An ‘unprecedented’ year for biotechnology in Philadelphia.
The State of Pennsylvania saw a total of $1.47 billion in venture capital investment and growth in 2020, a decline from 2019’s whooping $2.9 billion inflow, but still an impressive number in a year where everything was ‘unprecedented’. Within the Life Science and Biotechnology sector, three companies originating from the uCity Square and Science Center community recently hit some major milestones. Oncoceutics Inc. was acquired by Chimerix for $78M, Aro Biotherapeutics raised $88M from J&J, and Carisma Therapeutics raised $47M Series B. Growing successful startup ventures is a core mission of the uCity Science Center, a place where the commercialization process focuses on transitioning life-saving technologies from the lab bench to the patient bedside across research institutions in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
Life Science Commercialization is a notoriously risky venture process. Before a life sciences or biotech company can reach headline-worthy milestones, a ‘valley of death’ must be traversed. The valley of death is where many life sciences and biotech translational research initiatives struggle, due to the extraordinary time commitment, high cost, and lack of funding. Researchers operating at this early-stage face considerable obstacles on the path from research to commercialization. Theories must be tested, research needs to be conducted, the commercial viability must be considered.
“Enter the Science Center’s QED Program, created in 2009 as the first multi-institutional proof-of-concept program in the U.S., we work with 22 technology transfer offices across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware to identify the most promising research and equip those researchers with the resources needed to develop a roadmap for commercialization. QED awardees will work with business advisors – handpicked from the Science Center’s vast network – to develop a proof-of-concept plan.” wrote Kristen Fitch
One of the hallmark features of the QED program is the opportunity to work with an experienced business advisor. Advisors are matched with researchers based on their relevant industry experience translating technologies from idea to clinic. The researchers and business advisors then work as a team over 8-10 weeks to develop proof-of-concept plans.
An example case is that of John Maris, MD, 2019 QED awardee and pediatric oncologist from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), in addition to Cassie Tran, Ph.D., Licensing Associate with CHOP’s Tech Transfer Office, to learn about the progress made since receiving the award. In 2018, Dr. Maris was conducting research designed to cure childhood cancers using novel immunotherapeutic approaches. According to Maris, “childhood cancers are unique in that they subvert normal human developmental programs. We hypothesize that this can be leveraged as a unique vulnerability for therapy.” His CHOP colleagues familiar with the Science Center introduced him to the QED program as an opportunity to test the commercial viability of that technology.
“The QED process was very helpful in getting our researchers to think about their technology from the point of view of an investor as they were preparing their pitch deck for the QED panel,” says Dr. Tran. “That in and of itself was a really great exercise for our group and they ended up refining their pitch deck several times more throughout the process.” From Tran’s perspective, getting connected with a dedicated business advisor was a huge benefit. Maris’s advisor specifically had a dedication to creating connections for the team and pushing them towards their goal of eventually forming a company.“I learned from my business advisors, and I think they learned a lot from me as well,” says Maris. So much so that they were able to spin out a company as a direct result of Maris’s participation in the QED program. Their company, presumably named, Tantigen Bio, Inc. was incorporated December 2020 according to the original article.* When asked where his technology would be without the QED Program, Maris responded decisively, “I would not have a company that is poised to make a major difference for children with cancer. […] QED was great for the exposure that it brought the team, especially with local investors,” says Tran. “The team had informal discussions with many local VCs that they were connected with via QED and that process helped them shape the direction and timing of company formation.”
Establishing a company is certainly one of the objectives for the program, but these companies are merely a vehicle for something much bigger – wrote Kristen.
If you are a lab Principal Investigator a one of Science Center’s partner institutions* looking to develop your life science research into a piece of technology with commercial potential, please be encouraged to apply to the Science Center Proof-of-Concept QED program here. Last year, the Science Center’s Multi-Institutional Proof-of-Concept Program awarded a total of $600,000 to three researchers, representing the Pennsylvania State University, Rowan University, and Temple University.They will be implementing their proof-of-concept plans and award funding to respectively: conduct toxicology studies of a novel wound healing therapeutic; develop an injectable and transparent adhesive for cornea repair; and develop dental biomaterials with anti-infective and hard tissue regeneration properties. The Science Center and therefore the QED Program has a common participation agreement that defines matching funds, indirect costs, and intellectual property management across partner universities and research institutions.
The QED Program provides funding and business development support for academic researchers developing early-stage life science and healthcare technologies with high commercial potential. By the end of the program, researchers will have the knowledge and tools to seek follow-on funding to advance their projects along the commercialization pathway. The Science Center kickstarts this process by funding projects with $200,000, half of which will be contributed by the Science Center and half by the researchers’ institutions.
*uCity Science Center Partner’s include: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP); Delaware State University; Drexel University; Fox Chase Cancer Center; Harrisburg University of Science and Technology; Lankenau Medical Center; Lehigh University; Monell Center; Moravian College, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT); Penn State; PCOM; Princeton University; Rowan University; Rutgers University; Temple University; Jefferson University; University of Delaware; University of Pennsylvania; University of the Sciences; Widener Univeristy; The Wistar Institute
