TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | m a y 2 0 1 5 32 Betting on Biomedical Ventures Looking to the future, UTMB expands its Collaborative Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program to reach faculty, clinicians and students throughout Texas Stanley J. Watowich, Ph.D., gives the opening remarks at UTMB's Collaborative Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program's "pitch day." I magine a protein-based biomaterial that would accelerate wound healing for trauma patients or soldiers injured in war. Or how about tools focused on the early detection and prevention of some of the deadliest forms of cancer, novel agents that can protect stem cells and promote survival of those cells into a diseased tissue or organ, or a vibrational vest engineered for patients suffering from chronic airway diseases like cystic fibrosis? The list of cutting-edge innovations currently being developed by research- ers, clinicians, faculty and students in the Texas Medical Center is vast—and their potential to revolutionize health care and advance quality of life is endless. Yet despite their promise, the majority of these products will never make it out of the lab and into the hospital room, battlefield or home. "You can have the best idea in the world for a new device or drug that could really transform the industry, really help patients, but you also have to know how to make a profit. The reality is that you can't have your product out there if it can't survive in the market— that's the primary reason many of these great ideas are failing. Understanding product development is vital," said Stanley J. Watowich, Ph.D., associate professor for the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB). Watowich is also the director of UTMB's Collaborative Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program—a UT System-funded initiative designed specifically to help biotech pioneers keep their products alive in the ever-increasingly complex and competitive marketplace. Launched in 2014 in collaboration with the University of Texas McCombs School of Business in Austin, the Rice University Bioengineering Department, and successful entrepreneurs and leaders in the biotechnology and bio- medical field, the program provides an in-depth understanding of the pathway to commercializing great ideas and creating successful startup companies and biotechnology ventures. The program currently supports two courses: "Successful Entrepreneurship," geared towards established biomedical professionals in the Texas Medical Center, on UT campuses, and at all Texas institutions, and "BioVentures," which is set up as a mentorship program for TMC graduate and medical students. The professional course runs 12 weeks and is administered primarily via online resources and forums. "We wanted this to be as flexible as possible because all of our participants in that course have full-time jobs. We don't want them to have to stop their clinical practice because they are trying to learn how to get their ideas out there," explained Watowich. In contrast, the BioVentures course, targeted at medical students, residents and postdocs, is an immersive course in which teams of students work with local successful entrepreneurs to develop a startup company and strategic business plan that can convert a patent-pro- tected idea into a commercial product. Students take the lead in developing and running this course. "Both classes require participants to develop a plan that will bring an idea to the biomedical market—and defend how this plan produces a viable company," Watowich said. "It's complex and involves understanding how a patent works, navigating the regulatory pathways and the FDA, researching B y A l e x a n d r a B e c k e r You can have the best idea in the world for a new device or drug that could really transform the industry, really help patients, but you also have to know how to make a profit. The reality is that you can't have your product out there if it can't survive in the market. — STANLEY J. WATOWICH, PH.D. Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

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