The Breast Cancer Startup Challenge

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), in partnership with the nonprofit Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) and the Avon Foundation for Women, launched The Breast Cancer Startup Challenge, a first-of-a-kind, international, university-based competition. Through the creation of startup companies, it represents a new
model to accelerate the transfer of federally funded inventions to the marketplace, specifically focused on increasing the volume of developing emerging breast cancer technologies.

In 2013, NCI entered into a Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) with CAI to evaluate and offer recommendations to market the NCI patent portfolio. An outcome of that effort was the idea to create a business startup challenge to move certain technologies forward. Breast cancer was selected as the challenge focus, and a three-way collaboration agreement was developed to implement the challenge by
NCI, CAI, and the Avon Foundation.

Nine patented technologies from NCI’s intramural research program that show great promise to advance the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of breast cancer were simultaneously transferred to launch ten new startup companies in 2014 under the Challenge. NCI’s patented inventions include therapeutics, diagnostics, prognostics, and one device, vaccine, delivery system and health IT invention.

The Challenge’s federally funded inventions, startups, and lead inventors are:

1. Diagnostic from Biopsies with Software Analysis

   Radial Genomics, University of Cambridge

   Dr. Thomas Misteli, NCI

2. Immunotherapy Using Modified Self Tumor Cells

   PCV Therapeutics, Washington University in Saint Louis

   Dr. Dennis Klinman, NCI

3. Human Monoclonal Antibody Based Cancer Therapies

   Mesopharm Therapeutics, Stanford University

   Dr. Mitchell Ho, NCI

4. Immunotherapy Using Granulysin Activated Monocytes

   Orpheden Therapeutics, Northwestern University

   Dr. Alan Krensky, Northwestern University (formerly NCI)

5. Anti-cancer Toxin

   Oncolinx, Rutgers University

   Dr. Nadya Tarasova, NCI

6. Versatile Delivery Method for Cancer Therapeutics

   Bespoke Therapeutics, Wake Forest University

   Dr. Stanislaw J. Kaczmarczyk, NCI

   Dr. Deb Chatterjee, NCI

7. Genomic-based Diagnostic Assay

   Heragen, Unversity of California, Berkeley

   Dr. Steven Libutti, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (formerly NCI)

8. Tissue-based Diagnostic Assay

   ProVivoX, McGill University

   Dr. Steven M. Hewitt, NCI

9. Diagnostic Kit for Therapy Benefit Prediction

   Taxor Diagnostics, Tulane University

   Dr. Sherry Yang, NCI

Additional Awardees

Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade

• Dr. Marc Hurlbert

CAI - Center for Advancing Innovation

• Rosemarie Truman

NCI - National Cancer Institute

• Karen Maurey
• Dr. Thomas Stackhouse

NIH - Office of Technology Transfer

• Richard Rodriguez
• Jennifer Wong