Nonprofit Designed to Push Purdue Discoveries

(Image from video courtesy of Purdue University)

A new Purdue University-created nonprofit is helping guide discoveries through the valley of death that exists between the laboratory and the market. Boilermaker Health Innovations provides funds for scientists fighting through the often-costly early research stages of a treatment or product before the clinical trial process. Purdue says once a participating scientist is ready to sell or seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, it will help spin-off a new for-profit company.

In an interview for our most recent Life Sciences INdiana e-newsletter, Purdue Center for Cancer Research Director Tim Ratliff said the nonprofit nature of the initiative provides a major challenge. "If it’s not-for-profit, you can’t raise capital to move your drugs forward, so the biggest hurdle we have is getting that first infusion of capital to allow us to move the drug downstream, because it’s a donation, not an investment." He adds "people just haven’t thought about dong this. Most of the institutions think in sort of a regimented, institutional way, looking for kind of the big find and the big return in royalties that can really set up an institution. And so they continually have their eye on that ball and that’s not really what we’re trying to do."

Purdue says that funding could come from Purdue donors, governmental funding or private foundations. The Purdue Foundry says it will match donations, up to $1.3 million, made toward Boilermaker Health Innovations. The plan is to eventually use proceeds from discoveries that are sold-off to put toward future potential pipeline.

You can read more about the program by clicking here.