BioMotiv, launched at the end of June with the aim of speeding the development of promising new drugs from the lab to the clinic, has secured $21 million in financing from its founding investors, University Hospitals and the Harrington family. The Cleveland-based startup was created to be the for-profit drug development arm of the Harrington Project for Drug Discovery and Development, a unique $250 million national initiative to support the discovery and development of breakthrough discoveries by physician-scientists.

Based at University Hospitals’ Case Medical Center, the Harrington Project provides a comprehensive approach to address a set of major challenges in translating university research to medical advances that benefit patients and the economy.

“BioMotiv is a new model for accelerating breakthrough discoveries into medicines and aligning capital and collaborations to develop a portfolio of therapeutics,” says Baiju Shah, BioMotiv’s newly appointed CEO.

BioMotiv’s business model is to build a portfolio of innovative compounds in-licensed from academic medical centers associated with the Harrington Project and other sources. The aim is to advance discoveries to a stage where they can be out-licensed to pharmaceutical companies or venture capitalists.

As a for-profit enterprise, BioMotiv can leverage the resources of the non-profit Harrington Project, which include an “idea factory,” to help shape a robust portfolio of potential drug candidates. On its website, BioMotiv says its business model bridges the early-stage development gap and “serves as the formerly ‘missing middle portal’ between the upstream academic medical centers and the downstream biopharmaceutical companies and venture firms.”

“The challenge of translating discoveries into clinical development requires an innovative, next-generation business model,” says Ron Harrington, an entrepreneur whose family made a $50 million gift to jumpstart the University Hospitals’ initiative. “BioMotiv’s mission-aligned model and experienced team will enable it to efficiently and effectively manage a portfolio of early-stage drugs.”

The initial capital will be used to launch operations and initiate the development of BioMotiv’s technology portfolio which is being sourced from leading academic medical centers and industry sources from across the country. The company plans to raise a total of $100 million in capital.