Sixty teams began this year's Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge, a business plan competition sponsored by the University of Chicago?fs Graduate School of Business. Of the nine teams advancing to the final competition, two of them represented patented technology developed in BSD faculty laboratories.

Barry Arnason, M.D., the James Nelson & Anna Louise Raymond Professor in the Department of Neurology, and Research Associates Mark Jensen, Ph.D. and David White, Ph.D. took second place overall and garnered $12,500 in prize money to put toward the creation of their new company, Iterative Therapeutics.

Philip Ashton-Rickardt, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Gwen Knapp Center for Lupus & Immunology Research, finished in fifth place. Ashton-Rickardt is now in late-stage negotiation with a New York-based venture capital firm interested in financing his start-up, A-R Immunosciences (ARIS).

Both teams were aided by GSB students, who worked with the scientists to write the business plans and defend them before expert judges. The GSB students take New Venture Challenge as a graded GSB course and apply their business training in finance, marketing, and new venture strategy to developing sound business models defendable before judges from some of the nation's top venture capital firms.

The Arnason team also made a strong showing at the Life Science's Business Plan Competition, sponsored by Purdue University and Roche Diagnostics. A total of 46 teams from across the US submitted plans, and Iterative Therapeutics was the only team in the finals to have been in existence for less than a year. Iterative Therapeutics earned an additional $5,000.

Both faculty members developed the technology in their laboratories, and patents were filed on the inventions by UCTech, the University's technology transfer office. The Arnason lab built its plan around a novel recombinant protein structure derived from antibody sequences that enhance the efficacy of both new and existing antibodies as well as therapeutic vaccines. One very clear application is as a potential breakthrough treatment for multiple sclerosis, but there are potentially many others.

Drs. Jensen and White, both of whom received their doctoral degrees from the BSD, entered the competition by submitting an abstract summary of their technology to the New Venture Challenge web site (http://www.chicagonvc.com) last fall. They were in turn contacted by Tim Ramsey, a GSB student with a masters degree in molecular biology and prior work experience with Eli Lilly. Ramsey recruited 3 additional GSB students to the team with strengths in finance, marketing, and operations. Based on its success in NVC, the company’s next steps are incorporation and venture financing. Cindy Bayley, Ph.D., Vice-President of Elixir Pharmaceuticals and Ph.D. and M.B.A. recipient from the BSD and GSB, respectively, has joined the company as a Director to lead them through this process. Bayley previously co-founded deCODE Genetics, the Icelandic genomics company started by Kari Stefansson, M.D., former Professor of Neurology in the BSD.

The Ashton-Rickardt team is also using a protein platform to initially target two Epstein Barr Virus-activated disorders: Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder (PTLD) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Ashton-Rickardt's technology works by increasing the ability of T lymphocytes to kill virally infected cells. ARIS has already established a collaboration with a Clinical Research Organization to conduct its Phase I and Phase II trials.

The key to success? For Ashton-Rickardt, a well-timed phone call to Bob Rosenberg, the University's Assistant Vice-President for Partnerships and Technology. Rosenberg, who also serves as an NVC Coach, put Ashton-Rickardt in touch with Robert Soto, a GSB student who in turn asked GSB classmates Saori Yamanaka, Zhanna Ishmurzina and Department of Chemistry Ph.D. candidate Lasse Rasmussen to join the team. Working together, Ashton-Rickardt and the GSB students wrote a plan that Ashton-Rickardt says differed markedly from anything he envisioned at the outset. "The main thing I learned," Ashton-Rickardt reflects now, "is that you have to find a market opportunity for the technology. No matter how cool you think the technology is, it won't sell itself."

Overall, Ashton-Rickardt felt the process was a great experience. "I went from having a patent and no clue how to go forward in December, to a meeting next week in New York with a venture capital firm. That's incredible."

BSD faculty interested in following the same path should contact NVC course directors Ellen Rudnick or Steve Kaplan (773-834-2838), or NVC Coaches Waverly Deutsch (773-834-9967) or Bob Rosenberg (773-834-0812). Additional information about NVC can be obtained from the course web site at http://www.chicagonvc.com.

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Biological Sciences Division
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