Case Studies - Business Partnerships
Novel Kennel Cough Vaccine Developed by RVC Researchers in an Industrial Collaboration
Kennel cough (canine infectious respiratory disease) is a highly contagious disease affecting dogs of all ages. Infected dogs develop a harsh dry hacking cough that can last for several weeks and often requires antibiotic treatment.
A major biopharmaceutical company worked in close partnership with RVC researchers to develop a novel kennel cough vaccine. The company invested over £500,000 in R&D funding and patent expenses.
In July 2008, the company exercised its option to an exclusive licence for the vaccine rights, paying a substantial licence fee, which has been shared with the three named RVC inventors under the College’s revenue sharing policy.
Assuming the vaccine receives marketing approval, further milestone payments and royalties will follow. In the meantime, the company has renewed its sponsored research support for the laboratory.
Core Skills Trainer
The Core Skills Trainer teaches core skills for clinical work. With the Trainer, students learn these skills through a series of haptic computer games.
An industrial partnership has been formed by the haptics group at the RVC with SenseGraphics to commercialise the Core Skills Trainer (CST). This stemmed from the work of Dr Sarah Baillie’s Haptic team which includes Sarah, Neil Forrest - consultant Software Developer - and Research Assistant Tierney Kinnison with assistance from the RVC Enterprise team.
The CST makes use of haptic (touch feedback) technology within an exciting and dynamic computer games environment, capturing and maintaining interest as trainees learn by doing. Trainees learn at their own pace, progressing through a series of levels, progressively advancing their core skills.
The CST is targeted to healthcare students and professionals – principally medical and veterinary undergraduates but has potential in other educational areas. Using this engaging platform, trainees will be able to learn the core skills which are the foundation for many procedures and examinations in the medical and veterinary fields
SenseGraphics invested £15,000 to Sarah’s team to develop the CSS to final product stage. We see the partnership with SenseGraphics to be mutually beneficial leading to long-term commercial success.
We perceive SenseGraphics as an ideal partner. Their experience with Haptic applications, their already impressive collaborations with other companies and there ability to market, sell and support the CST long-term will maximise the next stage of development and commercialisation. SenseGraphics will benefit from the already high profile and publicity the RVC has in the Haptics arena thanks to Dr. Baillie’s work and its associations within the Veterinary and Medical fields.
Dr Sarah Baillie is the inventor of the Haptic Cow veterinary simulator and she is originator of the idea for CST. Sarah has many years experience as a practising veterinarian, and has retrained in computer science. She is employed as a Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Education based within LIVE at RVC. The haptics team’s ability to build this strong industry relationship should be congratulated as it has contributed significantly to the success of this knowledge transfer partnership.
More information about the Core Skills Trainer
Further details of Dr. Baillie’s work are on the LIVE website: www.live.ac.uk
If you are interested in funding further collaborations with Sarah’s haptic’s team or other commercial opportunities that are available within the RVC please contact Tong Leung (sleung@rvc.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 7691 2072)