Research institutions across the world have a key role to play in developing and transferring technologies that can help pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies to develop drugs and vaccines, according to Professor Robert H Grubbs, Nobel Laureate in chemistry and professor, California Institute of Technology, US.

Talking to Pharmabiz, Grubbs said that the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), California, was closely working with leading pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs and vaccines.

Caltech has offered technologies to two such companies in the recent past. It has provided technology to Boehringer Ingelheim, which is working on a hepatitis C vaccine and is to initiate phase II trials in the US and Europe, while Bristol Myers Squibb is working in the area of osteoporosis, he added.

Caltech has a long tradition of protecting its inventions through patents, with over 800 US patents issued to Caltech since 1980, and over 120 patents were issued to it in 2000. Caltech's licensing efforts have increased dramatically in the past few years, and currently roughly forty to fifty patent licenses and options are executed each year. The institute has been involved in the formation of over 70 start-up companies since 1996.

Funding research institutions is essential if useful technologies are to be developed. NIH has cut up to 15 per cent of its budget for research institutions in the US, while countries like India have been able to constantly increase funding for research institutions. India can benefit from this approach, he added.

Robert Grubbs is the winner of Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2005. He shares this award with Yves Chauvin and Richard R Schrock. The award is the result of their development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis.