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Triphase announces Celgene collaborations and license deal with PharmAbcine

Triphase-logo-WebTriphase Accelerator Corporation, a private, drug development company dedicated to advancing novel compounds through Phase II proof-of-concept, announced October 27, 2014 new and expanded strategic collaborations with Celgene Corporation.

This announcement was covered in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (GEN), BioCentury Extra (no link available), Pharmaceutical Business Review (no link available), Scrip and BioWorld Today (no link available). It builds on Triphase’s original collaborative agreement with Celgene in January 2014.

The company has also announced a new global license for a fully human, bi-specific antibody targeting VEGFR-2/TIE 2 with Korea’s PharmAbcine.

Triphase initiates Phase I Study Evaluating Marizomib in Glioblastoma (GBM) with Celgene

Triphase has expanded its strategic collaboration with Celgene Corporation. The supplemental agreement adds a Phase I development program that will explore combining an intravenous (IV) formulation of marizomib with bevacizumab in glioblastoma (GBM), an aggressive malignant primary brain tumour.

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Vasomune Therapeutics awarded $1.5 million to advance lead asset for renal disease

Vasomune Therapeutics logoTORONTO (October 20, 2014) — Vasomune Therapeutics, a biotechnology start-up founded by Drs. Dan Dumont and Paul Van Slyke of Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) in partnership with MaRS Innovation, has received $1.5 million, in part through Genome Canada’s Genomic Applications Partnership Program (GAPP), to advance Vasculotide, the company’s lead Tie-2 activating agent, towards clinical development.

This announcement was covered in Biotechnology Focus.

The Honourable Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology) and Dr. Pierre Meulien, president and CEO of Genome Canada, announced the funding as part of 12 selected projects under Genome Canada’s Genomic Applications Partnership Program (GAPP), on October 15 in Wallenstein, Ontario.

Parimal Nathwani
Parimal Nathwani, president and CEO of Vasomune Therapeutics Inc.

“We believe that our technology is well positioned to accelerate from preclinical research into clinical development based on its strong data package,” said Parimal Nathwani, president and CEO of Vasomune Therapeutics. “This award, in combination with industry funding, validates the Vasculotide opportunity and gives us the required funds to advance the drug candidate toward the clinic.”

In preclinical studies, Vasculotide has shown to be an effective treatment for multiple renal diseases including acute kidney injury (AKI), which in humans is a possible outcome of kidney function loss that manifests in nearly a third of high-risk cardiac patients. AKI may result from short-term interruptions in blood flow during surgery; 11 percent of patients who develop AKI after bypass surgery will die. People who survive AKI are at risk of developing longer-term kidney complications such as chronic kidney disease or End Stage Renal Disease. Vasomune’s founders conceptualized and designed Vasculotide to bind to the Tie-2 receptor, which is responsible for maintaining vascular health (and thus blood flow).

With this new funding, a third from Vasomune and MaRS Innovation, a third from Genome Canada and a third from a leading multinational pharmaceutical company, Vasomune can transition its program into manufacturing optimization, pharmacokinetics and toxicology studies to prepare for clinical development in early 2016.

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Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Hofstein joins Quebec’s CQDM Board of Directors

Dr. Raphael Hofstein
Dr. Raphael Hofstein has joined the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM) Board of Directors.

MaRS Innovation’s President and CEO, Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Hofstein, was appointed to the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM) Board of Directors on February 18.

CQDM is a Quebec-based not-for profit that funds and supports joint projects in private and biopharmaceutical sectors.

Here’s an excerpt from CQDM’s announcement:

Dr. Hofstein, actively involved in the field of biotechnology, partnerships and technology transfer for over 30 years, greatly contributed to defining Israel as a world leader in biotechnology. In Israel, Dr. Hofstein held various positions including R & D Manager and Chief of Immunochemistry with the International Genetic Scientific Partnership, Scientific Director at Biotechnological Applications Ltd., Scientific Director and Vice-President, Business Development at Ecogen Inc., prior to becoming President of Mindsense Biosystems Ltd., and then founder, President and CEO, and chairman of the Board of Hadasit Ltd.

CQDM

Dr. Hofstein was also president of BIOMED, the annual biomedical conference of Israel for many years. He was also co-founder and member of the Israeli Life Sciences Industry Organization and co-founder and executive of Israel’s Tech Transfer Network. Dr. Hofstein now serves on various boards, including Life Sciences Ontario, Clinical Trials Ontario as well as the Organizing Committee of the Public Policy Forum on venture capital and innovation. Dr. Hofstein holds a Ph.D. in the life sciences and chemistry, and completed his postdoctoral studies at the Harvard Medical School.

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Crowdmark announces new partnership with Ricoh Canada Inc.

Crowdmark Logo: Grade BetterCrowdmark, a MaRS Innovation and University of Toronto start-up incubated through the UTEST program, has reached a deal with Ricoh Canada Inc.

