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.
Through this collaboration, MaRS Innovation and Pfizer will jointly 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.
“There’s growing consensus that transferring technologies from the university lab bench and into the market requires unique public-private partnerships,” said Dr. Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO of MaRS Innovation. “Partnering with MaRS Innovation gives Pfizer access to Toronto’s robust innovation pipeline and a close look at emerging IP from Canada. It signals both the strength and attractiveness of our commercialization model and Toronto-based research technologies to global industry players.”
“Our government is committed to making Ontario the best place to translate great ideas into innovative products that will gain demand around the world,” said the Honourable Reza Moridi, Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation. “Today’s announcement from MaRS Innovation is an exciting collaboration with Pfizer that will both advance healthcare technologies for Ontarians and help to strengthen our economy.”
The agreement, developed in collaboration with MaRS Innovation, provides Stem Cell Therapeutics (SCT) with exclusive worldwide rights to an innovative clinical cancer stem cell program.
This announcement builds upon the existing stem cell program agreement between MI, Stem Cell Therapeutics and UHN, which was announced in November 2012.
The initial consideration of $1.6 million for the UHN License is to be satisfied by the issuance of 5,028,571 SCT common shares and 1,600,000 SCT common share purchase warrants to UHN and MaRS Innovation, each warrant allowing its holder to acquire one additional common share at an exercise price of $0.40 until March 15, 2018.
TORONTO, ON (Feb. 19, 2013) – XLV Diagnostics Inc., a start-up company working to commercialize a faster, cheaper and better digital mammography technology, has received a $500,000 investment from FedNor.
Over 600 million women living in developing countries have inadequate access to breast screening for early cancer detection. In the developed world, many radiology departments are replacing traditional film and screen systems with digital technologies. In both cases, better digital mammography technology promises to solve logistical challenges and save money.
XLV’s solution has the potential to provide image quality that equals or surpasses that which is currently in use, making images easy to analyze, manipulate and transfer much like digital photographs. It will also substantially decrease the cost of digital mammography machines.
Networks of Centres of Excellence recognizes strength of partnership between MI and its 16 member institutions
TORONTO, February 5, 2013 — How do you make sure the brilliant ideas emerging from Toronto’s academic research community get the best possible chance to succeed?
MaRS Innovation (MI), created in 2008, bridges the chasm between these early-stage technologies and successful start-up companies and licensable technologies. By offering early-stage funding in tandem with hands-on management, mentorship and IP strategy protection, MI acts as a commercialization agent for its 16 member institutions.
Each year, 5,000 children in North American hospitals experience code-blue incidents; a code blue is an event where patients require immediate resuscitation. One quarter of these incidents result in death,…
Platform for cyclizing peptides promises to increase efficiency of early-stage drug discovery
BOSTON, June 18, 2012 – Encycle Therapeutics, a MaRS Innovation spin-off company, has created a ground-breaking chemistry platform for cyclizing peptides that promises to increase the efficiency of the early-stage drug discovery process.
Peptides have long been sought after as therapeutics due to their high specificity — they can hit specific cellular targets, especially complex protein-protein interaction targets implicated in cancer, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders.
Entrepreneurs don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to become the next great business success story. Toronto now ranks fourth among the world’s top 25 start-up ecosystems, according to Start-up Genome, a project that maps the success rates of start-ups. Toronto ranks just behind Silicon Valley, New York City and London.
MaRS Innovation (MI), The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and NovoTek Therapeutics Inc. (NovoTek) have announced a strategic partnership to co‐develop, and bring to the Chinese market, a novel therapeutic cream aimed at reducing scar formation post surgery.
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.
