Partnerships

Biotechnology Focus’ December issue covers MaRS Innovation projects and partnerships

January 10, 2013
Susanne Staer
Industry Partners

Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp.

MaRS Innovation’s (MI) projects and partnerships earned three separate article mentions in the December 2012 issue of Biotechnology Focus, including:

MI and UHN’s partnership with Stem Cell Therapeutics was covered in the magazine’s Dealmakers subsection. Read the write-up on the Biotechnology Focus website.
Cellax, a licensable technology that may produce a nanotechonology-based cancer drug, was highlighted in the magazine’s Business Corner section (read the write-up). Cellax is a joint project between MI and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.
MaRS Innovation’s collaboration with the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine was highlighted in a feature article, “Efforts to commercialize regenerative medicine in Canada growing steadily.”

Video: Dr. Raphael Hofstein’s interview with IBTimesTV

December 14, 2012
Susanne Staer
Media Coverage

Technology reporter Alastair Charlton speaks to Dr. Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO of MaRS Innovation, about how Tech City in the U.K. can learn from Canada’s hub for science, technology and social entrepreneurs.

Kaypok selects Zync to power its global “big data” technology brand

December 6, 2012
Susanne Staer
Industry Partners

Spin-off company based on founder Razieh Niazi’s research at York University

TORONTO, Dec. 6, 2012 — Kaypok Inc., a start-up company whose technology delivers insight into unstructured big data, today announced that it has selected Zync as its agency of record to create and launch Kaypok’s brand globally.

Kaypok Inc., which was spun off from York University research with support and funding from MaRS Innovation, filters, categorizes, identifies meaning and measures the root cause and emotions buried within unstructured text to understand what people are saying and feeling. Kaypok Inc. launched nationally at the iStrategy Digital Marketing Conference in Toronto on December 4, 2012.

OICR and MaRS Innovation announce funding to develop Cellax™, a nanotechnology-based cancer drug

TORONTO, ON (November 13, 2012) — The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and MaRS Innovation (MI) today announced $1.5 million in funding from OICR over three years to further develop Cellax™, a nanoparticle drug that could offer an alternative to chemotherapy with fewer side effects.

“Cellax is promising because it provides a more targeted strategy for treating tumours, killing tumour cells while minimizing the effect on healthy tissue,” said Dr. Rima Al-awar, director, OICR’s Medicinal Chemistry Platform. “OICR is proud to invest in a technology that has such potential to one day improve quality of life for cancer patients.”

Cellax, invented by Dr. Shyh-Dar Li and his research team in OICR’s Medicinal Chemistry Platform group, is a drug-polymer conjugate based on Dr. Li’s proprietary NanoCMC™ technology. These polymers self-assemble into defined nanoparticles and, when injected, selectively accumulate in tumours. Because of this property, the drug is released where it is most needed, increasing therapeutic benefits and reducing the side effects associated with conventional chemotherapy.

Dr. Raphael Hofstein’s guest column posted on Biotechnology Focus

November 13, 2012
Susanne Staer
Industry Partners

Biotechnology Focus, a compendium of the Canadian life sciences industry, has published a guest column by MaRS Innovation President & CEO, Raphael Hofstein.

The article examines how to build a strong biotechnology cluster from an academic base in the midst of a global recession.

Here’s an excerpt:

Gone are the days of large-scale, well-funded, in-house departments with resources to liberally support academic and start-up collaborations. Financial pressures and the economic downturn have made it clear that the go-it-alone model is no longer sustainable, and industry players are recognizing that they don’t have a monopoly on research acumen and disruptive ideas. Simultaneously, industry has expressed less interest in investing in early-stage technologies that carry significant risk. They remain receptive to the research emerging from academic enterprise, but need a means of bridging the gap that technologies face as they move from the bench to the market.

Baxter and MaRS Innovation Form Strategic Partnership

Partnership to invest up to $1M in promising Canadian healthcare discoveries

Baxter Corporate Headquarters in Mississauga, ON

TORONTO, Ontario, October 4, 2012—Baxter International Inc. and MaRS Innovation, a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, have entered into a strategic partnership to commercialize early-stage technologies that present innovative methods in therapeutics and drug discovery technologies.