Announced January 20, 2014, the deal outlines national printing and scanning service for Crowdmark customers, with U.S. discussions coming up in the future, to improve the start-up’s online marking process for teachers.

Here’s an excerpt from the release (emphasis ours):

Ricoh LogoToronto, Ontario (January 20, 2014) – Crowdmark Inc., a software company that delivers an ultra-scalable collaborative assessment platform to educators worldwide, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Ricoh Canada Inc., to support Crowdmark’s customers, and with plans to explore additional enhancements to the relationship that will deliver additional client benefits.

Today’s announcement covers standardized terms and pricing from Ricoh Canada to provide a national printing and scanning service to Crowdmark’s customers in post-secondary institutions and K-12 school systems across Canada. Discussions about a similar service for USA-based Crowdmark customers are next on the agenda.

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Triphase signs collaboration and option agreement with Celgene Corporation, leading innovator of cancer therapies

MI portfolio company actively seeking additional products for licensing and development

Triphase-logo-WebTORONTO and SAN DIEGO, Jan. 9, 2014 — A unique collaboration of life science leaders, including the Fight Against Cancer Innovation Trust, MaRS Innovation Ventures Trust and MaRS Phase II Investment Trust, have formed Triphase Accelerator Corporation, an oncology development accelerator.

Triphase Accelerator’s announcement was covered in Yonge Street Media, Bloomburg Businessweek and Global University Venturing.

Formed in 2010, Triphase Accelerator Corporation is a cancer-focused biotechnology development company that aims to reduce the time and expense between an investigational new drug application and “proof-of-concept” at Phase II.

Triphase, spun out of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), develops and advances late pre-clinical, Phase I or early Phase II potential products. Triphase and its founding investors are in a position to take advantage of the excellent research and development capabilities in the Toronto healthcare and innovation ecosystem.

The Fight Against Cancer Innovation Trust (FACIT), MaRS Innovation Ventures Trust, and MaRS Phase II Investment Trust, are all Toronto-based equity investors in Triphase.

After company formation, Triphase entered into a strategic relationship with Celgene Corporation. Through this arrangement, Celgene obtained rights of first refusal on the first three oncology products Triphase advances to clinical proof-of-concept (POC), plus a right of first negotiation on three more future oncology products which may be acquired by Triphase.

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MaRS Innovation launches streamlined funding program

Applications invited for MI’s Industry Access Program, which matches early-stage, high-potential technologies to partners and funding

The commercialization process: Moving transformational ideas from the lab bench to the street
MaRS Innovation’s commercialization process helps inventors move their transformational ideas from the lab bench to the street.

MaRS Innovation (MI) has launched a unique funding program to match researchers with industry partners while advancing early stage technologies: the MaRS Innovation Industry Access Program (MI-IAP).

This program provides a simple mechanism to connect researchers with MI’s industry partners. The process and application form are intentionally brief to save researchers time and allow MI’s partners to review a wide range of remarkable technologies within the Toronto academic community in a short period of time.

ParimalNathwani8757
Parimal Nathwani, vice-president, Life Sciences,     MaRS Innovation.

“Many granting programs require an industry partner, but leave finding that partner to the researcher,” says Parimal Nathwani, vice-president of life sciences at MI. “Our Industrial Partnership Program completes that step for them. We also know researchers within our member institutions are incredibly busy, which is why we’ve adopted a streamlined process to save them time.”

The program is open to any researcher affiliated with our 16 member institutions working on technologies in:

  • therapeutics
  • diagnostics
  • medical devices
  • health IT
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Dr. Raphael Hofstein’s MRI blog post: How Team Ontario’s biotechnology takes on the world

Dr. Raphael Hofstein
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.

Encycle TherapeuticsIn 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.

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Canadian biotech sector makes strong showing at BIO2013

Every six weeks, MaRS Innovation’s marketing and communications manager writes a guest post for the MaRS Discovery District blog profiling MI’s activities or one of our start-up companies. You can read the original post on the MaRS blog.

Downtown Chicago skyline in late April
Chicago‘s famous downtown skyline during the 2013 BIO Convention.

Nearly 14,000 delegates—representing over 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centres and related organizations across the United States and more than 60 countries—attended the 2013 BIO International Convention from April 22 to 26, 2013.

The event drew biotechnologists, pharmaceutical industry executives and life sciences researchers, along with sector-based organizations and associations, to Chicago.

According to a press release issued by the conference organizers, BIO 2013 offered “a record number of partnering meetings and panel sessions on the latest science, policy issues and business opportunities and challenges facing the biotechnology industry.”

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MaRS Innovation announces new strategic partnership with Pfizer

MaRS Innovation LogoTORONTO, April 22, 2013 — MaRS Innovation, a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, today announced the formation of a strategic partnership with Pfizer Inc. to advance early-stage technologies related to human health in therapeutics and diagnostics.

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.”

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