are flagged
By Michael Lipkin
LITTLE ROCK -- LITTLE ROCK — Overdoses of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in some over-the-counter pain relievers such as Tylenol, are the leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States, accounting for about 500 deaths per year, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
To lower that number, a Little Rock biomedical startup is working on a test that would be more precise than existing methods of acetaminophen-overdose detection.
Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics LLC, which is developing a commercial strip similar to those used in pregnancy tests, received its third federal grant, it announced Wednesday.
Current tests look for elevated levels of acetaminophen in the blood, which can dissipate in one or two days. Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics’ test would be accurate up to seven days after the overdose by detecting protein markers.
As the liver breaks down the acetaminophen, byproducts of the drug bind to proteins in the liver, creating the markers. If a patient overdoses, the liver cells will rupture, spreading the proteins throughout the body. Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics’ test looks for these markers.
Acute liver failure can cause death in an adult in a matter of days after taking at least 14 extra-strength pills containing acetaminophen, the FDA says. If the overdose is detected soon enough, doctors can administer an antidote.
Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics is part of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ BioVentures business-incubator program, which creates Arkansas-based companies with UAMS patents and helps them find funding.
The three-year National Institutes of Health grant of $1.69 million will allow Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics to develop the test strips, which will react to droplets of blood and diagnose a patient within 20 minutes.
Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics expects to send the strips to liver-failure treatment centers across the country by the end of 2012 for testing. If tests are successful, the next step would be FDA approval, said Dr. Laura James, the company’s co-founder and chief medical officer, and a professor of pediatrics at UAMS.
Dr. Michael Douglas, director of BioVentures and a professor of biochemistry and microbiology at UAMS, said, “This is a device that should be in every emergency room and family doc-in-the-box clinics,”
BioVentures patents UAMS discoveries and usually finds entrepreneurs interested in the technology to run the newly formed companies. But Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics was founded by James and by Drs. Dean Roberts and Jack Hinson, both at UAMS.
Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics “is absolutely atypical,” Douglas said. “They haven’t gone outside to raise private money or use consultants. They’ve done it all using their minds and their reputations. It’s a glorified research project.”
The company also has been assisted by the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Commission.
Running the company essentially like an academic laboratory felt natural, James said.
“We could have tried private investors, but I think people in academics aren’t used to thinking that way,” James said. “We don’t think in terms of a business model.”
The “ideal goal” for Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics is to manufacture and distribute the devices from Arkansas, Douglas said, though it may also pursue licensing deals. At that point, the founders will probably need to look for outside assistance.
“They will need someone who understands the process of building these companies,” he said.
Private investment in biotech companies has been relatively strong during the economic downturn, Douglas said. But much of it has focused on software and medical devices, not the therapeutics and vaccines that UAMS and BioVentures specialize in.
Part of that is due to the quicker return on investment in hardware, such as prosthetics, and software, according to Adam Clark, a biomedical research and development expert at the Milken Institute in California.
“Development of new therapeutics takes about 15 years on average,” Clark said.
However, Douglas said, Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics may not have a problem attracting private funding when its grants run out because by then it will have made significant progress toward testing and FDA approval.
“Once there’s enough risk taken out of it,” Douglas said, “you’ll see some money coming in.”
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Thanks for your interest in Arkansas Online
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