Past Launchpad Winner Receives Global Award

USA Technology and Inventors Receive Global Award

The University of South Alabama technology licensed by Swift Biotech, one of the 2010 LaunchPad winners, was awarded the Eugene Bricker Award for Best Research at the international meeting of the Society of Pelvic Surgeons in Dusseldorf, Germany. This technology, utilizing a test similar to a PAP smear, was invented by Dr. Lewis Pannell, Dr. Michael Finan and Dr. Rod Rocconi at the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Cancer Institute (MCI). Dr. Finan presented the technology and accepted the award in Germany.

The USA technology has consistently been in the news lately. In late 2012, Dr. Pannell was awarded a $1.1 million grant from the National Institute of Health to fund key components of the ovarian development project. In March of this year, of the many abstracts submitted for consideration at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer in Los Angeles, only five research projects were selected to be featured and two of them were invented at MCI. Those two technologies featured the ovarian screen being developed by Swift and another under option by Swift focusing on endometrial cancer.

Swift recently obtained its first patent on a lead biomarker and the journal BioCentury, part of the Bernstein Report on BioBusiness, featured Swift Biotech as its “Emerging New Company” in its June issue.  BioCentury is marketed as “the best source of perspective, interpretation and analysis for top managers and investors in the biotech community.”

The president and CEO of Swift, Dr. Michael Chambers, explained that “these successes are due to the visionary efforts of these inventors and the critical support of leaders at MCI, namely Dr. Michael Boyd and Dr. Laurie Owen.” He added that, “Lynne Chronister, USA’s new Vice-President of Research and Economic Development, and Ker Ferguson, Assistant Vice President, Research/Office of Industry, have created both focus and momentum to support the efforts of Swift and others licensing USA technology.”