LSU Health New Orleans and Cumberland Emerging Technologies Announce Collaboration Agreement

LSU Health New Orleans and Cumberland Emerging Technologies Inc. (CET) have entered into a collaboration agreement to develop new biomedical products.

With the shared goal of translating research discoveries into commercial products, the parties have agreed to combine their strengths to identify opportunities, based on research at LSU Health New Orleans. Based on the agreement, LSU Health New Orleans will present CET with unique therapeutic discoveries for their consideration to develop. Some of the discoveries could lead to the formation of new biomedical companies which could be located in New Orleans. The potential development pipeline includes therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases, cancer, antifungals, as well as those emerging from drug repurposing.

CET will pursue new sources of funding for these LSU Health New Orleans projects through the Small Business Technology Transfer and Small Business Innovation Research and other grant programs.

“LSU Health is excited to collaborate with Cumberland Emerging Technologies in order to further advance our innovative technologies,” said Patrick Reed, Director of the Office of Technology Management at LSU Health New Orleans. “We’re confident that CET will prove to be an excellent partner to bring our technologies to the market for public benefit.”

“We are honored by the opportunity to partner with the respected academic research center at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans,” said A.J. Kazimi, Chief Executive Officer of Cumberland Pharmaceuticals and CET. “By combining our expertise in drug development and commercialization with the university’s research initiatives, we can facilitate the introduction of promising new products to treat poorly met medical needs.”

LSU Health, New Orleans is a public institution of higher education and the most comprehensive health professions university in Louisiana. Its teaching, research, patient care and outreach span the state through its six professional schools and eight Centers of Excellence.

Cumberland Emerging Technologies’ mission is to bring biomedical technologies and products conceived at southern research centers to the marketplace. CET helps manage the development and commercialization process for select projects and provides expertise on intellectual property, regulatory, manufacturing, and marketing issues that are critical to successful new biomedical products. CET has also developed expertise in supporting funding initiatives including those associated with the NIH small business grant and related programs. The CET Life Sciences Center provides laboratory space, equipment, and infrastructure to early-stage life sciences ventures.