The Triple Helix

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The Triple Helix
How This Innovation Model has Supported the
Success of MDS Sciex
Bill Davidson May 10, 2006
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MDS Sciex

• Worlds largest manufacturer of mass
  spectrometers in the life sciences market
• gt550M in end-user revenues
• 550 employees in three sites, 230 staff in RD
• 50M RD budget
• Joint Venture with Applied Biosystems
• MS/MS, Linear Trap, QqTOF, TOF/TOF
• Joint Venture with PerkinElmer
• ICP/MS and prO-TOF
• Just launched first non-MS product the CellKey
  cell analysis system

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What is the Triple Helix?
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What is the Triple Helix?
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What is the Triple Helix?
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Diagram of How it Works
Academia
Industry
Government
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Benefits to Industry

• Expand long term and risky research activities to
  experts in the field
• Obtain proprietary technology through licensing
  agreements
• Leverage funding through matching grant projects
• Collaborating research labs are source of new
  recruits

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Benefits to Academia

• Excellent source of funding with industry and
  government sharing the load
• Funding allows for critical mass of personnel and
  in general more efficient research
• Training of highly qualified personnel in
  industrial related research good for job
  placements
• Helps remove stigma of ivied walls
• Research generally based on strategic needs and
  has long range benefit to the community

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Benefits to Government

• New industries and new products can lead to
  higher employment
• Financial benefit from taxes and duties
• Helps support strategic RD initiatives
• Many products have impact on Canadians in
  providing a better live style

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Success Stories
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Development of TAGA 6000
An Mobile Taga 6000 for Environmental Monitoring
Taga 6000 (1980)
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Parties Involved

• Academia
• University of Toronto Aerospace Institute, Barry
  French who had had expertise in ion optics in
  free jet expansion
• Government
• National Research Council, Peter Dawson who had
  world leading expertise in quadrupole design
• Department of Industry (PILP program)
• Industry
• Sciex Inc.

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Outcome

• The TAGA 6000 was the first commercial triple
  quadrupole mass spectrometer
• Introduced in 1980, it was the foundation for
  Sciexs commercial success
• Sciex now is world leader in production of triple
  quadrupole
• Major source of licensing revenue for the NRC and
  U of T
• Led to thousand of Canadian jobs
• Off-spring products now used in development of
  drugs, neonatal and other clinical screening

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Development of ELAN 250
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Parties Involved

• University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace
  Studies
• Dr. Barry French who had expertise in interfacing
  atmospheric pressure ion sources with MS
• MDS Sciex
• Dr. Don Douglas who was the first to accomplish
  this interface.
• National Research Council
• Dr. Jim McLaren who was a leader in elemental
  analysis
• Department of Industry

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Outcome

• The Elan 250 was the first commercial ICP/MS used
  for trace element detection
• It proved to be the catalyst in the formation of
  a joint venture between Sciex and Perkin Elmer
• Market now include clinical, environmental,
  semi-conductor, homeland security, medical
  research

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More Outcomes

• NRC became the first user of technique and used
  it to develop calibration standards
• NRC received royalties as repayment of government
  grant
• Several hundred jobs created over the years
• Diversified Sciexs product line and kept company
  alive in the mid-80s

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Development of ELAN 6000 and API 300
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Parties Involved

• University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace
  Studies
• Dr. Barry French
• Several Sciex scientists seconded to UTIAS
• MDS Sciex
• Perkin Elmer
• Ontario Technology Fund

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Outcomes

• API 300 became the platform triple quadrupole
  system for MDS Sciex and with high margins led to
  added profitability
• Elan 6000 also became the platform ICP/MS, and
  became the market leader in elemental analysis
• 17M government investment has lead to over 3B
  in revenues

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More Outcomes

• This project became the model project for
  believers in the triple helix model of innovation
• It gave MDS Sciex the ability to compete globally
  and led to our success in the industry
• UTIAS students and post-docs went on to excellent
  positions in industry and academia
• OTF didnt fair well and was stopped when
  Conservatives took power

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Development of QStar and o-MALDI
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Parties Involved

