Vanderbilt University has hired an executive with Cleveland Clinic Innovations to lead its technology transfer efforts.
Alan Bentley will start with Vanderbilt on June 1 and hold the new (and long) title of assistant vice chancellor of technology transfer and intellectual property development, according to a statement from Vanderbilt, located in Nashville, Tennessee.
At Cleveland Clinic Innovations — the hospital’s technology transfer and commercialization arm — Bentley’s title was director of commercialization. In that role, he focused on commercializing cardiovascular medical devices developed by Cleveland Clinic doctors.
The announcement of Bentley’s departure caps a busy week for Cleveland Clinic Innovations in the personnel department. On Monday, the Clinic announced the controversial hire of Tom Thornton, the former president and CEO of the Kansas Bioscience Authority. Thornton will fill a new position that will help find partnerships with other healthcare institutions to develop new medical technologies.
Vanderbilt’s research funding is focused in the areas of drug discovery, personalized medicine, biostatistics, prosthetics, engineering and education, according to the statement.
In its fiscal 2010, the university’s tech transfer office was responsible for 65 licenses and options for Vanderbilt discoveries that resulted in more than $5.5 million in revenue.
Vanderbilt‘s portfolio companies include Pathfinder Therapeutics, Kainexus, TyraTech and Applied Health Analytics, Venture Nashville Connections reported.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
As other sources of revenue become strained, technology transfer is seen as an increasingly important means of generating cash for universities — and some hospitals, for that matter. Cleveland Clinic Innovations scored a huge win earlier this year when spinoff company Intelect Medical was sold to Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) for $78 million, a deal that returned $28 million to the Clinic.
