That was a great call on monogen Brinks.
There's a company that was recently spun off from Sentigen called Sentisearch(SSRC.OB).I know one of the management guys there.I'm curious as to your assessment, if you want to take the time to investigate.Here's a little info:
BUSINESS
We were incorporated in Delaware on October 3, 2006. On October 10, 2006 in connection with the spin-off, Sentigen contributed to SentiSearch all of its olfaction intellectual property assets. The olfaction intellectual property assets primarily consist of an exclusive license agreement with Columbia, dated April 10, 2000 (the “Columbia License”), and certain patent applications titled “Nucleic Acids and Proteins of Insect or 83b odorant receptor genes and uses thereof.” We are considered a development stage company and have a limited operating history.
The exclusive license agreement provides SentiSearch with worldwide rights to certain of Columbia’s patent applications and other rights in the areas of insect chemosensation and olfaction. The Columbia License gives SentiSearch an exclusive license to develop, manufacture, have made, import, use, sell, distribute, rent or lease (i) any product or service the development, manufacture, use, sale, distribution, rental or lease of which is covered by a claim of a patent licensed to SentiSearch under the Columbia License or (ii) any product or service that involves the know-how, confidential information and physical materials conveyed by Columbia to SentiSearch relating to the patents licensed from Columbia (collectively, the “Licensed Products/Services”). Pursuant to the Columbia License, Sentigen was required to contribute a minimum of $1,000,000 into Sentigen Biosciences by April 2001 or be involved in active negotiations to raise $1,000,000 in additional funding. Sentigen satisfied this provision through the consummation of a private placement in November 2000 in which 863,834 shares of Sentigen common stock were sold for aggregate gross proceeds of $5,183,004. The Columbia License also required that a minimum of $50,000 per six month period or $100,000 per annual period be spent on bona fide research and development of the patents and licenses subject to license from April 2002 through April 2004 or Sentigen must have been involved in active negotiation to raise $1,000,000 in additional funding. Sentigen satisfied this provision through April 2004. In consideration of the Columbia License, Columbia was issued 75,000 shares of Sentigen common stock and will receive royalties of 1% of the net sales of any Licensed Products/Services.
The term of the licenses granted under the Columbia License shall extend until the later of the date of expiration of the last to expire of the licensed patents relating to any Licensed Product/Service or ten years from the first sale of any Licensed Product/Service.
The potential uses of the olfaction intellectual property assets derived from the Columbia License consist of three families of patent applications relating to (i) odorant receptors and their uses, (ii) cloning of vertervrate pheromone receptors and their uses and (iii) genes encoding insect odorant receptors and their uses. SentiSearch believes that the applications most likely to be useful in the near future are in the area of insect control, because insects operate entirely through sense of smell and taste for feeding, mating, locating egg-laying sites and general navigation. Blocking the insect sense of smell and taste may afford a potential strategy to inhibit insect reproduction, feeding behavior, and prevent damage to humans, animals, crops and stored products. Such a technology would not require genetic modification of the plant or insect and may rely solely on compounds that are natural, non-toxic and compatible with organic farming methods. This technology has the potential to offer a high level of specificity providing for the targeting of an individual species, reduction of environmental disruption and less chance of insect resistance.
In addition to the Columbia License we have certain patent applications relating to nucleic acids and proteins of insect or 83b odorant receptor genes and their uses. These patent applications relate to the isolation of a gene that appears to be ubiquitous amongst insects. This gene has been identified in various species of insects, including many that have a profound effect on agricultural production and human health. The identification of this gene, and the protein that it expresses, may enable the development of high-throughput screening methods to discover compounds that attract insects to a particular site (and away from one where their presence is undesirable), or develop materials that are distasteful to the insects’ sense of “smell,” thereby making agricultural products, for example, undesirable to them.
We believe that our olfaction intellectual property may be of value to non-profit and commercial partners wishing to develop novel, safer and more effective means to control pest insects through molecular manipulation of insect olfaction and taste. This effort would aim to identify receptor molecules that control key aspects of insect behavior and discovering compounds that block or activate the function of these receptors and to identify new compounds that may have use in agricultural crop protection and insect-borne disease management such as agents that completely block the insect sense of smell rendering an individual or a field invisible to insects. Other potential
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products include new and effective insect repellants and novel potent attractants for use in insect bait stations and traps.
We believe the applications offering the greatest potential for developing products in the intermediate term are for mosquito repellant to be sold by household product companies. Other potential markets for our olfaction intellectual property include:
• food production;
• agricultural chemical companies;
• organic; and
• pharmaceutical companies.
Following the spin-off, our executive officer and board of directors intend to seek opportunities with non-profit agencies and with potential commercial partners to leverage our olfaction intellectual property for the development of control agents for biting insects, in particular, insect vectors of malaria and other diseases. If these endeavors are successful, additional capital commensurate with such an undertaking will need to be raised. In particular, additional steps will be necessary to commercialize the intellectual property assets, including:
• obtaining research and development grants;
• developing commercially feasible products
• filing and obtaining additional patents;
• entering into licensing, marketing or joint venture agreements;
• applying the olfaction intellectual property to a commercially viable product;
• developing and implementing a marketing plan in conjunction with a partner or licensee;
• controlling quality and cost in the manufacturing process in conjunction with a partner or licensee;
• selling products on a profitable basis in conjunction with a partner or licensee; and
• structuring an agreement that will enable SentiSearch to enjoy the profits of its products.
However, there is no guarantee that commercial opportunities will arise from our efforts to develop our olfaction intellectual property. We currently do not have any research and development grant applications outstanding nor can we predict whether we will receive any research and development grants or other commercial funding in the near future. No commercially feasible products are imminently foreseeable and we are not aware of any candidates interested in entering into licensing, marketing or joint venture agreement with us upon which we would be dependent in order to commercialize our olfaction intellectual property. In order to commercialize our intellectual property assets we believe we must enter into a transaction with a party who can utilize our patent applications or feels our patent applications could not be circumvented.
Competition
We face competition primarily from universities, including Yale University and Vanderbilt University, who are conducting the leading research and patent applications pertaining to areas relevant to olfaction technology. These competitors have greater financial, management, technological, research and development, sale, marketing and other resources than we do.
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