Brigham Hyde
Boston, MA (USA)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal
Relay Technology Management Inc.
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Startup
Location:
Boston
Industry:
Pharmaceuticals
Year Founded:
2008
Number Employees:
1-10 people
Description:
Executive Summary
In the next several years the pharmaceutical industry will hit a wall. Generic versions of existing therapeutics are expected to eliminate $67 billion from pharmaceutical and biotechnology annual U.S. sales by 2012, as more than three-dozen drugs will lose patent protection. This amount equals roughly half of these companies’ combined 2007 U.S. sales. On the front end of the drug development process – target discovery --innovation has stalled. In vitro compound screens and combinatorial chemistry approaches are producing fewer and fewer novel therapeutics.
This gap makes it imperative for pharmaceutical firms to seek drug candidates outside their research labs, in biotechnology companies and academia. Basic researchers in academia, a primary source of novel target innovation, often lack the resources to pursue commercial development of their findings, resulting in potential targets being ignored or underdeveloped. In addition, intellectual property for academic research is often lacking due to inefficiencies or lack of resources in the technology transfer process. Technology transfer offices with limited staff must manage sourcing, evaluating, developing and marketing research results. Not surprisingly, technology transfer offices are often overwhelmed, placing the impetus on the researcher to pursue collaborative arrangements and licensing opportunities. However, the vast majority of investigators do not pursue development of their research for commercialization. Marketable ideas thus become dated or at least delayed in their commercial development. Relay Technology Management (“Relay”) seeks to complement the work of technology transfer offices by identifying promising drug and device leads from academic research institutions and early stage biotech/pharmaceutical companies to marketing these discoveries for licensure, co-development, or sale to biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
Relay leverages two primary internal strengths. First, through disease specific networks of expert MD’s and PhD’s, Relay applies a patented analysis/valuation approach to technologies of interest. This enables us to identify appropriate partners and understand the technology in the space. Second, through a strong network of Pharma/Biotech/CRO/VC Relay matches the technology with the needs of the right development partner.
Relay’s primary customer will be the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device firms who seek the intellectual property that Relay will represent. Drug development firms face the daunting task of sifting through vast amounts of academic research to find a few “hidden gems”. Facilitating the identification, licensure and co-development of this promising research will form the revenue basis for Relay. The current licensing structure in this industry is often based around recurring payments and royalty income; this will allow Relay to develop recurring revenue streams upon deal execution.
Relay’s unique business model will allow revenue generation soon after inception. Initially, Relay will concentrate locally on specific institutions in the Boston area, but will eventually expand both nationally and internationally. The strength of the business model is in its allowance for growth of continuous revenue streams as the patent portfolio expands and licensing revenues accumulate.
1. Brigham Hyde (co-founder)
Mr. Hyde brings knowledge both of basic science research and drug development operations. He has experience in pre-clinical drug development and biotech business development strategy from CRO Wolfe Laboratories Inc. (Now WXYZ Corp.) and classical education and training in clinical pharmacology and drug metabolism from the Tufts University Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He has conducted research in mitochondrial pharmacology and biology in the context of anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and type II diabetes. Mr. Hyde received his B.S. in Chemistry and a minor in Business Management from Northeastern University.
2. David Greenwald (co-founder)
Mr. Greenwald has 2 years of business development and intellectual property portfolio management experience with Wright Marketing in New York. While employed at the Naval Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, MD, he worked with several international corporations and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to file 510(k) applications for diagnostic devices for dengue fever. Mr. Greenwald was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) research fellow while earning a B.S. in Cellular Biology and Molecular Genetics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Mr. Greenwald focuses on infectious diseases and genetics.