N.C. A&T Launches First Spin-Off Company

[captaggie]

Historic milestone!


N.C. A&T Launches First Spin-Off Company

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has launched its first spin-off company based on research conducted in the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

Provagen, as the company is called, is a biotechnology company that plans to produce and market a protein – called Protein V – that can be used in medical research or in manufacturing treatments and diagnostic tests for disease. A&T will retain equity in the company and earn royalties on the product.

“Creating commercial ventures out of research is important because it ensures that our research makes it out of the laboratory and into the marketplace, where it can benefit consumers and society,” said Dr. Alton Thompson, dean of the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. “That’s what a land-grant university is all about. We are in the business of finding solutions and then getting the information to the people who need it.”

As with any biotech startup, many regulatory and market and product development hurdles must be surmounted in advance of production, but in the best-case scenario, the company could be ready to start production in three years. The University is looking at the new Gateway University Research Park - North Campus in Greensboro as a home for the company.

Protein V is medically important because it forms strong chemical bonds to antibodies, which makes it possible to extract them from blood serum. Antibodies in their purified form are increasingly used to treat and diagnose disease, as well as in research.

The University’s Office of Outreach and Technology Transfer has been instrumental in establishing Provagen as a corporation. The next steps will be to hire a CEO, seek small business funding, and continue with market and product development. Other groups assisting in the start-up include the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, N.C. Small Business and Technology Development Center and the HiTEC Program at N.C. State.

“We are very pleased that something that we have been working on for so long might have a useful application in what has become the multi-billion dollar market for antibody binding proteins,” said Dr. John Allen, a molecular biologist whose discovery of Protein V and subsequent research paved the way for the company. For information: Laurie Gengenbach, School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, [phone], [e-mail]

[DOOMS]

That's great!

[Bornthrilla]

Big news. And I was just badmouthing in the Ag department on another thread.

[Bigboy]

This is something that has been in the works for a couple years now. Good to see that it has finally happen.

[Aggie77]

This excellent news, what is the reporting services of this article?

But I'm scared to death, because of this statement, "The University’s Office of Outreach and Technology Transfer has been instrumental in establishing Provagen as a corporation. The next steps will be to hire a CEO, seek small business funding, and continue with market and product development." This is the most critical step in a start-up.

[captaggie]

77,

The article above came from the A&T website*. Here's another source:

www.techjournalsouth.com/news/article.html?item_id=2793



* From the homepage, click on the "News & Information" link and look for the headings "Press Releases" and "Aggie Report". There are a lot of POSITIVE things happening on our campus that get lost due to negative issues.

[Aggie77]

and more to come, I see a multi-billion dollar endowment in our future.

"Speight notes that the University has more start-ups lining up in its pipeline. "A nanotech company should be emerging soon," he says. Also, an advanced materials and composites company and a couple of IT plays are likely to be in the next round to emerge, he says."

Let's go Aggies!!

[aggiejazz]

Congratulations Aggies, great minds at work that are helping to make the university first rate.