The Division of Research Administration and Industry Ventures is composed of multiple departments that work closely together to enable research collaborations between MD Anderson and industry. From internal approval processes for contract execution and grant submission, to intellectual property management and strategic business development, the division helps facilitate strategic partnership opportunities on behalf of the institution.
How We Partner with Industry
Strategic Alliances
Strategic alliances aim to provide space for innovative collaborations to accelerate breakthrough discoveries in cancer research. Our goal at the Office of Strategic Industry Ventures is to develop deeper and more robust relationships with companies that share a similar vision and goal.
Technology Commercialization
Technology transfer aims to transition institutional intellectual property to third parties for further development and commercialization. We cultivate relationships with reputable entities and entrepreneurs with a proven record of advancing technologies to the market.
Creative Solutions
The Office of Strategic Industry Ventures and Office of Technology Commercialization teams collaborate routinely to align interests and goals with stakeholders to deliver innovative pathways and contractual frameworks to partner with industry.
Highlights
MD Anderson and Myriad Genetics form strategic alliance to evaluate clinical utility of Myriad’s molecular residual disease assay
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Myriad Genetics, Inc. today announced a five-year strategic alliance to accelerate the clinical evaluation and development of Myriad’s molecular residual disease (MRD) assay.
This strategic alliance brings together the longstanding oncology diagnostic experience of Myriad Genetics and the clinical and translational research expertise of MD Anderson to create a portfolio of studies to evaluate the clinical validity and utility of Myriad’s Precise MRD.
“We look forward to working with MD Anderson to evaluate Precise MRD’s utility in cancer care,” said Dale Muzzey, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at Myriad Genetics. “Our collaborative studies will explore how our ultrasensitive Precise MRD test can enhance treatment strategies for providers and improve patient outcomes. We are optimistic that our MRD test’s ability to quantitatively detect tumor-derived DNA at very low levels — far lower than is possible with first-generation MRD tests — will open new opportunities for therapy response and recurrence monitoring.”
Under the terms of the agreement, MD Anderson and Myriad Genetics will collaborate to design both retrospective and prospective studies to investigate the test’s utility in breast, gastrointestinal, genitourinary and gynecological cancers. The goal of these studies is to generate evidence that supports national guideline inclusion and healthcare provider adoption. MD Anderson investigators will lead patient enrollment, sample collection, clinical data analysis and manuscript writing. Myriad will provide funding, MRD testing and scientific research support as well as potential milestone and royalty payments under the collaboration.
“This strategic alliance brings together cutting-edge technology and expertise from Myriad with disease-focused expertise and clinical trials excellence from MD Anderson,” said Christopher Flowers, M.D., division head of Cancer Medicine at MD Anderson. “We aim to explore numerous applications for MRD testing, including monitoring patients for relapse after treatment, identifying high-risk patients in need of clinical trials and, potentially, intervention approaches.”
The alliance expands upon existing collaborations between MD Anderson researchers and Myriad, including ongoing studies in breast cancer and renal cell carcinoma.
MD Anderson and Summit Therapeutics announce strategic collaboration to accelerate development of ivonescimab
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Summit Therapeutics, Inc. today announced a strategic five-year collaboration agreement for the purpose of accelerating the development of ivonescimab.
Leveraging MD Anderson’s clinical infrastructure and research expertise together with Summit’s innovative, investigational, potential first-in-class PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody, the collaboration is designed to quickly discover additional opportunities for ivonescimab, including several tumors outside of its current development plan. MD Anderson will lead multiple clinical trials in several tumor types to evaluate the safety and potential clinical benefit of ivonescimab, including the possibility of identifying biomarkers through additional research activities.
“We are excited to collaborate with MD Anderson to provide unique insights and expertise to further broaden the development of ivonescimab,” said Allen S. Yang, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer of Summit. “This collaboration will help accelerate the growing clinical development efforts for ivonescimab and help bring this innovative advancement on immunotherapy and anti-angiogenic standards to as many patients who may benefit as possible.”
Early work may include certain types of renal cell carcinoma, colorectal cancer, skin cancer, breast cancer and glioblastoma, which has the potential to rapidly expand the breadth and depth of the ivonescimab development program. The bispecific antibody has shown significant promise in recent read-outs from the randomized Phase III non-small cell lung cancer clinical trials, HARMONi-A and HARMONi-2, conducted by Summit’s partner, Akeso, in addition to promising Phase II data in other solid tumors.
“Through our extensive clinical research efforts, we are committed to bringing impactful new medicines to patients in need as rapidly as possible,” said Christopher Flowers, M.D., division head of Cancer Medicine at MD Anderson. “We are pleased to be collaborating with Summit to broaden the clinical development efforts of ivonescimab and its unique mechanism of action to support our mutual goal to improve the therapeutic options for patients with cancer.”
MD Anderson and Summit will collaborate on the design and conduct of preclinical and clinical studies, with oversight from a joint steering committee. This research is expected to begin later this year.
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