B3 bio pairs with drug giant

Biotechnology company b3 bio is teaming up with pharmaceutical giant Roche to license innovative technology from academia.

Switzerland-based Roche will pay to buy and develop the technology to the "proof of concept" stage, and will have the rights to test and commercialize it, said b3 CEO and co-founder Dani Bolognesi.

Roche also is increasing its ownership stake in the small, privately held Research Triangle Park company. Financial details weren't disclosed.

"It really allows us to diversify," said Bolognesi, the co-founder and former CEO of Durham drug firm Trimeris. "It allows us to be on the cutting edge of several new technologies and move them forward."

The aim is to bridge the chasm between academics' scientific breakthroughs and the point at which the technology's commercial potential is proven. That gap is known in the pharmaceutical industry as the "valley of death."

"It sounds like Roche has figured out that Dani Bolognesi and [b3 co-founder] Bob Bonczek are really good at developing new technology," said venture capitalist Clay Thorp of Durham's Hatteras Venture Partners.

Roche and Bolognesi have a history.

Roche manufactured and marketed Trimeris' Fuzeon, one of the few drugs a Triangle company has successfully advanced from the laboratory through regulatory approval. Fuzeon sales peaked at $266.8 million in 2007. The technologies b3 and Roche are interested in cover the gamut from new medicines to next-generation tools for developing drugs.

B3, which has 10 employees, will need to add scientists as it acquires technology. But Bolognesi said there's no way to project staffing needs until deals are struck.

Bolognesi already has a list of cutting-edge technologies he is interested in licensing, including some developed at local universities.

B3 operates out of the incubator at RTP's Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, a nonprofit research organization. So, in effect, the deal with Roche makes b3 a technology incubator within an incubator.

"It really is a synergistic partnership that we enjoy with b3 in this regard," Hamner Institutes CEO William Greenlee said.

The deal reflects a growing trend in which large pharmaceutical companies are seeking new drugs and technology elsewhere rather than relying exclusively on their own scientists.

B3 was formed in 2007 by Bolognesi; Bonczek, Trimeris' former chief financial officer; and two scientists who developed technology that enables medicines to target specific cells: Duke professor Bruce Sullenger and University of Texas professor Andrew Ellington.

In July 2008, Roche agreed to finance the development of that technology and also invested in b3, but that initial partnership wasn't made public, Bolognesi said.