Mayo seeks home run discovery
John Snow

JACKSONVILLE -- In the 17 years since Mayo Clinic opened its doors in Jacksonville, the facility has gained an enviable
reputation as one of Northeast Florida's premier research institutions. Its 220 researchers are constantly delving into
some 200 areas of health and medicine.


But while the clinic has made some advances, it still hasn't hit the research jackpot: the development of a world-class
new drug or therapy that will bring Mayo -- and the researchers who create it -- fame and huge fortune. The gold mine
that Mayo seeks is similar to the one that Florida State University struck in 1994 after years of research resulted in
a drug called Taxol that is used to treat breast cancer. Sales of Taxol have produced royalties totaling about $300
million for FSU and the drug's creator, Dr. Robert Holton, said Raymond Bye, FSU vice president of research.

Mayo's research efforts cover a wide variety of projects that fall under two major programs. The neuroscience research
program has about 200 researchers and staff, while the relatively new cancer research program has 20 employees, said
Dr. Robert C. Smallridge, director of research at the clinic.

Mayo's best shot at hitting the jackpot probably will be in its oldest research program, which focuses on such
neurodegenerative disorders as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. "We're trying to diagnose diseases at earlier
stages and develop more effective treatments," Smallridge said.

Among the studies of such diseases, Mayo researchers are looking at proteins that create brain lesions linked to
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. They also have developed strains of mice with brain lesions that pharmaceutical companies
can use to test potential treatments. While far from the home run Mayo wants, the clinic nevertheless collects a
licensing fee from drug companies that use the so-called transgenic mice models.

Smallridge concedes that Mayo hasn't yet scored big by gaining Food and Drug Administration approval of a blockbuster
drug, but he believes some of the drugs in development may have that potential in the long run.

Mayo's Parkinson's research won important recognition earlier this year when the Michael J. Fox Foundation for
Parkinson's Research gave two Mayo researchers substantial grants. Matt Farrer, a geneticist, won a $250,000 grant and
Leonard Petrucelli, a neuroscientist studying how abnormal protein deposits affect the brain of Parkinson's victims,
was awarded $375,000.

"The Mayo name is an excellent name, but it's really the quality of the individual researchers and their innovative
projects that we look for," said Joyce Oberdorf, a spokesperson for the Michael Fox Foundation.

But Mayo's reputation for excellence in research plays an important role in attracting such researchers, as well as
patients to take part in research programs. Dr. Neill Graff-Radford was an associate professor in neurology with tenure
at the University of Iowa 14 years ago when Mayo came calling with an offer to set up a neurological research program
in Jacksonville. Now he's chair of the neurology department at Mayo.

"I was happy at Iowa," Graff-Radford said, but was intrigued by the idea of starting a program from scratch. He also
thought Mayo's reputation would attract other top researchers in neurodegenerative diseases. "We have one of the best
Alzheimer's research groups in the world," he said.

Patients, too, respect the Mayo name, making it easier to recruit them to participate in clinical studies.

While grants from government agencies and foundations and joint ventures with pharmaceutical companies provide the
funding for specific research programs, philanthropy plays a large part in building the clinic's physical
infrastructure, Smallridge said, and such giving is directly linked to Mayo's reputation for research. The clinic's new
$27-million cancer research building is a case in point. "The cancer building was built entirely through philanthropy,
primarily through North Florida donors," Smallridge said.

SOURCE: Jacksonville Business Journal, FL
http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2003/06/09/story5.html

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