Two University researchers recently obtained exclusive commercial rights to a biotech startup company created to support and commercialize their research in preventing the growth of solid tumors.
Since the 1990s, Pharmacology Prof. Kevin Lynch and his research partner, Chemistry Prof. Timothy Macdonald have been researching lysophosphatidic acid, a chemical that “promotes the growth of blood vessels, the sprouting of new capillaries,” Lynch said.
This characteristic of LPA is especially pertinent to cancer research.
“When solid tumors grow, they must attract blood vessels, so no blood supply [means that a] tumor will die at a very small size or won’t grow,” Lynch said. He explained that an anti-cancer strategy to block the growth of blood vessels to the tumor has been considered for a long time.
Lynch said the company, Catena Pharmaceuticals Inc., wants to “develop drugs that interrupt LPA signaling in the body.” These drugs would “block [LPA’s] synthesis and block the ability of cells to sense LPA,” he explained.
Lynch and Macdonald accumulated a number of molecules that either block or mimic LPA synthesizing, then considered how those molecules could be used in a clinical setting, Lynch said.
“It was this year that we got together with the venture capital group to form Catena to do that,” he said, noting also that “the most important thing is that this venture is going to allow us to establish whether LPA signaling is a valid therapeutic target.”
In addition to establishing the company, the two scientists have submitted numerous patent applications for their research on lysophosphatidic acid during the past 10 years.
This patent is the first to grant commercial rights to Catena, allowing the researchers to reproduce and sell their clinical product through their corporation, rather than granting all rights solely to the University, said Marie Kerbeshian, associate director of the University’s Patent Foundation.
“At U.Va. if faculty members come up with an invention that is owned by the University, and they send it over to our office to manage,” Kerbeshian said. “We evaluate them and look for companies interested in taking the technology.”
Lynch noted that, in the case of Catena, the University has been granted exclusive rights only to the academic information produced by his and Macdonald’s research.
The University currently has three patents that relate to Catena’s research “on actual formula of the drug, on chemical synthetic pathways to make the drug and on the method of using it to treat diseases,” Kerbeshian said.
Looking optimistically into the future, “the exciting thing is that researchers will get to see the basic science work here at U.Va. actually turn into products and help people,” Kerbeshian predicted.
This treatment could potentially help many people, including cancer patients — particularly those with ovarian cancer — and also patients with pulmonary fibrosis and neuropathic pain, Lynch said.
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