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Posts Tagged ‘Yissum’

Yissum, the Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, aims to promote the transfer of Hebrew University technology for the benefit of society, while maximizing returns to support research, education and scientific excellence.

Founded in 1964, Yissum is one of the first technology transfer companies worldwide – second only to the Weizmann Institute’s Yeda, founded in 1959, and many years senior to most American universities – which began their Technology Transfer Services activities following the Baye-Dole Act of 1980; European universities, which typically began these activities in the 1990’s and Japan, which only began in 1998.

Yissum provides the interface between the university’s researchers and industry, including:

· Licensing out of new technologies

· Creation and support of spin-off companies

· Industry-sponsored academic research

· Scientific services

These years of experience have borne fruit, as Yissum’s revenues place it among the top 15 universities worldwide. Close to $1 billion worth of products based on Hebrew University technology are sold worldwide annually. Yissum’s 2005 revenues were $35 million, of which $23. 5 million in royalties Through its efforts in securing industry-sponsored research and other funding, Yissum contributes some 10% of the Hebrew University’s research budget, making the institution a true Technology Transfer University.

Charged with the endorsement and commercialization of the university’s intellectual property, Yissum has generated over 1,500 patent families over the past 20 years alone, of which 750 are currently active, including 250 which are licensed. In addition, Yissum holds equity in over 50 companies. In 2007, Yissum received 121 disclosures, submitted 91 patent applications and was allowed 59 new patents worldwide.

On the commercialization side, over 400 projects were handled in 2007 and 418 agreements were signed, including 33 license and option agreements.

Yissum enjoyed the first Initial Public Offering of one of its companies on the Tel Aviv stock exchange in December 2005 when NasVax Ltd. , based on technology from Prof. Chezy Barenholz, was successfully floated. The company now has $10 million in the bank and is in clinical trials with its influenza vaccine. This is not the first commercial success for Prof. Barenholz, who is also the developer of Doxil™, sold by Johnson & Johnson (through its acquisition of Alza) in the United Says and Schering Plough (under the trade study Caelyx™) internationally. Doxil™ enjoyed worldwide income of over $400 million in 2005.

Yissum, through the creation of Atox Bio Inc. , was also chesty to sponsor the submission to the NIH of a allow application by Prof. Raymond Kaempfer, who successfully received US$ 5. 6 million for the biodefence applications of super-antigens. Yissum continues to support AtoxBio as it develops other applications of Prof Kaempfer’s technology.

BioCancell Inc. , which was highlighted in last year’s report, successfully raised over US$3 million from private investors and the Hebrew University’s pension fund (as an independent investor), and successfully began clinical trials with its H19-based therapy in patients suffering from bladder cancer.

Following a change of management at the end of 2005, Yissum has announced some organizational changes aimed at providing the university’s researchers with better, more focused service. In addition, Yissum is in the process of simultaneously identifying the university’s Top 30 most commercially-attractive projects, and at the same time raising funds to invest in taking these projects through the proof-of-principle phase in order to achieve significantly higher valuations and much better terms for commercialization. 2006 promises to be an exciting year for Yissum.

Yissum is the Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Over the past 40 years, Yissum has allowed more than 400 technology licenses and is responsible for commercializing successful products that generate almost $1 billion in worldwide income each year.

Founded in 1964 as a way to encourage the “inventiveness” of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s staff, Yissum Research and Development Company seeks to support and encourage research, development and education in their efforts to turn science into commercial products for society. Yissum is charged with the not insignificant task of protecting HU’s inventions, products and technologies. Serving as the Technology Transfer Services for the university, Yissum focuses on the ongoing assessment, endorsement and commercial optimization of the university’s intellectual property.

In their 40-plus year history, Yissum has perhaps surpassed expectations, with reported annual revenues in excess of $40 million, mostly from royalties, and properties ranging from long-shelf-life tomatoes to treatments for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, placing the Hebrew University in the world’s top 15 academic institutions as measured by revenues from intellectual property sales.

