Last year, the region saw $1.47 billion in venture capital deals. And in the first few weeks of 2021, we witnessed three companies in our uCity Square community 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.
But before a life sciences or biotech company can reach these headline-worthy milestones, theories must be tested, research needs to be conducted, the commercial viability must be considered, and the ‘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.
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.
Last week, we announced the 13th round of QED awardees, who will work with business advisors – handpicked from the Science Center’s vast network – to develop a proof-of-concept plan. We caught up with 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.”
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.
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.
Tantigen Bio, Inc. was incorporated two weeks ago.
“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.
“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. 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.”
Establishing a company is certainly one of the objectives for the program, but these companies are merely a vehicle for something much bigger. 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.”
Growing startups is a core mission of ours at the Science Center, but transitioning life-saving technologies from the lab bench to the patient bedside is why we’re resolute in our commercialization process.
