A Description of the Business of Medsaic Pty Ltd.
Provide a brief description of the business, state why you consider it to be “Entrepreneurial”; explain how the business creates value through the identification and exploitation of new products, processes and/or markets.
Medsaic Pty Ltd is an Australian biotechnology company that is a good example of a successful start up entrepreneurial business. Founded in 2003, as a spin-off company from the University of Sydney, it was established to commercialize patented intellectual property covering the use of microarrays for the diagnosis of disease[1].
Medsaic developed new platform technology, now known as DotScanTM, which is a solid-phase cell-capture assay using an antibody mircoarray to immunophenotype cancer cells[2], as well as propriety technology for rapid imaging[3].
The concept was developed by Professors Richard Christopherson and Cris dos Remedios in 1998. Both were frustrated that chemotherapy, with its serious side-effects, was the best treatment available for a friend who had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia[4]. They had the idea that by identifying the wide-range of proteins expressed on the surface of a patient’s leukaemia cells, they could enable rapid diagnosis of the type of leukaemia and a strategy for more specific treatment - instead of the current method of trial and error chemotherapy[5].
Beginning as a research project at the University of Sydney they were able to receive early funding from an Angel investor. Once the initial discovery was made, a patent was lodged in December 1998. This enabled the company to have a definable intellectual property platform[6]. The university then went on to create a company to provide a vehicle for the intellectual property. This allowed for the development of a business plan, and through this funding was able to be sourced from venture capitalists and private equity sources[7].
Through a BIF grant, they were able to show proof of principal, in that they were able to get the imaging
Medsaic Pty Ltd is an Australian biotechnology company that is a good example of a successful start up entrepreneurial business. Founded in 2003, as a spin-off company from the University of Sydney, it was established to commercialize patented intellectual property covering the use of microarrays for the diagnosis of disease[1].
Medsaic developed new platform technology, now known as DotScanTM, which is a solid-phase cell-capture assay using an antibody mircoarray to immunophenotype cancer cells[2], as well as propriety technology for rapid imaging[3].
The concept was developed by Professors Richard Christopherson and Cris dos Remedios in 1998. Both were frustrated that chemotherapy, with its serious side-effects, was the best treatment available for a friend who had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia[4]. They had the idea that by identifying the wide-range of proteins expressed on the surface of a patient’s leukaemia cells, they could enable rapid diagnosis of the type of leukaemia and a strategy for more specific treatment - instead of the current method of trial and error chemotherapy[5].
Beginning as a research project at the University of Sydney they were able to receive early funding from an Angel investor. Once the initial discovery was made, a patent was lodged in December 1998. This enabled the company to have a definable intellectual property platform[6]. The university then went on to create a company to provide a vehicle for the intellectual property. This allowed for the development of a business plan, and through this funding was able to be sourced from venture capitalists and private equity sources[7].
Through a BIF grant, they were able to show proof of principal, in that they were able to get the imaging
Bibliography: 6. Beran, R. 2005, Mayne first to offer Medsaic’s DotScan as leukaemia test, 23 August, Australian Life Scientist, viewed 27th March 2009, http://www.biotechnews.com.au/article/138023/mayne_first_offer_medsaic_dotscan_ leukaemia_test 7