• University of Manitoba
• Dr. Ken Standing and Werner Ens, experts in
  time-of-flight (TOF) technology
• MDS Sciex
• Dr. Bruce Thomson and others, experts in
  quadrupole technology
• Applied Biosystems
• Institute for Marine Biosciences
• Dr. Bob Boyd and others, experts in the use of MS
  in bioanalytical work
• NSERC

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Outcomes

• The QStar was the first TOF instrument developed
  by MDS Sciex
• It is now a key product in biomarker discover and
  protein identification
• o-MALDI proved to be a powerful tool in
  proteomics and now is used to tissue imaging,
  high throughput assays
• U of Manitoba and Sciex were awarded an NSERC
  Synergy Award for this project

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More Outcomes

• Royalties and other licensing fees were a major
  source of revenue for U Manitoba (and still are)
• U Manitoba became key player in proteomics arena
• Key member of Sciexs present research group came
  from U Manitoba and IMB
• This is also viewed as a model of how academia,
  industry and government projects can be
  beneficial to all

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When Projects are Successful
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Not So Successful
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DNA Sequencer
The Applied Biosystems Prism 3700
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Parties Involved

• University of Alberta
• Dr. Norm Dovichi, expert in capillary
  electrophoresis
• Genetic Disease Network
• Bacterial Disease Network
• MDS Sciex
• NSERC

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Outcomes

• ILO office late in patenting certain aspects of
  the technology
• MDS Sciex unable to commercialize product
• Applied Biosystems licenses technology from Sciex
  and creates the first high throughput, capillary
  based DNA sequencer
• This technology led to the sequencing of the
  Human Genome
• Job creation in Canada less than 5 sales persons.

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What went wrong

• University under-estimated value of the
  technology
• MDS Sciex did not have the resource base to
  commercialize a non-MS product
• Applied Biosystems had other key patents in place
  that restricted Sciex
• Dovichi became under-funded, and went to the US

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MS Protein Sequencer
The Toby Project
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Parties Involved

• Biomedical Research Centre (University of British
  Columbia)
• Dr. Ruedi Abersold, a leader in protein
  characterization
• MDS Sciex
• Industry Canada

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Outcome

• Three prototypes were built but no commercial
  product was ever made
• Industry Canada did not receive any of its
  investment back
• Technology worked, but overtaken by other MS
  approaches (also developed by MDS Sciex)

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What went wrong

• Acceptance of the technology was slow since all
  funding was directed towards DNA sequencing at
  the time
• Wellcome foundation pulls out of BRC and some
  funding disappears
• The complexity of the technology made it somewhat
  unattractive
• With BRC transferring to UBC, funding becomes a
  problem and Ruedi Aebersold leaves for U
  Washington

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Lack of Government Funding Leads to Separation
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Genome Canada
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Competitions

• Competition II
• MDS Sciex and Genome Prairie team up to Develop
  Enabling Technologies for Proteomics Research
• Competition Human Health
• University Hospital Network, MDS Sciex and
  Ontario Genomics Institute successful in
  Development of MS-based Cytometers for Stem Cell
  Research
• Competition III
• MDS Sciex, Genome Prairie and Mt. Sinai Hospital
  propose to develop new tools for biomarker
  discovery and validation

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Outcomes

• Competition II
• Project used as an example to parliament as to
  the value of large-scale projects involving the
  triple helix
• Competition Human Health
• MDS Sciex backs out of major funding due to high
  commercial risk. Sciex researchers form new
  company to continue project.
• Competition III
• Although reviews were excellent, having
  commercial company lead the project was likely
  the reason for the project being reject. Outcome
  of Sponsorship-gate.

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In Conclusion
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Benefits to Triple Helix

• New technologies and products arising from
  university research
• Training of HQP to support industrial RD in
  Canada
• Licensing revenues for Universities
• Job creation for Canadians
• Products lead to higher living standards
• Allows Canadian academia and industry to compete
  globally

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Pitfalls to Triple Helix

• A highly successful research project may lead to
  difficulties in technology transfer
• There are very few government funding
  opportunities, particularly if industry is not
  willing to match funds by greater than 50
• Industry may not have the resources to
  commercialize the technology
• In highly competitive areas, IP issues can
  jeopardize commercialization plans