News and Events > CU’s Technology Transfer Reports License Agreement with Philips Medical Systems, Inc.

CU’s Technology Transfer Reports License Agreement with Philips Medical Systems, Inc.

November 19, 2002

BOULDER-The University of Colorado's Technology Transfer office recently completed a license agreement with Philips Medical Systems, Inc, the medical division of Philips Electronics N.V. of the Netherlands.

The agreement sets licensing terms between CU and Philips for the commercialization of new 3-D reconstruction software for coronary artery structures. The software is a revolutionary improvement over traditional 2-D Angiography, providing cardiologists with more accurate, higher quality images of the beating heart. The project is the collaborative effort of two inventors at the CU Health Sciences Center, Dr. James Chen, a computer scientist and Dr. John Carroll, a cardiologist.

The Agreement is the result of over a decade of research in 3-D imaging by Drs. Chen and Carroll, who began their association at the University of Chicago before moving to CU in 1996. In 2000, their work caught the attention of Philips Medical Systems who embarked on an unprecedented collaborative research project. In addition to facilitating the placement of their state of the art imaging equipment, Philips also supported this effort by placing an engineer directly in the research lab with Dr.'s Chen and Carroll. As part of this agreement, the inventors agreed to integrate their software code on Philips' 3-D workstation platform. The University of Colorado Hospital Cardiac Catheterization lab has one of the world's first fully integrated 3D coronary imaging labs, where the newest imaging techniques can be seamlessly integrated into patient care.

David Drake, director of business development in CU's Technology Transfer office said, "The Philips Agreement provides a commercial path for cutting edge coronary imaging research being conducted at CU and paves the way for future collaboration with one of the world's premier medical imaging and device companies. We're pleased to support our faculty researchers in such an endeavor."

This agreement is a license to Philips to commercialize copyrights, patents, and software in all applications directly involved in patient care, including medical equipment and clinical workshops software and support.

David N. Allen, assistant vice president of technology transfer, says "There is definitely a market ready for technology of this caliber."

According to Allen, "Manufacturers of catheters, guidewires, stents, pacemakers and other cardologic medical devices have expressed a strong need for reliable quantitative, patient-specific, 3-D coronary data. These companies are seeking ways to speed and improve product design, testing and marketing by analyzing the performance of their products given real patient situations prior to expensive clinical trials."

Technology transfer has become a priority at CU because tech transfer has the power to significantly impact society and the economy by bringing to market needed knowledge and innovation that translates into products, services and jobs.

The mission of the CU Technology Transfer Office is to aggressively pursue, protect, package, and license to business the intellectual property generated from the research enterprise and to serve faculty, staff, and students seeking to create such intellectual property. For more information on CU's technology transfer services go to www.cu.edu/techtransfer.

The University of Colorado is a four-campus system with three general campuses in Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs, and a Health Sciences Center campus located in Denver and at the former Fitzsimons Army Base in Aurora. For further information, please contact Bob Nero or Michele McKinney in the CU System Office of Institutional Relations at 303.492.6206.