Yissum Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem today revealed some of the numerical data for its activity in 2014. The company refrained this year from reporting the amount of its revenue. Its most recent such report was in 2010, when its revenue totaled $60 million.
Estimates are that the company's revenue is about the same, although revenue from patents fell because a number of patents on leading drugs based on university research expired, including Exelon for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and Doxil for the treatment of cancer. At the same time, however, the value of the shares held by the company rose. Yissum's most substantial holding is in Mobileye, which held its Nasdaq IPO in 2014. Yissum's stake in this company alone is worth tens of millions of dollars.
According to Yissum CEO Yaacov Michlin, 65 licensing and license option agreements were signed in 2014 with many different national companies, and a total of 596 agreements of various types were signed (including confidentiality agreements that precede deals, research services agreements, etc.). This is an increase in two parameters in comparison with 2013. Nine companies were founded on the basis of technology originating at the university, and raised $9 million.
The company's revenue from research (carried out for companies as a service for payment ) totaled $13.5 million, the highest amount in this category to date. Companies using this service include Lockheed-Martin, Israel Chemicals (TASE: ICL: NYSE: ICL), and Coca Cola. "These research agreements provide a great deal of money for the researchers' laboratories, and promote their achievements," Michlin said.
Integra Holdings, the venture capital fund operated by Yissum, which invests chiefly in the life sciences, raised $3 million from a private investor at a $57 million company value. The fund invests in startups founded on the basis of Yissum's technology.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 3, 2015
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