Alberta Innovates- Health Solutions

Commercializing Scientific Innovations

This summer, a version of the David and Goliath story unfolded from Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Nancy Olivieri, a medical researcher specializing in thalassemia, a rare blood disorder, went public with her battlea with the pharmaceutical firm Apotex. The issue was Apotex's refusal to let Dr. Olivieri disclose to patients that they were in jeopardy because of side effects from a new drug she was testing for the company. Despite the confidentiality clause she had signed with Apotex, Dr. Olivieri told her patients, and endured the drug company's wrath and, most soberingly, the subsequent lack of support by her institution.

This, says Dr. Michael Hayden, is a classic example of an academic-industry relationship (AIR) gone wrong. Dr. Hayden, a leading Canadian geneticist and panelist at the recent genetics conference in Edmonton, maintains that far from being negative, AIRs can help realize the commercial potential of Canadian excellence in genetics at a time when public moneys are scarce. If these relationships are clearly delineated at the outset, then both parties benefit, resulting in improvements in human health through new therapies and technologies.

Dr. Hayden points out that although Canadian researchers are nearly at the bottom of the funding ladder compared to other G7 countries, their achievements are remarkable. This success, though, he says, demands a heavy price.

"Canadian researchers are in a unique situation. Here, we have to develop commercial relationships to replace diminishing support from federal sources. Then we have to find ways to balance our academic commitments, which include training young people not just in science but for the job market, with our commercial commitments. Academic researchers also have the responsibility of communicating to a broader public, to educate them about science and scientific advances. For their part, Canadian universities are under great pressure to raise money, and they increasingly turn to researchers to replenish funding."

Yet the onus is on academic scientists, no matter what the pressures, to maintain scientific integrity. Dr. Hayden emphasizes, "The integrity of the academic enterprise is dependent on shared values, a mutual sense of priorities, and a sense of community within the university. It is very important that industry-academic agreements do not undermine this."

Other key points must also be clearly understood in an AIR. Academic commitments must be protected so that researchers continue to have time to spend with students and trainees. AIRs must not promote financial benefit to the researchers or too much financial benefit to universities who are under great pressure to make money.

The elements of trust and of mutual benefit are overarching in any AIR. "A logical outcome of my research as a physician and as a scientist is the development of therapeutics that benefit human health. We have to protect the basic research endeavour, and we want to be partnered with companies that have appropriate ethical guidelines allowing these therapeutics to be developed appropriately for the benefits of human health. The projects undertaken in an AIR must be science-driven," says Dr. Hayden.

Regular, face-to-face communication is essential, and this occurs with sharing of personnel and technologies, all clearly defined in agreements. Dr. Hayden uses the example of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics:

"There is never any delay in publication that spans more than 60 days, whatever the outcome of the research, as a result of a particular agreement."

Clear institutional support is crucial and that includes support for the AIR and for the researchers involved and their academic commitments. "We can look at what happened at Sick Kids [Toronto Hospital for Sick Children] and see many of these elements were not present."

Dr. Hayden urges a national discussion on the issue of guidelines for AIRs. "Canada has been at the forefront of genetic discoveries and we're emerging in the forefront in the commercialization of these genetic activities. We need to create guidelines for AIRs that are national in their scope and broad in their vision. And to make sure that these relationships are for the benefit of all involved, they must be science-driven and in the long term, in the interests of the public. We need a re-commitment to basic science and an improved structure for forming alliances so that university investigators can focus on what they do best: outstanding research."

Dr. Michael Hayden is the Scientific Director of the Canadian Genetic Diseases Network of Centres of Excellence and the Director of the Centre for Molecular Medicine & Therapeutics in Vancouver. He is Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia.

Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics website: http://www.cmmt.ubc.ca/