Search Technologies

Researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have developed a cell line that stably over-expresses GPR101. GPR101 inhibitors and agonists may be used to treat gigantism, acromegaly or dwarfism. The NICHD seeks licensing and/or co-development research partners to collaborate on the identification and characterization of GPR101 inhibitors (antagonists and inverse agonists) and agonists with the goal of identifying agents to treat gigantism, acromegaly or dwarfism.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) seeks research co-development and/or potential licensees for a potential novel treatment for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) with acetalax (oxyphenisatin acetate). Acetalax is a previously FDA approved drug that has been used as a topical laxative but is being repurposed here as an onco-therapy because of its cytotoxic effects on a number of TNBC and other cancer cell lines.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) seeks parties to license or co-develop GDNFOS peptides and non-coding RNAs as therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative diseases.

Novel thalidomide analogs and their use as immunomodulatory agents are disclosed in this invention by scientists at the National Institute on Aging (NIA). These therapeutic compounds could reduce chronic systemic and central nervous system inflammation. The NIA seeks licensing or co-development partners to commercialize this technology.

Researchers at the NCI have developed a treatment for prostate and breast cancer using multivalent peptides derived from TARP, the T cell receptor gamma alternate reading frame protein. These immunogenic peptides from TARP elicit an immune response, triggering T cells to kill only the cancer cells within a patient. NCI seeks licensees or co-development partners to commercialize this invention.

A considerable effort has been devoted to identifying and targeting specific extracellular cancer markers using antibody based therapies. However, diminished access to new cancer cell surface markers has limited the development of corresponding antibodies. NCI Technology Transfer Center is seeking to license cancer immunotherapy using virus-like particles.

There is a need to develop compounds that can sensitize cancer cells to apoptosis inducing ligands, such as poly I:C and TRAIL. In collaboration with the University of Arizona, NCI investigators discovered a series of compounds in the withanolide family that synergistically enhance the response of cancer cells to treatment with an apoptosis-inducing ligand. The NCI seeks licensing and/or co-development research collaborations for development of withanolide E analogues for the treatment of cancer.

A library of novel compounds that selectively bind the dopamine D3 receptor have been designed and characterized extensively.  In vivo rodent studies indicate selected lead  molecules may be useful to treat drug addiction/dependence.

Chk2 is a protein kinase activated in response to DNA double strand breaks. In normal tissues, Chk2 phosphorylates and thereby activates substrates that induce programmed cell death, or apoptosis, via interactions with p53, E2F1, PML proteins. In cancer tissues, where apoptosis is suppressed, Chk2 phosphorylates and inactivates cell cycle checkpoints (via interactions with Cdc25, phosphatases and Brca1 proteins), which allows cancer cells to repair and tolerate DNA damage. Hence, Chk2 inhibitors would be expected to protect normal tissues by reducing apoptosis, and to sensitize cancer cells to DNA-targeted agents. The National Cancer Institute seeks licensees for small molecule inhibitors of Chk2 for the treatment of cancer.