connection July / August 1998

Entrepreneurship in Medicine
Dalhousie's researchers taking discoveries to the marketplace

Dr. Lee Kirby

Even in today's highly competitive economic environment, potential medical breakthroughs can get lost before they see the light of day. As researchers focus on the process of discovery, product development can often take a back seat.

It takes considerable resources for a new medical discovery to make it into the marketplace—resources to apply for patents, comply with regulations, perform clinical testing, and attract commercial interest for marketing, distribution, and sales. But increasingly, researchers at the Medical School are taking that next step and applying their efforts.

"I was first guided by the theory that `if you build a better mouse trap, people will beat a path to your door to buy it'," says Dr. Lee Kirby, Head of the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and President of Tartan Rehab Ltd. "I quickly realized much more is needed to successfully introduce a product to a market environment."

"I have been on faculty at Dalhousie since 1976, and have always received more than enough satisfaction from treating patients and teaching," says Dr. Kirby. "But by the late 1980s, I became less satisfied with seeing the results of my research published in journals and never translating into actual products." So in 1990, he took his expertise to the marketplace with Tartan Rehab Ltd.

Tartan Rehab Ltd. (www.tartanrehab.ns.ca) is a rehabilitation technology company. It focuses on product development and consulting to help improve the functional capacity and quality of life of people with physical disabilities. Through his activities at Dalhousie, Dr. Kirby has worked to develop assistive technology that is safe, effective, innovative and high-quality.

Dr. Kirby admits there have been growing pains since Tartan Rehab's inception, but he's learned from every one of them. "I learned what every business student learns in his or her first year—you have to examine the needs of the consumer, the market size, distribution strategies and so forth."

The Medical School is becoming more conducive to faculty members starting companies and developing new products—a philosophy clearly upheld in the final report of the Strategic Directions Planning Process. The report recommends that faculty should foster private sector interactions and spin-off companies. One action it suggests is to create a business development office at the Medical School to help faculty members apply marketing principles to their research.

The report also recommends creating a seed-funding mechanism for commercialization and technology transfer, and creating an ad-hoc committee to assess avenues for enhancing technology transfer.

Dr. Kirby says there is a big gap between academics and business, and until recently, there weren't a lot of resources to help bridge it. But researchers in this province can now turn to government departments (such as Industry Canada) and organizations like InNovaCorp and Nova Universities Technology Inc. (NU-TECH).

NU-TECH is in the business of technology transfer strategies such as licensing, forming joint ventures and creating start-up companies. Executive Director Gordon Owen says NU-TECH can play a crucial role in creating opportunities. "By capitalizing on the intellectual wealth of the Medical School, NU-TECH's innovative approach to patent and copyright protection and licensing helps fill the gap between academia and private enterprise," he says.

Some researchers argue whether physicians should be combining research and business ventures. Dr. Paul Neumann, Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology and co-founder of the Maritime Institute of Molecular Medicine (MIMM), recognizes this argument, but says it's a result of the times we live in. "At one time I felt it was a conflict of interest to seek corporate support for medical research," he says. "However, alliances with business have become a necessity to ensure research funding for projects that have the public interest in mind."

The Maritime Institute of Molecular Medicine is a not-for-profit company conducting human genetic research in Maritime Canada. The year-old company is an extension of the Vision 2000 Human Genetics Research Program. MIMM is currently seeking capitalization and alliances with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. It expects to play a role in Nova Scotia's developing biotech industry.

Drs. Kirby and Neumann are not the only researchers venturing into the marketplace. Dr. John Butt, Department of Pathology and the province's Chief Medical Examiner, provides consulting in forensic medicine and pathology through his private company Pathfinder Forum. Dr. Harold Robertson, Head of the Department of Pharmacology, is the Chief Executive Officer of OligoPharm Ltd., which provides support and direction to other companies and researchers involved in developing antisense technology.

These are just a few of the examples where researchers are applying their medical expertise to the business world and furthering the Medical School's mandate in the process.

"Tartan Rehab is helping my university practice," says Dr. Kirby. "I don't think my night job at Tartan Rehab interferes with my day job at Dalhousie, but rather, it enhances it." He says questions will always arise about conflicts of interest, but the best ways to confront them are to complement business activities with academic ones and to be open and honest with one's peers.

"Would I do it again?" Dr. Kirby asks himself. "My only regret is that I wish I did it earlier."