The University Technology Licensing Program (UTLP) was created to improve innovation in multiple sectors and facilitate more efficient licensing between commercial companies and the 15 universities in the program. The UTLP participating universities have a sizeable pipeline of over 240 early-stage drugs that could be out-licensed, say GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The UTLP received the nod of approval from the US Department of Justice on January 13, 2021. This program will be important for drug development, as the volume of licensing agreements with UTLP universities had decreased by 67% from 2016 to 2020.

Madeleine Roche MSc, Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Collaboration combining the financial backing of commercial companies and the early-stage drugs from academic institutions is a key source of innovation, with many successful assets being developed and commercialized from out-licensing of university technology.”

Of the 830 unique drugs associated with the 15 UTLP universities, almost 80% are in preclinical or discovery development. The high costs of development in the Bio/Pharma space, as well as the costs of complex licensing and development agreements provide a challenge to innovation coming out of universities.

Roche continues: “Licensing out to commercial companies means that the resources and facilities of the Pharma companies can be used to fund clinical trials, speed up development, and finance manufacturing and marketing costs.”

One key example is Viatris’ Lyrica (pregabalin) for epilepsy, originally developed by Northwestern University, one of the participants in the UTLP. First licensed from Northwestern University by Warner-Lambert, the drug was bought by Pfizer when it acquired Warner-Lambert in 2000, and after being marketed in 2004, reached global peak sales of over $5bn a year in 2014.

Roche concludes: “The UTLP will provide a much-needed boost to pharmaceutical innovation in the US. More instances of commercial-academic collaboration and out-licensing directly from universities will lead to enhanced drug development and the commercialization of novel drugs, which would bolster the pharmaceutical industry.”