Challenge:
A research group at a leading university had manipulated autologous regulatory T cells (Tregs) to give them gut-homing properties, making them suitable for influencing the course of inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The commercial potential for this novel treatment was thought to be substantial if the logistic aspects of harvesting and delivering the autologous cellular therapeutic product could be addressed. Alacrita was asked to produce a commercial development plan to map out the opportunity and value the research program.
Solution:
We held a briefing meeting with the inventor in order to review any technical or commercial plans for the project, its status, key results/data, project plans, any available vendor budgets or quotations, etc. This initial review was supplemented by secondary research and selected interviews with our established industry contacts.
Using all this information, we identified activities and highlighted milestones (technical and value-creating), risks and budgets to reach key inflection points and map the path to market. Our conclusions helped the university's commercialization institute decide whether an investment in the project was justified.