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Ontario Government, University of Toronto, and MaRS secure Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS for Toronto – first JLABS Incubator outside of United States

September 8, 2015
Susanne Staer
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Partners for JLABS @ Toronto include Janssen Inc., MaRS Innovation and seven of MI’s 15 member institutions

Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure Brad Duguid announces the arrival of JLABS @ Toronto in the MaRS Discovery District. First row, left to right: Chris Halyk, president of Janssen Inc.; Melinda Richter, head of JLABS, Johnson & Johnson; Dr. Meric Gertler, president, University of Toronto; Minister Duguid; Dr. Ilse Treuricht, CEO MaRS Discovery District; Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Hofstein, president and CEO MaRS Innovation, and Robert Urban, head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation Boston. Second row: Dr. Robert Howard, president and CEO St. Michael's Hospital; Dr. Catherine Zahn, president and CEO CAMH; Dr. Barry McLellan, president and CEO Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; Dr. Peter Pisters, president & CEO University Health Network; Dr. Jim Woddgett, director of research, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital; and Dr. Michael Apkon, president and CEO, The Hospital for Sick Children. — Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure Brad Duguid announces the arrival of JLABS @ Toronto in the MaRS Discovery District. First row, left to right: Chris Halyk, president of Janssen Inc.; Melinda Richter, head of JLABS, Johnson & Johnson; Dr. Meric Gertler, president, University of Toronto; Minister Duguid; Dr. Ilse Treuricht, CEO MaRS Discovery District; Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Hofstein, president and CEO MaRS Innovation, and Robert Urban, head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation Boston. Second row: Dr. Robert Howard, president and CEO St. Michael’s Hospital; Dr. Catherine Zahn, president and CEO CAMH; Dr. Barry McLellan, president and CEO Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; Dr. Peter Pisters, president & CEO University Health Network; Dr. Jim Woddgett, director of research, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital; and Dr. Michael Apkon, president and CEO, The Hospital for Sick Children.

TORONTO, Sept. 8, 2015 — The Ontario Government, University of Toronto, and MaRS Discovery District (MaRS) today announced a collaboration with Janssen Inc. to launch the successful Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS incubator model in Toronto.

This announcement has been covered in the Toronto Star, Metro News Canada, Sing Tao Daily, OurWindsor.ca, FierceBiotech, BioCentury, MedCity News, BioSpace, Biotechnology Focus, Lab Product News, ChinaNews.com, Pan European Networks, Economic Development Blog, BetaKit, Torontoist, and TechVibes.

It was also featured news on Rx&D‘s and Life Sciences Ontario‘s websites.

The new facility, called JLABS @ Toronto, will open in spring of 2016 at MaRS Discovery District and will support start-ups with lab space, programs, and potential investment partners as they work to build important, successful early-stage companies.

“The arrival of the Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS model to MaRS’ West Tower reinforces Ontario’s position as one of the world’s leading life sciences clusters,” said Brad Duguid, Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure. “JLABS @ Toronto will support researchers and entrepreneurs across the province and accelerate the development of Ontario companies while connecting Toronto to potential Johnson & Johnson collaborators and investors.”

“Research and innovation are fundamental to the mission of the University of Toronto,” said Dr. Meric S. Gertler, President, University of Toronto. “We host a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem featuring nine campus-led accelerators under the umbrella of our Banting & Best Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The addition of JLABS to this ecosystem will further propel the creation of new companies and new jobs, and ultimately new healthcare solutions that will benefit individuals and our society for years to come.”

“Toronto is home to a vibrant and prolific healthcare and life sciences community led by academic hospitals, world-class research institutions, top scientists, and a strong start-up ecosystem. For these reasons, Toronto is a natural choice for our first international expansion of JLABS,” said Melinda Richter, Head of JLABS. “The Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies has long been active within the Toronto Ontario community, forming many important collaborations. Today we are pleased to begin an even deeper relationship with this important community. Our new location, within a University of Toronto site, close to our hospital collaborators, and neighbouring the financial centre of Canada, will deliver great opportunities and impact for emerging biomedical technology entrepreneurs.”

MaRS Innovation forms third collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation

June 11, 2015
Susanne Staer
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

MaRS Innovation today announced that Johnson & Johnson Innovation has expanded its collaboration with MaRS Innovation to identify and advance early-stage technologies of interest.

The announcement was made in advance of the 2015 BIO Convention, which takes place from June 15 to 18 in Philadelphia, PA. MaRS Innovation is participating as part of the Ontario delegation and will have kiosk space in the Ontario pavilion (#615).

This partnership was covered in BioCentury, GEN, PharmaBiz and FierceBiotech.

Earlier this year, Johnson & Johnson Innovation and MaRS Innovation announced their research partnership to advance three technologies focused on improving cardiac surgery outcomes, developing a blood test for depression, and identifying a diagnostic metabolite for both gestational and type 2 diabetes patients. The projects’ principal investigators are researchers from the University Health Network (Peter Munk Cardiac Centre), the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (with Indoc Research) and the University of Toronto.

“Johnson & Johnson Innovation is an excellent partner that understands exactly the kind of technology pipeline MaRS Innovation represents,” said Dr. Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO. “Renewing their longstanding relationship signals the value they see in this partnership with MaRS Innovation, our members and researchers within our network.”

