[Ip-health] UBC Global Access Agreement with iCo Therapeutics Offers Oral Drug to Help Millions in Developing World

[Matt Price]

http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2008/mr-08-054.html

UBC Global Access Agreement with iCo Therapeutics Offers Oral Drug to
Help Millions in Developing World

The University of British Columbia today announced its first
technology licensing agreement using new global access principles that
encourage delivery of UBC research discoveries to the developing
world.

The agreement will allow Vancouver-based iCo Therapeutics to
commercialize an oral formulation of the drug Amphotericin B that was
developed by Drs. Kishor and Ellen Wasan at UBC's Wasan Lab. In return
for the worldwide right to develop and sell Oral AMP B in the
developed world as a treatment for blood-borne fungal infections, iCo
Therapeutics will also ensure availability and accessibility of a
suitable formulation to countries in the developing world to treat
Leishmaniasis through subsidized pricing.

"A fundamental aim of UBC's global access principles is to identify
UBC technologies with an application to the developing world," says
UBC President Stephen Toope. "This agreement with iCo Therapeutics
will ensure UBC research is available and accessible in developing
nations."

"One of the benefits of Oral Amp B is that it has demonstrated minimal
kidney toxicity," said Kishor M.Wasan, Distinguished University
Scholar Prof. and Chair, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UBC. "The
fact that it is taken orally, avoids the need for a series of
injections, a particular problem in the developing world."

Leishmaniasis afflicts 12 million people worldwide, mainly in India,
Nepal, Bangladesh, Sudan and Brazil. Every year, two million new cases
occur. The disease is caused by a parasite transmitted by the bite of
a sandfly and is characterized by fever, anemia and weight loss. If
left untreated, the fatality rate in developing countries can be as
high as 100 per cent within two years, according to the World Health
Organization.

Blood-borne fungal infections can weaken and kill people whose immune
systems have been compromised. It is estimated that fungal infections
may account for up to 30 per cent of deaths in immunocompromised
individuals, particularly organ transplant recipients and patients
with cancer, AIDS and diabetes.

In 2007, UBC became the first university in Canada to develop a
strategy for enhancing global access to its technologies. UBC's
University-Industry Liaison Office and the UBC Chapter of the student
group Universities Allied for Essential Medicines worked to formalize
the practice of developing technologies consistent with the needs and
interests of the developing world.

More information on UBC's global access principles: www.uilo.ubc.ca/global.asp.