MedImmune Agreement Illustrates UMMS Focus on Strategic Partnerships
Two factors are increasingly impacting innovation at the University of Michigan Medical School. First, the future of federal funding for biomedical research grows more uncertain every day. Second, driving new therapies to patients more quickly is always an imperative. Thus innovative external collaboration—leveraging the research expertise of both U-M and the partner in an effort to move products to clinical market more quickly—is a growing priority for the Medical School research enterprise.

What makes U-M an attractive partner?

Our “team science” approach to basic and translational research and a robust IP portfolio are obvious assets to any potential collaboration. But while these strengths may open a conversation with a potential partner, it is the clarity of purpose and a responsive infrastructure that can get an agreement across the finish line. Serving as managers of the collaboration process, the UMMS Business Development team works with faculty to refine proposals to meet a potential partner’s specific strategic needs and timeline. BD then acts as a single point of contact for corporate business development colleagues, helping them navigate processes through U-M offices like the Office of Technology Transfer and the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects and executing a final agreement as efficiently as possible.

U-M’s recent agreement with MedImmune is one of a growing number of examples of how this renewed focus is bearing fruit. The strategic research collaboration with MedImmune illustrates how two large organizations with shared goals of positively impacting human health can quickly come together in an innovative approach to public-private partnership.

“The Medical School has a renewed energy and focus around making external partnerships work,” notes Steven L. Kunkel, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean for Research. “Each new collaboration with industry is a testament to the expertise of our faculty and the hard work of our Business Development team.“

Story credit: Ann Curtis, UMMS Business Development

CVC Collaboration On Medical Device Clinical Trials
With the implementation of health care reform in the United States, experts predict that evidence-based medicine will continue to grow in importance as millions more patients are added to managed health care plans. This priority is particularly apparent among manufacturers of medical devices, where tapping into large patient populations for clinical trials and partnering with world-class, skilled clinical faculty can help them move products from “bench to bedside” more quickly and effectively.

Recognizing that university health systems already have access to large existing populations of potential trial participants in addition to clinical faculty who are leaders in their fields, a major medical device manufacturer is ahead of the curve, having signed a master clinical trial agreement with the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center (CVC) in October. For the CVC, strategically engaging with companies in such relationships allows patients and faculty to access new strategies for treatment at an early stage and also offers potential partnerships for faculty to work directly with industry collaborators in designing new therapies.

The U-M CVC is one of 50 academic institutions participating in the manufacturer’s “Research Innovation Clinical Partnership” program. The agreement builds upon the CVC’s existing relationship with the company, where faculty in the past have participated in studies of new devices such as valves, stents, and implantable monitors. Moving forward, the company’s goal is a more strategic relationship with the U-M, one where they can leverage over the long term the strengths of the specialties associated with the CVC as well as the clinical and research expertise of faculty.

The five-year agreement will offer a variety of clinical study opportunities for a wide range of devices and procedures. A study of a new renal denervation procedure with the potential to treat hypertension is expected to be among the first trials to fall under the agreement. “This kind of strategic partnership on trials exposes our patients and research faculty to emerging technology and procedures,” notes Kim Eagle, M.D., Director of the CVC. “That early access is a key building block in the foundation of our mission to positively impact patient treatments and care.”

Story credit: Ann Curtis, UMMS Business Development

Researchers Reveal Potential Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease
A University of Michigan Health System laboratory study reveals a key trigger for producing normal red blood cells that could lead to a new treatment for sickle cell disease.

The study, conducted in mice, appears in this week’s early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and holds promise for preventing the painful episodes and organ damage that are common complications of sickle cell disease.

According to the U-M study, increasing the expression of the proteins, TR2 and TR4, more than doubled the level of fetal hemoglobin produced in sickle cell mice and reduced organ damage.

“The vast majority of sickle cell disease patients are diagnosed early in childhood when adult hemoglobin normally replaces fetal hemoglobin, but the severity of the disease can differ markedly, correlating most strongly with the level of fetal hemoglobin present in red cells,” says pediatrician and lead study author Andrew D. Campbell, M.D., director of the Pediatric Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Sickle cell is an inherited blood disorder impacting millions of patients worldwide that causes normal red blood cells to change shape to a crescent moon.The result is debilitating pain episodes, chronic organ damage and a significantly shortened life span.

Sickle cell disease occurs in 1 out of every 500 African American births and 1 out of every 36,000 Hispanic American births, according to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc.

It’s most common among those with an ancestry to Africa, South and Central America, the Caribbean islands, India, Saudi Arabia and Mediterranean countries such as Turkey, Greece and Italy. But a small number of sickle cell patients are born with a high enough fetal hemoglobin level to moderate complications.

The study team, that included experts in hematology oncology, cell and developmental biology and pathology from the U-M and the University of Tsukuba, Japan, demonstrated a potential method for boosting the fetal hemoglobin levels by modulating TR2/TR4 expression.

“While the average fetal hemoglobin was 7.6 percent in the sickle cell mice, the TR2/TR4 treated sickle cell mice had an average fetal hemoglobin of 18.6 percent,” says senior study author James Douglas Engel, Ph.D. , professor and chair of the U-M’s Cell and Development Biology Department. It’s the first time specific proteins have been targeted to prevent a disease, he says.

Anemia and red blood cell turnover all improved within the TR2/TR4 treated mice. Additional studies, including clinical trials, would be required to determine if the method could help humans.

“Currently hydroxyurea is the only FDA approved drug known to increase the levels of fetal hemoglobin within sickle cell disease patients and a substantial number of patients do respond to it,” says Campbell, the pediatric hematology oncology specialist. “But the long term consequences for hydroxyurea are unknown, especially in children.” 

Story credit: Shantell Kirkendoll, UMHS PRMC