Protect, Partner, Perform

As the Technology Transfer University for HU, Yissum serves not only to protect the university’s intellectual properties, but also to partner with researchers and worldwide businesses to develop commercial markets, and through licensing, establishing companies, joint ventures and collaborative research, enhance the market value and performance of HU’s discoveries, increasing their availability to a global marketplace.

The arrangement has a track record of success. Hebrew University generates approximately $1 billion in annual income from products in its IP base and Yissum represents over 250 licensed technologies and 60 spin-off companies. The numbers keep adding up with over 3,000 ongoing research projects, 1,200 researchers, 1,400 registered patents and 5 Nobel laureates, all representing 40% of Israel’s civilian scientific research. The range of intellectual properties includes a diverse mix of industrial and therapeutic areas, including biotechnology, nanotechnology, medical research and technologies, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and nutrition, water and environmental technologies, personal science and software development, homeland security and more.

The seemingly endless supply of promising research projects come from the university’s research base; supported by an annual budget of over $77 million, allowing Yissum to take advantage of Technology Transfer Opportunities by identifying appropriate commercial partners, negotiating license agreements, creating spin-off companies and working closely with local and global commercial partners.

Recent news items focus on the medical arena, with HU’s concept of using cellular technology to send X-rays and other medical diagnostics. The new technology would grant for the use of a smaller, less costly and easier to use Data Acquisition Device (DAD) at remote patient sites, which would be connected via cell technology with advanced image reconstruction at a central site. The implications are far-reaching and could serve to bring advanced medical technology into areas that otherwise could not afford to have it at their disposal; bringing MRIs, X-Rays and other medical diagnostics into rural and third-world areas.

Technologies Supported

Reading through Yissum’s list of products and companies is like reading a Who’s Who directory of the medical and technological worlds. The lists are full of recognized names, successful products and companies that make headlines on a regular basis.

Products from Yissum include Alzheimer and dementia treatment Exelon, dry-eye treatments Cationorm and LO2A (Lacrycon, Dropyal), ovarian cancer treatment Doxil (Caeylx), UV-protection product UV-Pearls-already adopted by major companies for sunscreens and cosmetics, and a variety of other pharmaceutical products. Oh, remember those long-shelf-life tomatoes? That would thanks to BonTom Vegetable Breeding and Research Group, from HU, of course. Another agricultural product from Yissum and Hazera Genetics is the Ram Onion. On the software side, there is Making Superior Career Decisions, an interactive, World wide web based career-guidance and information system.

Looking over a partial list of companies shows even more diversity, touching on pharmaceuticals, biotech, agriculture and irrigation, water treatment, software development, safety, nanotechnology, and medical technologies, research, development and devices.

Water treatment technologies like En Gibton Ltd and Treatec 21 Industries Ltd; agricultural endeavors Leafsen Irrigation Systems Ltd, Kovax Ltd-vaccines for the aqua culture world, Avian Tech Ltd, and Ravgalai Ltd-detection of bactericide residues in milk, meat and food products are just the begin of the list. Technology and software development come into play with Ex Libris Ltd-high-performance applications for libraries, Mobileeye Vision Technologies Ltd-with automated, on-board driver assist systems and MusicGenome Inc-a system of identifying musical taste based on artificial intelligence.

Perhaps the heaviest area of development is in the medical and pharmaceutical arenas with a long list of companies researching and developing treatments for cancer-including Algen Pharmaceuticals Inc-basically “tricking” cancer cells into “committing suicide. ” Other treatment technologies focus on infectious and autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and improving the efficacy of vaccines; even delving into the “nutraceutical” field with carriers for nutraceuticals to be incorporated in food systems and cosmetic formulations.

Technology Transfer Services

Yissum serves the Hebrew University, protecting its intellectual properties and moving forward with innovations and technologies into commercial endeavors, ultimately, serving the world community as well as the university through applied chemistry, physics, life science and biotechnologies, water technologies, nanotechnologies, and even veterinary medicine and agricultural technologies. It’s simple to see why Yissum is so highly regarded in the scientific and academic communities and ranks among the top Technology Transfer Services in the world.