Gov. Jim Doyle announced Tuesday that a patented anti-anxiety compound developed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has been licensed by a global pharmaceutical company.

James Cook, a UWM chemistry professor, developed the compound and licensed it out to pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb, marking the first time an established company has licensed a patent from UWM research, according to a UWM release.

"This is a very significant discovery that's been licensed," Dan Leistikow, Doyle spokesperson, said. "It's a sign that Wisconsin is getting noticed."

Cook expressed equal excitement in the drug development and in future work on related projects.

"We knew what we were looking for when we started, and we were lucky to find it when we did," he said. "We could have been working on this for much, much longer."

According to Cook, his compound is unique because it provides the same effects as other drugs used for anxiety, such as Valium and Xanax, but does not produce unwanted negative side effects commonly associated with those widely used drugs.

The drug is also not habit-forming, he added.

Cook said he will now be able to work more closely on diseases such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia and epilepsy. Additionally, more work is expected on designing drugs that will not affect regions of the brain identified as being responsible for negative side effects.

Currently, Bristol-Myers Squibb is continuing to work with the drug in preparation for Phase I testing, which will be "throwing every toxicity test possible" at the compound, according to Cook.

And Cook and Doyle said the licensing agreement will in turn benefit the UW System.

"The agreement not only reflects Milwaukee's growing status as a research center, but also could bring significant new resources back to UWM to be reinvested in research," Doyle said in a release.

Leistikow also noted UWM will be able to receive payments off the licensed drug, as it holds the patent on the research.

Additionally, Doyle also awarded $500,000 to the Biomedical Technology Alliance, which is a consortium of universities in southeastern Wisconsin including UWM, the Medical College of Wisconsin, Marquette University, Milwaukee School of Engineering and UW-Parkside.

Brian Thompson, spokesperson for BTA, said while the funding is the first of its kind, he considers it a "small start."

The original amount earmarked for BTA, he said, was $2.5 million, but was cut down to a fifth of that amount.

The collaborative institutions making up the alliance will match Doyle's funding grant, creating a $1 million allowance for continued research.

According to Thompson, networking researchers in the southeastern Wisconsin area is a large benefit of the alliance, and will create more opportunities for collaborative efforts in research and innovation.

Cook praised the networking aspects of BTA, saying he was able to get in touch with Marquette University professor David Baker. Baker then became his partner for a study on schizophrenia after searching two months for a researcher of that kind in California.

"He was right around the corner," Cook said. "I would never have met him if not for the alliance."

Cook said he looks forward to continued research and development and expects relationships created through BTA to foster much needed collaborative research.

"This is big stuff," he said. "We're not going to stop here."