University's cancer drug windfall

Published on Wednesday 26 July 2006 01:06

A SCOTTISH university is in line for a multi-million-pound windfall after a cancer drug it pioneered was licensed for sale in the United States.

Strathclyde University has already earned about 6 million in royalties thanks to the 6S-Leucovorin drug, which is currently only available in Europe.

The drug is used in the treatment of colorectal cancers and is also given to patients following chemotherapy. It has now been licensed to Targent Inc and acquired by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, which aims to distribute it across North America.

A statement released by the university yesterday said the deal will help Strathclyde to "increase its already significant royalty income in relation to the drug".

Dr Matt Carpenter, of the university's research and consultancy services, said: "We're delighted to have completed the deal and this is a great example of Scottish technology being used to help patients across the world.

"Strathclyde has earned a worldwide reputation not only for excellence in academic research and innovation which benefits society, but also for commercially-relevant research to assist companies in achieving market leadership."

The 6S-Leucovorin drug was created by Strathclyde professors Hamish Wood and Colin Suckling in the early 1980s.

Leucovorin was an established drug made from folic acid, but it contained molecules which were not biologically active and could be harmful.

As regulators called for purer drugs, the Strathclyde academics recognised the scientific challenge and began to develop a pure form of Leucovorin.

A patent for the drug, and the process used to make it, was filed in 1986.

Dr Carpenter described the drug as "one of our most successful technologies to date".

In all, the university has generated 40 million in royalty income from commercialisation activities, making Strathclyde one of the UK's top ten university earners in patent income. Forty spin-out companies have been created from Strathclyde research and technology, and the Cabinet Office of Science and Technology has cited the university as one of the most successful in the UK for working with industry.

The university agrees over 400 research contracts every year with external organisations and much of its 23 million annual research income comes from commercial sources.

Raising funds from commercial sources through research projects is becoming even more important for Scotland's universities at a time when the spending power of their English counterparts is increasing.

South of the Border, universities are allowed to charge their students up to 3,000 a year in top-up tuition fees, but the Scottish Executive has refused to follow suit. A major debate is now taking place on the future of higher education funding in Scotland.