House Committee on Public Health April 28, 2015
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House Committee on Public Health April 28, 2015 Product Development Research Program Wayne Roberts Chief Executive Officer Updated 4-27-15 Table of Contents 1. Constitutional and Statutory Mission (page 1) 2. CPRIT’s Product Development Research Program is Essential to its Mission (page 3) 3. CPRIT’s Product Development Peer Review Process (page 5) 4. Applicant Pedigrees (page 7) 5. CPRIT Product Development Research Program (page 9) 6. Summary of CPRIT Product Development Research Contracts (page 11) 7. Grant Connections to Texas Academic Institutions (page 17) 8. CPRIT Product Development Review Council Biographies (page 19) 9. Questions? (page 49) This page left intentionally blank. Texas Constitution, Article 3 (Proposition 15, November 6, 2007) Sec. 67. CANCER PREVENTION AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF TEXAS. (a) The legislature shall establish the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to: (1) make grants to provide funds to public or private persons to implement the Texas Cancer Plan, and to institutions of learning and to advanced medical research facilities and collaborations in this state for: (A) research into the causes of and cures for all forms of cancer in humans; (B) facilities for use in research into the causes of and cures for cancer; and (C) research, including translational research, to develop therapies, protocols, medical pharmaceuticals, or procedures for the cure or substantial mitigation of all types of cancer in humans; (2) support institutions of learning and advanced medical research facilities and collaborations in this state in all stages in the process of finding the causes of all types of cancer in humans and developing cures, from laboratory research to clinical trials and including programs to address the problem of access to advanced cancer treatment; and (3) establish the appropriate standards and oversight bodies to ensure the proper use of funds authorized under this provision for cancer research and facilities development. 1 Texas Health & Safety Code, Section 102.002 House Bill 14, 80th Legislature PURPOSES. CPRIT is established to: (1) Create and expedite innovation in the area of cancer research and in enhancing the potential for a medical or scientific breakthrough in the prevention of cancer and cures for cancer; (2) Attract, create, or expand research capabilities at institutions of higher education and other public or private entities that will promote a substantial increase in cancer research and creation of high-quality new jobs in Texas; and (3) Develop and implement the Texas Cancer Plan. 2 CPRIT’s Product Development Research Program is Essential to its Mission CPRIT was constitutionally established in part to make grants for translational cancer research that develop therapies, protocols, pharmaceuticals and procedures. Developing a new drug requires an enormous commitment of time and resources—up to 15 years and a $1 billion investment to get a promising idea from the lab to the bedside to treat patients. CPRIT funds a small but critical amount invested at a time that is usually prior to venture capital or drug investors. CPRIT’s Product Development Research grants fund specific cancer-related research projects taking place at companies. CPRIT invests grant funds in early-stage clinical research and development efforts at small biotechnology companies in Texas. • CPRIT’s Product Development Research grants are authorized by the Constitution and state law. • CPRIT’s grant funds are tied to specific research projects and cannot be used for expenses unrelated to the project. CPRIT’s Product Development Research Program funds innovative ideas and requires measurable results. CPRIT uses an open, competitive selection process to determine which projects are funded. • CPRIT’s primary criteria in making Product Development Research grant awards are scientific merit and impact on cancer care. Proposed projects are reviewed by independent experts with additional business and intellectual property due diligence assessments a necessary part of the competitive approval process. All reviewers are from outside Texas to minimize potential conflicts or undue influence. • All companies performing CPRIT projects are scrutinized to ensure sound business and regulatory plans that can attract the follow-on financing necessary to continue developing the drug, device or therapeutic after CPRIT funding ends. • CPRIT monitors these projects and protects taxpayers’ money by paying grantees only a portion of their award at a time, with funding based on successfully achieving established milestones. Product Development Research grants grow the Texas bioscience industry and create economic benefits for the state. • Companies with CPRIT grants have raised over $900 million in follow-on funding from outside sources after getting a CPRIT grant; CPRIT companies are thriving and achieving success. • CPRIT-funded companies are creating highly skilled jobs in Texas. • The state gets a return on its investment through contractually-required revenue sharing once a successful drug, device, or diagnostic is sold on the market. Based on terms approved in 2015, companies share a percentage of all product or service returns until four times the amount of their grant money is paid to Texas. After that, the company continues to pay Texas a 0.5% royalty payment. 