ApaTech as an example of how
“academia / industry partnerships” can
overcome barriers to commercialization of
regenerative medicine products
TERMIS 2012
Vienna, 7th September 2012
Charlie Campion
Technology Development Manager,
Biosurgery R&D, Baxter Healthcare Corp.
1
Since the acquisition in 2010, ApaTech products
have formed part of the Biosurgery portfolio at Baxter
ACTIFUSE
GRANULES/ MICROGRANULES
ACTIFUSE ABX
ACTIFUSE EZ-PREP
ACTIFUSE SHAPE
ACTIFUSE MIS
ApaTech specializes in developing and manufacturing synthetic bone repair
products for the global orthobiologics market
2
There are many challenges which new companies
face when entering the healthcare market
Development
Funding
Regulatory
Complexity
Manufacturing
Capacity
Barriers to
Market
Entry
Time to Product
Launch
Surgeon
Advocacy
Sales &
Distribution
3
Although not the only success factor, academic
partnerships have been fundamental to growth at ApaTech
Portfolio
development
5 new products
in 5 years
Award-winning
sales growth
180% yr/yr
2006-2009
Research data
Publications
Rapid
growth
Investor
confidence
£32.5M of
funding in 7yrs
(3 rounds)
Capacity
expansion
1L : 1600L
upscaling factor
in 7 yrs
Prestige
Process experts
4
ApaTech has academic roots: ApaTech was founded
in 2001 as a spin-out from the IRC, Queen Mary, UoL
Surface Science
Nanotechnology
Ageing
Materials Processing
Humanities
Biomedical Materials
Earth, Planetary,
Space and Astronomy
In the 1990’s the UK government funded specialised centres of
research to promote the growth of UK research and manufacturing
5
IRC Biomedical Materials
Formed in 1991
Professor Bill Bonfield
£10 million funding
Multi-centre approach:
Institute of Orthopaedics at UCL
There was an established pedigree for bone research within the centre which
ApaTech were able to leverage in the early days of commercialisation
6
University of London – IRC in Biomedical Materials
 Bone functions as a mineral reservoir for the body
 Porous bone graft substitutes comprised of thermally
transformed Bovine and Coralline Hydroxyapatite were
already in clinical use for bone grafting
Research Questions:
 Do low-level ionic substitutions play a role in the biology of
bone repair?
 What is the role of a bone graft substitute’s structure in the
biology of bone repair?
A multi-disciplinary approach was applied to the common research goal of the
IRC : how can we develop superior synthetic bone grafts?
7
7
Do low-level ionic substitutions play a role in the
biology of bone repair?
Professor Iain Gibson BSc (Hons), PhD
− Ionic substitutions
− Metabolic role of
minerals in bone
− Further increase in
cellular response
Professor Gibson now has a chair at University of Aberdeen where his research
is based on guiding cell behaviour during tissue repair and wound healing, using
physico-chemical guidance cues
8
What is the role of a bone graft substitute’s structure
in the biology of bone repair?
Dr Karin Hing CEng, PhD, BSc, MIMMM, FRMS
− Foaming ceramics
− Porous HA
− Increased cellular
response
Dr Hings’s research group at QM is now engaged in physico-chemical and
hierarchical 3-D structural characterisation of bone grafts, the study of protein
interactions, cell response and chemotaxis
9
ApaTech continued to expand it’s network of
academic partners throughout the UK & across the Globe
10
ApaTech used a variety of mechanisms to partner
with academic research centres
Consultancy
Contracts
PhD
Studentships
Undergraduate
Project
Mentoring
MSC student
Funding
Academic
Research
Centre
Contract
Services
Student Award
Sponsorship
IP Purchase
agreements
Symposia
Sponsorship
11
ApaTech continue to leverage subject matter
expertise in Academia to get products to market
Portfolio
development
5 new products
in 5 years
Proportion of regulatory
non-clinical studies *
Reg. Data
33%
67%
* Data for the period
between 1st round
funding up to Baxter
Healthcare acquisition
(2001 – 2010)
Contract Research Organisation
Academic Research Centre
12
ApaTech continue to leverage subject matter
expertise in Academia to develop product pipeline
Portfolio
development
5 new products
in 5 years
Reg. Data
Proportion of patents granted
or pending by origin *
33%
67%
* Data for the period
between 1st round
funding up to Baxter
Healthcare acquisition
(2001 – 2010)
ApaTech
Academic Research Centre
13
ApaTech continue to use their academic pedigree to
provide robust mechanistic data to support sales
Award-winning
sales growth
200% yr/yr
2007-2009
Proportion of supporting
publications (1st author) *
3%
Publications
97%
* Data for the period
between 1st round
funding up to Baxter
Healthcare acquisition
(2001 – 2010)
ApaTech Employee
Academia Based Researcher
14
Summary
ApaTech was founded in Academia and was able to leverage
its pedigree to keep investors on-board. ApaTech continued to
partner with Global academic centres to reduce time-tomarket whilst building a robust scientific story around the
commercialised technology.
The way forward:
ApaTech have demonstrated there are a number of
mechanisms by which Industry can interact with Academia in
order to minimise the impact of barriers to market, whilst
developing the next generation of scientific advocates for the
commercialised technology.
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Acknowledgements
−
Professor Heinz Redl for my invitation
−
The co-founders of ApaTech and the investors who
believed in them
−
All Academic research centres ApaTech have collaborated
with since commercialisation began in 1999
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