Hewlett-Packard Co. is stepping up its drive to license technology to companies outside its core computer and printer businesses, such as healthcare. In the latest deal, Irish medical device maker Crospon Ltd. is licensing HP's inkjet printing technology to develop a drug delivery patch. Terms were not disclosed.

HP has been licensing technology to companies outside its core computer business for some time, and indeed, like rival IBM Corp., it has added millions of dollars a year to its bottom line through licensing deals. Now it is actively seeking nimble venture-backed startups that can bring its technology to new markets, including medical devices. "We are doubling our efforts to do deals with companies like Crospon," explains Charles Chapman, a director of intellectual property licensing for HP. "We want to work with  smaller, younger, more agile companies."

Crospon is a one-year-old company that has raised €2.3 million ($3.2 million) in seed funding to develop a gastrointestinal device. Over the next 18 months, it will seek €3 million to €5 million to bring the HP-derived technology to market. The patch will take advantage of HP's inkjet expertise to deliver drugs to a web of blood vessels just under the topmost layer of skin. The patch will have up to 1,000 tiny needles per inch, but because those needles won't inject deep enough to stimulate nerves, the injections will be pain-free. HP has contributed technology that allows for microscopic wells beneath the needles to be filled with medicine. A layer of heat-sensitive film lies underneath the wells. When the film heats up, the wells contract, shooting the medicine through the needle into the skin.

Crospon CEO John O'Dea anticipates the patch will be useful for delivering multiple drugs to one patient, as well as helping deliver a regular doses of drugs, such as insulin to diabetics. The next step is to find the best drug candidates for the patch, which will take a few months, and then he expects it will be three to five years before a product hits the market. —Stacey Higginbotham

See Feb. 16 story in The Deal

Tags: Biotech, pharmaceutical, healthcare, medicine, vc, venture+capital