The UT Research Foundation is pleased to announce the UTRF Drug Discovery Support Program. The goal of the program is to add commercial value to UT technologies by acquiring early stage drugability data (ADME-tox, PK/PD) on small molecules and early development assays for biologics.

In order to receive assay support through the program, an invention disclosure for the technology must be submitted (or have been submitted) to UTRF along with a 1-2 page request. The request should include:

• Compound structure or type of biologic
• Brief overview of biological data: in vitro data and in vivo proof of concept data.
• Any ADME-tox studies to date and summary of results.

No funds will be distributed to inventors. As such, all scheduling and billing with contract research organizations will be arranged through UTRF. All data from the contract research organizations will be sent to UTRF and relayed to inventors. Inventors may use the data for publications, presentations and grant proposals. Requests will be evaluated based on the type/stage of the project, input from the principle investigator, and the likelihood of the assays increasing the technology’s chances for commercialization.

Examples of small molecule assays that may be requested are: aqueous solubility, CYP inhibition, metabolic stability, CACO-2, hERG patchclamp, iv/oral rat PK, off-target screening. Funds will not be available to pay for the re-synthesis of compounds.

The program is open to requests at anytime throughout the year. For more information or to submit a request, contact Janet Ralbovsky, Ph.D. (jralbovs@uthsc.edu). Complete program guidelines can be found here.