Skip to Main Content
Boston University
  • Bostonia
  • BU Today
  • The Brink
  • University Publications

    • Bostonia
    • BU Today
    • The Brink
  • School & College Publications

    • The Record
Other Publications
BU Today
  • Sections
News, Opinion, Community

BU-incubated company purchased

New glaucoma treatment could help millions save their sight

September 7, 2006
  • Chris Berdik
Twitter Facebook
Doug Adams, founder of Solx

In the fall of 2001, Doug Adams stepped onto an elevator with Clifford Robinson, Boston University’s director of business incubation, and started talking up his young company, Solx, which had a patent pending for a new glaucoma treatment and a business plan, but not much else. Adams started his pitch on the ninth floor, and by the time he and Robinson reached the building’s lobby, Solx had been added to the roster of fledgling businesses being helped along by BU’s Photonics Center. 

Solx reached a milestone on August 31, when it was acquired by Toronto-based OccuLogix, a company specializing in treatments for macular degeneration, another major age-related eye disease. 

“We went from a pending patent to building and perfecting prototypes to manufacturing in 20 months,” says Adams, whose company now holds seven patents. He gives BU plenty of credit for his company’s rapid success. As a business incubated at BU, Solx was one of several start-up companies with access to the University’s high-tech labs and machine shops, faculty expertise, student interns, and shared office facilities. In addition, says Adams, “the pedigree of the Photonics Center allowed me to raise money with private investors.”

About 18 companies have been incubated at BU in the past eight years, and they have raised a combined $250 million in investment capital. Because BU has a 16 percent ownership stake in Solx, the University will receive about $1 million initially from the acquisition deal, and a similar amount over the next two years, plus stock in OccuLogix.

Robinson says the real reward, though, is that BU has helped commercialize technologies that could “revolutionize the treatment of glaucoma,” a disease that affects the eyesight of between 2 million and 3 million Americans and about 70 million people around the world, according to the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. Glaucoma occurs when the eye cannot properly drain the aqueous fluid it is constantly producing, leading to increased pressure inside the eye, which can in turn damage the optic nerve and potentially lead to blindness.

The standard of care for most glaucoma patients has been one or more types of prescription eyedrops, taken every day, which either make the eye produce less fluid or make the eye more absorptive. Adams believes Solx offers a better way: a new type of laser treatment, combined with gold “micro shunts,” each about half as thick as a human hair, which help restore the eye’s ability to drain fluid and thus reduce pressure. Both products are currently available in Europe and are in the midst of the final phase of clinical trials here in America.  

Along the way, Adams has been an active member of the BU community, serving on the committee that applied for and won a $2.9 million grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, used to finance annual awards for BU biomedical engineers and clinicians collaborating on new medical technologies. He also is a guest lecturer at the School of Management, where he uses the elevator-pitch story to give students a lesson in entrepreneurship: be clear and succinct about your business vision.

“If you can’t describe your company or business opportunity in 15 seconds, you’ve already lost the audience,” he says.

The story of Solx’s success will help foster more entrepreneurship in BU students and faculty, says Stanford Willie, executive director of BU’s Office of Technology Development and a member of Solx’s board of directors. After all, Willie says, even with help, not every young company makes it. “Some are successful and some are not. Solx has been enormously successful. They’ve been good partners to the University, and their products are going to be of enormous benefit to society.”

Explore Related Topics:

  • Aid
  • Business
  • Share this story

Share

BU-incubated company purchased

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Chris Berdik

    Chris Berdik Profile

Latest from BU Today

  • Things-to-do

    See a Concert Under the Stars with the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, Featuring BU Faculty

  • Watch Now

    BU, but Make It Emoji

  • NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY

    How to Celebrate National Ice Cream Day

  • Health & Medicine

    Why Is Everyone So Obsessed with Protein? BU Nutrition Expert Has Some Answers

  • Sports

    BU Table Tennis Player Headed to World Championships in Germany

  • Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

    Americans Are Buying More European Sunscreens. Are They Better Than Domestic Ones?

  • Film & TV

    Did You Win Starbucks Gift Cards in Our Superman Trivia Quiz?

  • Social Media

    A Viral Marriage Proposal Raises Privacy Questions in the Social Media Age

  • Things-to-do

    Our List of Outdoor Concerts to Enjoy This Summer

  • Arts & Culture

    This CFA Student Is Using Art to Help Medical Patients

  • Film & TV

    Why Do We Keep Watching Reality Dating Shows?

  • University News

    Boston University Announces Budget Cuts, Layoffs Amid Financial Pressures

  • Social Media

    COM Class Teaches Students How to Promote Their Content Online

  • Things-to-do

    How to Spend the July Fourth Weekend in Boston

  • Things-to-do

    Best Places to Watch Fireworks in Boston This Fourth of July

  • 25 Charles River Campus Faculty Receive Promotions

  • Books

    With Summer Officially Here, 10 Great Beach Reads

  • Things-to-do

    Want to Beat the Summer Heat? Check Out One of the Boston Area’s Many Public Pools

  • Business & Law

    BU Legal Scholars Assess Supreme Court Ruling Limiting Nationwide Injunctions

  • Film & TV

    Learning Through Screen Time

Section navigation

  • Sections
  • Must Reads
  • Videos
  • Series
  • Close-ups
  • Archives
  • About + Contact
Get Our Email

Explore Our Publications

Bostonia

Boston University’s Alumni Magazine

BU Today

News, Opinion, Community

The Brink

Pioneering Research from Boston University

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Weibo
  • TikTok
© Boston University. All rights reserved. www.bu.edu
© 2025 Trustees of Boston UniversityPrivacy StatementAccessibility
Boston University
Notice of Non-Discrimination: Boston University prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, color, natural or protective hairstyle, religion, sex or gender, age, national origin, ethnicity, shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, military service, marital, parental, veteran status, or any other legally protected status in any and all educational programs or activities operated by Boston University. Retaliation is also prohibited. Please refer questions or concerns about Title IX, discrimination based on any other status protected by law or BU policy, or retaliation to Boston University’s Executive Director of Equal Opportunity/Title IX Coordinator, at titleix@bu.edu or (617) 358-1796. Read Boston University’s full Notice of Nondiscrimination.
Search
Boston University Masterplate
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
BU-incubated company purchased
0
share this