Contact | Print version | PDF version | Send article | RSS feed

Dendritic NanoTechnologies, Dow and Starpharma Sign Major Three-Way Deal to Commercialize Nanotechnology

26 Jan 2005 - Dendritic NanoTechnologies Inc. (DNT), The Dow Chemical Company and Starpharma have reached an agreement that provides DNT and Starpharma with ownership or access to the world's broadest patent portfolio in the field of dendrimers, and establishes the companies as leading providers of market-validated nanotechnology with near-term, tangible commercial applications.
 
Under terms of the deal, Dow will assign its entire intellectual property portfolio and associated royalties in the field of dendrimers (196 patents comprising 41 patent families) to DNT in exchange for a significant equity stake in DNT. Starpharma, which already held a 42% interest in DNT, will make an additional cash equity investment in DNT in exchange for exclusive rights to DNT and former Dow intellectual property for polyvalent, dendrimer-based pharmaceutical applications.
 
"As part of this agreement, Dow has assigned all of our extensive intellectual property in this field to DNT," explained Mike Pirc, manager of intellectual property, The Dow Chemical Company. "This move consolidates a great amount of the important intellectual property in the dendrimer field into one company. It will be very positive for developing the applications and further demonstrating the value of this technology."
 
Dendrimers are a new class of nanostructures with physical properties that make them ideal vehicles for targeting diseases and delivering drugs to fight them. Dendrimer technology was first developed at Dow when DNT founder Donald Tomalia was a Dow employee.