GSK, AstraZeneca and J&J join forces with universities for tech transfer fund

(ShareCast News) - AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson and three leading UK universities are joining forces to try to significantly improve the speed that academic scientific research is translated into new medicines.The University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and University College London, via their technology transfer units, which include AIM-listed Imperial Innovations, have teamed up with the three big pharma companies to create the Apollo Therapeutics Fund.The university tech transfer units will each pay £3.3m over the life of the fund and the corporates adding £10m each to create the £40m Apollo fund.Apollo aims to combine the skills of the university academics with industry expertise at an early stage with the aim of speeding up the development of new medicines, as well as reducing the cost and improving the attrition rate of potential opportunities, while sharing the risk of early development.The fund will bring academic preclinical research to the stage of development at which either GSK, Astra or J&J will negotiate for the rights or they can be out-licensed.Apollo's investment committee will be chaired by Ian Tomlinson, GSK's former senior vice president for worldwide business development and biopharmaceuticals R&D.Russ Cummings, chief executive of Imperial Innovations, said the company's active participation in Apollo "will increase the funds that can be deployed to support the outstanding research emanating from these three world-class universities, as well as strengthening our existing relationships with the three world-leading global pharma companies."Crucially, having the pharma partners in Apollo involved right from the start ensures that projects will be selected and shaped at a very early stage to maximise the chances of commercial success."