Biotech companies Syntiron, NanoBio sign $200 million in licensing deals — MedCity Weekend Rounds, Dec. 19, 2009

Here are six of the top stories at MedCity News this week:

Syntiron LLC, a biotech start-up in St. Paul, Minn., has signed a $149 million licensing deal with Sanofi Pasteur in Lyon, France, to develop a vaccine against so-called “super bugs,” bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics. Under the agreement, Syntiron and Sanofi Pasteur, the world’s largest vaccine maker, will jointly create a vaccine to combat Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which causes deadly staph infections in hospitals and other health care settings.

NanoBio Corp. has reached an exclusive licensing deal with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC for over-the-counter use of its antimicrobial cold sore treatment drug. The deal, which could be worth more than $54 million to NanoBio, is a significant milestone for the Ann Arbor, Mich., company, as it represents its first licensing deal. “It validates our platform technology and enhances our efforts in other dermatology products,” said John Coffey, NanoBio’s vice president of business development.

The Cleveland Clinic is looking for tenants to occupy the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center it’s building on the southern edge of its main campus. The $19 million project at East 101st Street and Cedar Road will host wet laboratories and offices, conference rooms and informal meeting areas, artwork and sophisticated teleconferencing and audio-visual technologies when it opens to heart-related startups, likely in May.

If a university’s tech transfer program drops $95 million in the middle of an urban jungle and no one’s there to see it, does it make a sound? For the University of Minnesota, the answer is probably no. Politicians, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs have long criticized the school for inhibiting innovation rather than creating it. But that criticism is getting old, or at least it should be. Under Jay Schrankler and Doug Johnson, the school’s tech transfer program has made enormous strides.

The financial health of the MetroHealth System improved dramatically in 2009, turning around from an operating loss to income and beginning to fill jobs again rather than cutting them. A year ago, trustees were eyeing a $5.3 million operating loss for the year. As a result, the Cuyahoga County-owned teaching hospital cut 400 jobs, or 6 percent of its workforce, in early in 2009. Wednesday at their last meeting of the year, trustees were told the health system had operating income of $23.8 million. And it recently said it has 270 job postings to fill.

In financial news: Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Case Medical Center will help use a $16 million, 6-year grant to participate in a consortium of national experts investigating why unexplained anemia is common in older adults… Publicly traded Adcare Health Systems Inc. in Springfield, Ohio, which owns and operates nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, has raised $2.5 million to fund future acquisitions… A Cleveland Clinic spinoff company, Cleveland Heartlab LLC, which is developing a test to predict cardiac risk, has received a $2.5 million investment… The Cleveland Clinic’s Lakewood Hospital has received a $1 million donation that it will use to improve its neurological and geriatric services focused on brain health…