CU cancels agreement with pharmaceutical company

The University of Colorado has canceled an agreement with Agada Pharmaceuticals Inc. to license chemical compounds developed by a faculty member to treat cancer.

Denver-based Agada, previously known as Newellink Inc., violated the 2003 agreement by “failing to meet its obligations,” prompting the university to end the agreement in October, said David Allen, the university’s associate vice president for technology transfer.

As a result of the cancellation, rights to the compounds developed by Karen Newell, a University of Colorado at Colorado Springs associate biology professor, go back to the university, which is in “discussions” with three or four potential licensees, Allen said.

“We believe that this is very (marketable) technology,” said Allen, who hopes to sign a new license agreement for the technology this year.

Newell’s research at UCCS and University of Vermont found that the chemical compound dichloroacetate robs cancerous tumors of energy they need to grow.

The university has 25 patents awarded or in various stages of approval covering the compound and its use to treat cancer.

As a result of the cancellation, Newell said Agada has shut down. She started the company in 2002 to turn her research into marketable products but never got the compound into clinical trials despite $2.1 million in investments from a California family.

Newell last year sought out David Drake, who had headed Fitzsimmons BioBusiness Incubator in Aurora, to rescue the company from near failure, but she said he wasn’t able to raise the money needed to make license payments to the university or begin clinical trials.