After embarking on a postgraduate career as an industry scientist, Professor Carragher made the unusual switch back to academia. Neil Carragher is Professor of Drug Discovery and Director of Translation at the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre, MRC Institute of Genetics and Cancer. In 2010 he moved from working in Industry back to academia to establish an innovative drug discovery group at the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre within the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. He has over 25 years of translational research experience, has launched the very successful spinout company PhenoTherapuetics, and has a thriving portfolio of industrial collaborations. My ambition when joining the University of Edinburgh was to establish an innovative drug discovery unit that complements the approaches taken by the biopharmaceutical industry. To date we have had 10 major collaborations with global pharma and biotech; signed multiple research service contract agreements with industry partners; licensed our in-house drug candidate eCF506/NXP900 to Nuvectis Pharma Inc.; and in 2019 we established the University spin-out company: PhenoTherapeutics Ltd. Support from Edinburgh Innovations (EI) has been integral to all of these activities. In addition to providing essential professional support with contract agreements, we have worked closely with EI colleagues to develop a common understanding and think creatively, which has been key to our success. It’s been very easy to work with EI. Because my work spans many research institutes and involves collaborations across the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, commercialising research outputs might seem very complicated. But with embedded development leads from EI in each School and institute, we could take an early idea for translation, commercialisation or potential opportunity for industry collaboration to the EI BD lead of the relevant institute and they would work together with our own local BD contact at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer to define a pathway forward. This connected approach ensures awareness and shared learning between other related projects across the University. EI’s support and expertise was particularly valuable when it came to spinning out (phenotherapeutics.com). We had a very early concept for an innovative drug discovery approach that was based on a technology platform we developed at the University of Edinburgh, but initial discussions with local investors suggested the technology was too early to spin out. EI and we the founders all felt it was right to persevere, and so EI arranged introductions and pitching opportunities for us with other major life science investors, who expressed an interest. Working together with the lead investor and with EI we drafted a fully costed operating plan for the proposed company, which secured an initial $5 million seed investment. Starting a company requires multiple contract agreements and legal advice, EI coordinated these complex activities on our behalf and demonstrated creativity and flexibility to form agreements that ensured the company and the founders had a very solid foundation from its inception. I would advise any academics who have an idea and want to commercialise to engage with Edinburgh Innovations as early as possible and help them to fully understand and shape your concept or proposal. By working hard to build a motivated and resilient team with EI colleagues, you will be able to break down barriers and achieve success. Feeling inspired? Take the next step with Engage - Our online learning programme focuses on the ‘how to’ of external engagement and a practical first step in collaborating with external organisations. Sign up to our Unlocking Innovation newsletter - Be inspired by our innovators, understand the support and resources available to you and celebrate the latest innovation success stories. Contact us(secured) - If you have an idea and want to drive innovation from your research, get in contact with our Business Development team. This article was published on 2024-07-19