Triphase announces proteasome inhibitor marizomib demonstrates potent synergistic anti-multiple myeloma activity in combination with pomalidomide

December 8, 2014
Susanne Staer
Industry Partners

Findings from Preclinical Study Presented at American Society of Hematology 2014 Annual Meeting

TORONTO AND SAN DIEGO (Dec. 6, 2014) — Triphase Accelerator Corporation, a private drug development company dedicated to advancing novel compounds through Phase II proof-of-concept clinical studies, today announced preclinical study results demonstrating that the combination of its highly differentiated proteasome inhibitor, marizomib, and pomalidomide (Pomalyst®) was synergistic in killing multiple myeloma cells.

MaRS Innovation is an early-stage investor in Triphase. See our web archive for more details.

Combined doses of marizomib and pomalidomide inhibited tumor growth and prolonged survival in disease models of this hematologic cancer. The data were presented December 6, 2014 in a poster session at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2014 Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

“New treatment options for patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma are needed as nearly all patients will eventually relapse on currently available therapies,” said Paul G. Richardson, M.D., lead clinical investigator of the marizomib study group and director of clinical research, Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “These preclinical results in disease models of multiple myeloma are highly promising as they demonstrate the potent activity of marizomib in combination with pomalidomide and support a clinical trial to increase response, overcome drug resistance, and improve outcomes in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.”

MaRS Innovation Announces Collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation

Collaboration will advance early-stage technologies and identify high-potential opportunities related to human health

TORONTO, Nov. 25, 2013 – MaRS Innovation (MI), a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, today announced a new collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation and its affiliate Janssen, Inc., in Canada to advance early-stage technologies related to human health in therapeutics, medical devices, and diagnostics.

This announcement was covered by Biotechnology Focus and the Village Gamer blog.

Through the collaboration, MaRS Innovation and technical experts from the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in Boston, Massachusetts will jointly identify and fund high-potential opportunities emerging from well-validated scientific research discoveries within MaRS Innovation’s 16 member institutions, which include the University of Toronto and its affiliated teaching hospitals.

“We are looking forward to working with Johnson & Johnson Innovation,” said Dr. Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO, MaRS Innovation. “There are many high quality opportunities coming out of the Toronto research community, and these opportunities can benefit from our close collaboration.”

Through the agreement, Johnson & Johnson Innovation will provide funding over a three-year period to support promising individual projects based on joint due diligence, which will be leveraged with financial support from MaRS Innovation.

Dr. Raphael Hofstein’s MRI blog post: How Team Ontario’s biotechnology takes on the world

Dr. Raphael Hofstein, president & CEO, MaRS Innovation.

Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Hofstein is president and CEO of MaRS Innovation (MI) – the commercialization agent for an exceptional research discovery pipeline stemming from 16 leading Ontario academic institutions. As a single entry point to annual member research and development activity of $1B, MI provides a gateway for investors and licensees who wish to access Ontario’s technology assets.

During the 2012 BIO convention in Boston, Dr. Hofstein blogged about how CQDM of Montreal and MaRS Innovation of Toronto had teamed up to help “fill” the QC-Ontario corridor and why the corridor is good for business in both provinces.

In my previous blog post during BIO2012, I talked about how MaRS Innovation and CQDM had jointly collaborated to form Encycle Therapeutics, a startup that was created around disruptive technology, developed by Professor Andrei Yudin of the University of Toronto, involving the cyclization of biologically active peptides.

A year later, I’m pleased to report that Encycle is alive and kicking. The company has since recruited seasoned management, and its developing product line is drawing tremendous interest from global pharmaceutical groups. In the next few months, we expect Encycle to raise significant capital and establish meaningful ties with strategic allies.

Taking a wider look at the life sciences sector, this has been a vintage year for Ontario in general and MaRS Innovation’s ecosystem in particular.

Huffington Post Canada interviews Raphael Hofstein about Canadian venture capital shortage

August 20, 2012
Susanne Staer
Media Coverage

Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO of MaRS Innovation, was interviewed by Huffington Post Canada business reporter Rachel Mendleson for an article about Canada’s innovation gap and the shortage of Canadian venture capital:

One of the best ways to [raise venture capital], said Raphael Hofstein, President and CEO of Toronto-based MaRS Innovation, is to increase government investment, a lesson he learned while helping to create a life sciences early-stage fund in Israel several years ago.

“Everybody told us — institutions, industry — that they will not participate unless government has a piece of the pie. So governments have to participate, certainly in the early stage,” he said.

Ontario Government, University of Toronto, and MaRS secure Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS for Toronto – first JLABS Incubator outside of United States

Partners for JLABS @ Toronto include Janssen Inc., MaRS Innovation and seven of MI’s 15 member institutions

MaRS Innovation forms third collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation

Triphase announces proteasome inhibitor marizomib demonstrates potent synergistic anti-multiple myeloma activity in combination with pomalidomide

Findings from Preclinical Study Presented at American Society of Hematology 2014 Annual Meeting

MaRS Innovation Announces Collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation

Collaboration will advance early-stage technologies and identify high-potential opportunities related to human health

Dr. Raphael Hofstein’s MRI blog post: How Team Ontario’s biotechnology takes on the world

Huffington Post Canada interviews Raphael Hofstein about Canadian venture capital shortage

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