Pitt Technology Transfer About to Score Big Time?

The Pittsburgh Business Times reported last week that Stentor, a San Francisco company that is commercializing UPMC imaging technology, is poised to cash in via the public markets. In November, Stentor filed an S-1 (aka a registration statement) with the SEC, an essential step leading to an IPO:

Stentor licenses technology developed at the University of Pittsburgh. In fact, sources said it's the first Pitt licensee to go public. If the offering goes well -- Stentor hopes to raise $69 million, according to the SEC filings -- it will be a big image boost for the university's technology transfer efforts.

Standing to profit more directly are UPMC Health System, which owns 5.6 percent of the company and is one of Stentor's largest customers, and Lancet Capital, UPMC's venture capital arm, which is Stentor's largest investor. . . .

Stentor's picture archive and communications systems technology allows hospitals and doctors to share X-rays and other patient images electronically. Around 200 hospitals nationwide have purchased Stentor's technology, the documents said. . . . Last year, Stentor's sales were $20.2 million and through the first nine months of 2004, topped $25.1 million.

The paper didn't report the percentage of the company that's up for sale, so it's difficult to judge the scale of the tech transfer success. $69 million is nice, and it's some nice PR for Pitt and UPMC, but this doesn't sound like a home run. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)