Information about Baxter and MaRS Innovation’s partnership is also available in French.

The partnership’s shared vision for delivering novel, transformative therapeutic technologies will benefit Canadians and others around the world. Baxter and MaRS Innovation will identify investment opportunities emerging from well-validated scientific research discoveries within MaRS Innovation’s 16 member institutions, including the University of Toronto and its nine affiliated teaching hospitals.

Baxter et MaRS Innovation forment un partenariat stratégique

Un partenariat visant à investir jusqu’à 1 M$ dans les découvertes canadiennes prometteuses en matière de soins de santé

TORONTO (Ontario), le 4 octobre 2012 – Baxter International Inc. et MaRS Innovation, un centre d’excellence en commercialisation et en recherche, ont établi un partenariat stratégique afin de commercialiser des technologies en phase de développement qui constituent des méthodes novatrices sur le plan des technologies thérapeutiques et de découverte de médicaments.

Information about MaRS Innovation and Baxter’s partnership is also available in English.

ClevrU partners with Schulich School of Business professors to target online education market

MaRS Innovation and York University’s commercialization office support new partnership

Students in China interact with the ClevrU platform. Photo courtesy of ClevrU Inc.

In the age of ITunes, videotaping lectures or converting existing textbooks into e-books won’t make you the market leader in online education.

Thanks to a new partnership between ClevrU, and NewMindsets Inc., facilitated by MaRS Innovation and York University’s commercialization office, Canadian technology and content promises to establish the second-generation online learning standard for millions of students worldwide.

U of T, MaRS Innovation Collaborate to Launch Incubator for Student Software Companies

October 1, 2012
Susanne Staer
CoursePeer

Hadi Aladdin (left) and Marwan Aladdin, U of T graduates and the founders of CoursePeer. — **Hadi Aladdin** (left) and **Marwan Aladdin**, U of T graduates and the founders of **CoursePeer**, one of six UTEST companies.

TORONTO, ON – A new program that provides nascent software companies with start-up funds, work space, mentoring and business strategy support, was launched today by the University of Toronto and commercialization partner MaRS Innovation, with support from the MaRS Discovery District.

TechVibes has a profile page for UTEST and covered CoursePeer as part of their students start-ups series.

The new program, called University of Toronto Early Stage Technology (UTEST), is part of a growing ecosystem of incubators and commercialization support services at U of T, including the newly-launched Banting and Best Institute. UTEST is unique among campus incubators in that its companies receive start-up funds—$30,000 each in this inaugural year—and because it accepts companies in the very earliest stages of idea generation, before they’re ready for traditional incubators.

Business Without Borders highlights ScarX Therapeutics’ Chinese co-development partnership

September 27, 2012
Susanne Staer
Industry Partners

ScarX Therapeutics, a spin-off company created by MaRS Innovation and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), was profiled by Business Without Borders on September 25, 2012.

Sean Fine‘s article examines the strategic funding partnership MI pursued with NovoTek Therapeutics Inc. (NovoTek) in China to develop the anti-scarring cream, which was discovered by researchers at SickKids.

A multibillion-dollar market may await ScarX, a Toronto biomedical start-up, but first it had to figure out how to finance the development of its unique cream that reduces scarring after surgery.

Its answer to the shortage of Canadian venture capital in life sciences turned out to be a partnership with a drug company in China.

Biotechnology Focus’ December issue covers MaRS Innovation projects and partnerships

Video: Dr. Raphael Hofstein’s interview with IBTimesTV

Kaypok selects Zync to power its global “big data” technology brand

Spin-off company based on founder Razieh Niazi’s research at York University

OICR and MaRS Innovation announce funding to develop Cellax™, a nanotechnology-based cancer drug

Dr. Raphael Hofstein’s guest column posted on Biotechnology Focus

Baxter et MaRS Innovation forment un partenariat stratégique

Un partenariat visant à investir jusqu’à 1 M$ dans les découvertes canadiennes prometteuses en matière de soins de santé

ClevrU partners with Schulich School of Business professors to target online education market

MaRS Innovation and York University’s commercialization office support new partnership

U of T, MaRS Innovation Collaborate to Launch Incubator for Student Software Companies

Business Without Borders highlights ScarX Therapeutics’ Chinese co-development partnership

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