Cleveland Clinic Spins Off Companies Founded on New Technology
BY LAUREN UZDIENSKI, MARCH 13, 2007
Most scientists, says a recent article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, don't know how to create a product or a business to produce it. Technology transfers can help, and one particularly active program is based in the Cleveland Clinic. To guide researchers through the commercialization process, the Clinic established the CCF Innovations Unit in 2000. Programs like this one speak to the technological and, potentially, financial benefits of spinning off companies based on IP developed at the parent hospital.
New technology spun off from CCF Innovations ranges from cardio devices to diagnostics to drugs for cancer and transplant patients. Among them are two orthopedics companies. Merlot OrthopediX is in the technology development phase with a double helical bone anchor. The Clinic is the company's co-founder and majority owner and licenses the technology. OrthoMEMS is developing smart implants for spine and orthopedic applications using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and wireless technology; the Clinic holds the same roles for OrthoMEMS as it does Merlot OrthopediX. Licensing or commericalization revenue for these companies totals about $6.5 million a year.
Despite ties to the Clinic, the spinoff companies are looking ahead. Tim Moran of CSF Therapeutics, a CCF Innovations spinoff, comments that upcoming clinical trials won't be conducted at the Clinic. "We want to keep our data as clean as possible," he said, noting that studies free of entanglements will make the company more attractive to investors. One company, Cleveland BioLabs Inc., has gone public, with another planning an IPO.
CCF Innovations spins off about three companies a year; since the department's inception, 18 companies have been created. It seems the pace isn't slowing down anytime soon. Last week the Clinic received four new patents for medical devices, and new businesses to support them may not be far off.
