The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is now the most successful university in the country at earning invention income from its research.
A new analysis ranks the ICR first among UK higher education institutions for income from intellectual property in figures adjusted for size.
The analysis also puts the ICR second, behind only the much larger University of Cambridge, in absolute income earned from intellectual property.
The ICR works with industry to commercialise its discoveries as the fastest way of taking new drugs and technologies to patients. It has charitable status and ploughs income earned back into its research, so further patients can benefit.
In the 2012/13 academic year the ICR received more than £10m in invention income – an average of more than £19,000 per academic staff member, once the figures are adjusted for staff headcount.
Using the latest figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the analysis shows the ICR ranks first, followed by the University of Belfast, the University of Cambridge, Aston University and Oxford Brookes University, for size-adjusted income.
The analysis, conducted by the ICR’s Enterprise Unit, finds that the ICR’s invention income also bears comparison with some of the leading universities internationally.
The ICR’s invention income per $1,000 of research spend would place it in the top 10 of US universities for which figures are publicly available – ranking above some of the world’s leading universities including Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The figures reflect not only the ICR’s success at working in partnership with industry, but also its unrivalled track record at discovering and developing new cancer drugs.
It is the most successful academic institution in the world at discovering new cancer drugs – discovering 17 preclinical drug development candidates, and taking seven new drugs into clinical trials, since 2005 alone.
Professor Paul Workman, Deputy Chief Executive and Head of the Division of Cancer Therapeutics at the ICR, said: “We’re absolutely convinced by our own experience that the best way of turning our scientific discoveries into new drugs and technologies that benefit cancer patients is to work in close collaboration with industry to accelerate those products to market. Our particular role is to take the early risks on highly innovative approaches, especially discovering drugs acting on new biological targets. Since 2005, we have taken seven new drugs into clinical trials. And our prostate cancer drug abiraterone has been approved for widespread use and is making a huge difference to patients with advanced disease worldwide.
“We don't commercialise our research to make money but to benefit cancer patients – however the invention income we receive is a powerful testimony to our success at delivering real impact from our research discoveries. We are a world-leading organisation both for our science and also for the way we work with industry, and of course the income we earn is ploughed back into our future research, so patients benefit in that way as well.”
For more information, please see correspondence from Professor Paul Workman published in the journal Nature.