Purdue launches institute aimed at supporting trials for lifesaving treatments
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Purdue University this week announced the creation of an institute bearing the name of a Hoosier life sciences icon.
The Low Institute for Therapeutics, or LIFT—named in honor of Dr. Philip Low—is designed to fund early-stage trials of potential lifesaving therapeutics with the goal of accelerating the treatments to market.
Low is a professor of chemistry at Purdue and the university’s Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery. During his long career, Low has secured 101 U.S.-issued patents and has founded several companies, including Endocyte, which he sold to Switzerland-based Novartis in 2018 for $2.1 billion.
The university said the new institute will work to share Low’s expertise in moving from research to commercialization with the broader Purdue ecosystem.
“I believe that I have an obligation to develop lifesaving innovations that improve quality of life,” Low said in a news release. “My career has always been in pursuit of that goal, and now I’d like to ensure others can do the same. LIFT is a chance to ‘fill the gap,’ getting over the hurdle of funding necessary trials that can often stymie progress for early-stage therapeutics.”
Low and his wife, Joan, will donate $20 million over the next five years to support the institute’s mission, Purdue said.
The university said the institute will license promising intellectual property developed at Purdue from the Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization to help advance those treatments into clinical development.
Those treatments, according to Purdue, could serve as the foundation for new startup companies or be licensed directly to pharmaceutical companies for further development.
Purdue President Mung Chiang said the Low Institute will be a new model for research at universities through private capital.
“Purdue has one of the most expansive technology transfer programs in the U.S., and Dr. Low’s prolific innovation is a foundational piece of that program,” Chad Pittman, president and CEO of Purdue Research Foundation, said in the release. “Purdue Research Foundation looks forward to building on the success of our therapeutic commercialization efforts by supporting the institute and the innovators who will be a part of it.”
Low has seen some major research wins over the last few years.
Last September, Low’s company Eradivir secured more than $10 million in funding to further study its new influenza treatment that has shown rapid results.
Low is also the chief science officer for West Lafayette-based On Target Laboratories, which received FDA approval in 2021 and 2022 for Cytalux, an imaging agent to better detect cancer cells in ovarian cancer and lung cancer patients. The company closed on a $30 million Series C round of funding in late 2023.
Before selling Endocyte, Low helped develop Pluvicto, a radioligand therapy designed to treat patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have failed multiple prior therapies. Novartis is now using its new, $100 million facility in Indianapolis to manufacture the treatment.
The Low Institute for Therapeutics is expected to be located in the Purdue Research Park and will be led by Dr. Stewart Low, Philip’s son.