3 CPRIT’s Product Development Research grants accelerate the translational research and development of drugs, devices, and diagnostics to save the lives of cancer patients. CPRIT’s grants fill a critical funding gap between university-based research and later-stage investments by venture capital firms and pharmaceutical companies. • CPRIT grants help fund the early studies, e.g., animal, Phase I and II clinical trials, which translate the promising research results into practical applications in humans. These early studies are necessary to show that the drug will work in patients. • Because of the significant amount of money to which drug companies and venture capitalists have access, they are crucial in the drug development process. However, most venture capital and pharmaceutical investments are made after a promising drug shows signs it may work on patients, e.g., after Phase I clinical trials. • Without CPRIT’s grants to bridge the funding gap between university research and Phase II clinical trials, promising ideas to treat cancer could end up in what the life sciences community calls the “valley of death”— the place innovative ideas die for lack of funding. If a drug cannot make it through the valley of death, the potential benefits to patients will never be realized. 4 5 This page left intentionally blank. 6 CPRIT’s Product Development Application Pedigrees 7 This page left intentionally blank. 8 CPRIT Product Development Research Program 9 This page left intentionally blank. 10 Summary of CPRIT Product Development Research Contracts Total Amount Maximum Estimated Grantee Contract Spent to Follow-on Capital Potential Return Jobs at Organization Obligation date Post Award to CPRIT Company (City) Technology and Significance (MM) (MM) (MM) (MM) Build out Therapeutic: Clinical development of this mimic of Mirna the micro RNA tumor suppressor, miR-34, may Therapeutics, Inc. $10.30 $10.30 $53.20 $20.59 20 enable the treatment of liver, colon, breast, (Austin) prostate, and lung cancer. Diagnostic: Discovery and use of biomarkers in Rules-Based cancer to assist research and improve early $3.02 $2.45 $81.00 no limit 10 Medicine (Austin) detection. Therapeutic: Cancer fighting T-cells are Bellicum engineered with a "turn off" gene that can be $129.00 + Pharmaceuticals, activated in the case of Graft vs. Host Disease. $5.68 $4.64 $140.60 at $11.36 30 Inc. (Houston) Bellicum recently closed C-round financing for $55 IPO MM. ACTIVE AWARDS Therapeutic: A highly toxic protein is joined to a Molecular CD20 targeting molecule to create a new and Templates, Inc. more effective leukemia and lymphoma treatment. $10.60 $3.85 $19.00 $21.20 12 (Georgetown) Company received an IND to begin Phase I trials on 9-10-14. Therapeutic: A combination of two TLR agonists Pulmotect, Inc. stimulate the lung's innate immune system to $7.13 $2.49 $3.65 no limit 15 (Houston) prevent pneumonia in immunocompromised cancer patients. 11 Summary of CPRIT Product Development Research Contracts Total Amount Maximum Estimated Grantee Contract Spent to Follow-on Capital Potential Return Jobs at Organization Obligation date Post Award to CPRIT Company (City) Technology and Significance (MM) (MM) (MM) (MM) Build out Diagnostic: Next generation sequencing to provide mutation profiling to discover cancer-linked Asuragen, Inc. genomic variants for clinical research, drug $6.84 $3.28 $7.50 $13.67 10 (Austin) development and improved care for cancer patients. Therapeutic: Patient T-cells are removed from the Cell Medica body, activated and expanded in number, and $15.57 $4.67 $101.00 No Limit 20 (Houston) then reintroduced to attack lymphomas associated with Epstein Barr virus. DNAtrix, Inc. Therapeutic: Development of an oncolytic $10.81 $1.01 $20.00 $64.8 10 (Houston) adenovirus for the treatment of glioblastoma ACTIVE AWARDS ESSA Pharma, Therapeutic: Blocking the androgen receptor Inc. overcomes hormone-therapy resistance in $12.00 $0.28 $12.00 $58.4 15 (Houston) prostate cancer CerRx, Inc. Therapeutic: Compounds to cause overproduction $6.00 $0.17 $2.40 $25.2 10 (Lubbock) of toxic ceramides in cancer cells Kalon $12.50 Therapeutic: Formation of The Texas Cancer Biotherapeutics $7.90 $0.00 Acquired by Fuji for $8.14 25 Therapeutics Process Development Lab (College Station) undisclosed amount 12 Summary of CPRIT Product Development Research Contracts Total Amount Maximum Estimated Grantee Contract Spent to Follow-on Capital Potential Return Jobs at Organization Obligation date Post Award to CPRIT Company (City) Technology and Significance (MM) (MM) (MM) (MM) Build out Beta Cat $63.64 + 0.5% Therapeutic: Development of an inhibitor of the Pharmaceuticals $15.91 $0.00 N/A continuing 15 beta catenin pathway in colorectal cancer (Dallas) revenue share Therapeutic: Depletion of an amino acid $79.24 + 0.5% AERase, Inc.