BioWorld International Correspondent

LONDON - ULive plc, set up to commercialize medical research from Liverpool University, is joining the UK's band of quoted technology management companies, raising £20 million ($39.6 million) in a listing on London's Alternative Investment Market.

The company has a deal with the university giving it first rights to commercialize existing and future intellectual property for the next 15 years with a research budget of £1.5 billion. When the listing is complete, ULive will inherit stakes in 14 existing spinout companies and have access to an independent proof-of-concept fund and to the university's bioincubator. The technology transfer agreement with the university becomes effective on admission.

ULive will be joining peers including IP Group plc, Ipso Ventures plc, Biofusion plc, MMI plc, Imperial Innovations plc and Angle plc on the AIM market. "There are a number of these companies around, each with slightly different models," Iain Ross, chairman of ULive, told BioWorld International. "We have learned from the mistakes of others, and will look to set up spinouts, but will also be commercializing through licensing."

"I've been completely blown away by some of the technology, particularly in oncology," Ross added. "But rather than putting it into a company, I think it should be licensed."

Ross speaks from the point of view of having been involved with IP Group, Angle and Imperial Innovations.

ULive was founded in 2003 by CEO Stuart Exell with a mission to build long-term sustainable value in IP generated by the university. In addition, it has access to research carried out at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and its collaborative partner the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

ULive will have access to about 400 industry partners for whom the university has carried out contract research and to a pipeline of 2,000 research projects that currently are in progress.

The proceeds of the listing will accelerate the commercialization of IP, increase spending on bringing research through to proof of concept so it is ready for out-licensing and enable the university, through ULive, to retain higher equity stakes in its spinouts. ULive will have a market capitalization of about £70 million when it joins the market.

The technology transfer agreements make the university responsible for ensuring that its academic staff disclose all IP prior to publication, to allow ULive the opportunity to review and protect it.

Exell acknowledged that this is potential source of friction, but said it is a two-sided problem. "We are trying to get away from the situation where academics turn up saying they are going to give a paper in two weeks time and ask for [intellectual property] protection, to one where we are getting involved at the proposal stage when the university is submitting grant applications."

In addition, Exell said he has spent the past two and half years building relationships with the key academics who want to cooperate with ULive.

ULive is not looking to set up relationships with other universities in the near term because, Exell said, that would distract from the development of Liverpool's portfolio. However, he said there is plenty of pent-up demand for technology commercialization services that have access to funding, both in North America and mainland Europe. One medium term objective is to help an (unnamed) U.S. university to float its technology transfer arm on AIM.