Duke marshals 16 spinouts in 2018

Duke University’s office of licensing and ventures (OLV) spawned 16 new spinouts during the 2018 fiscal year, marking a near-50% increase on the 11 generated during the previous period.
The office said it filed a record 329 invention disclosures on behalf of its researchers and secured 101 patents, 69 of which originated at the School of Medicine, with the remaining 32 coming from the Pratt School of Engineering.
Of the university’s 2018 spinouts, 15 have decided to remain in the local ecosystem, centred on part of Durham, North Carolina known as the Research Triangle.
OLV also confirmed 114 licensing agreements with external parties during 2018 fiscal, 25 of which were granted on an exclusive basis. Licensing revenues amounted to $51m over the period.
Between them, Duke University spinouts managed to generate $526m in capital, with venture funding representing 70% of the intake.
Companies backed in 2018 included genome editing spinout Precision Biosciences, which racked up $110m for its series B round, and Personal Genome Diagnostics, a cancer genome analysis joint venture with Johns Hopkins University that drew $75m in series B funding.
An exit came for the university in April 2018 when bioinformatics provider Element Genomics was bought by biopharmaceutical developer UCB, in a deal worth up to $30m.
OLV’s commercialisation drive has continued with two new initiatives started last year – a mentors-in-residence initiative, which pairs inventors with seasoned entrepreneurs, and the New Venture Fellows program, where MBA students help spinouts with various business activities.