Cancer research institute awaits word on funding renewal from Ontario government

By Debbie Lawes

A Toronto start-up company commercializing a new delivery system for cancer drugs has received $500,000 from the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), one of the last awards to be made by the institute pending renewed funding from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. OICR's current five-year tranche of nearly $347 million from the province expires March 31, 2011.

OICR's funding request was filed with the province last month as part of its 2011-2016 strategic plan, which reportedly includes a larger role for its Intellectual Property Development and Commercialization Program. With an annual budget of about $3 million, the IPDC program awards up to $500,000 for pre-commercial development of projects that originate in Ontario.

"The plan has gone to government and we are waiting for their response," says OICR spokesman Christopher Needles. "There is no time frame on this process so we can't say when this will happen. We will release (the strategic plan) once it is approved."

OICR was established in December 2005 by the Ontario government to undertake research in prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and control of cancer, and to translate research findings into programs, technologies and therapies. Translation activities, which include clinical trials, are bundled into its $126.7 million Innovation Projects and Platforms and Translational Programs, the largest single component of OICR's current budget.

The institute's commercialization budget is significantly smaller, about $3 million annually, but strategically important these days considering the dearth of venture capital and other early-stage funding for promising university research and start-up companies.

OncoTek Drug Delivery Inc. is a case in point. The subsidiary of Receptor Therapeutics Inc. received $500,000 from the IPDC program this month to advance development of a new biocompatible and biodegradable drug delivery system that can be implanted in different parts of the body to release drugs slowly over a period of several weeks. Its first product, Poli-PTX, targets ovarian cancer by delivering the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel directly to the tumour site, resulting in fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy.

"Venture capital funds are all very short of capital and they're not making new investments so the only way a company like ours can survive right now, at least in the short term, is to cobble together a few million dollars, a half a million dollars at a time," says Dr Joseph Elliot, president/CEO of Receptor.

OncoTek will use the funds for pre-clinical development before scaling up production over the next four to six months. Once they have satisfied Health Canada and the US Food and Drug Administration safety requirements, the company can begin human trials. It also needs to raise at least $6 million more for further development.

Since Poli-PTX is made from biodegradable materials that have already been proven safe in humans, Elliot anticipates the human trials "will be very quick and relatively easy."

"Our objective is to get to clinical proof of concept where we can take a gel that's approved for human use, and hopefully with OICR's help again, take it to a phase 1 and 2 clinical trial to demonstrate that patients who receive the gel with paclitaxel have improved survival over patients who received the current standard of care," he says.

Developed by Drs. Christine Allen and Micheline Piquette-Miller at the Univ of Toronto, Elliot says Poli-PTX could eventually generate sales of between $400-$500 million annually.

Building value a priority

John Wallenburg, OICR's director of industry partnerships, stresses the institute is more than a granting agency. Its commercialization programs support pre proof-of-concept studies, validation experiments, market/regulatory analyses, IP protection and acquisition and management of commercialization activities.

OICR also supports external projects, as well as ones developed by its own researchers. For example, OICR announced a $500,000 award this month to Dr. Kullervo Hynynen at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre for prototype development and pre-clinical testing of a low-cost focused ultrasound system that can find and destroy tumours without surgery.

The IPDC program has awarded 13 such grants to date and none, as of yet, to internal projects. Wallenburg says that will change as OICR-supported projects move closer to the pre-clinical stage.

"We're not interested in putting $500,000 into a project that is going to advance just a little bit in two years and then start looking for its next source of grant funding," adds Wallenburg. "We want them to get to a point where they've created a significant increase in their value. That point could be a partnership with a large private corporation, a venture capital deal, an investigator-led clinical trial, a clinical prototype for a medical device or validation of a diagnostic."

OICR beefed up its commercialization capabilities in January with two new hires. Franklin Stonebanks joined the institute as VP commercialization and chief commercial officer. He comes with strong industry credentials, including founder of global advisory firm, Blackcomb Advisors, president/CEO of biotech firm Cynvec, and a senior advisor to IBM where he led their healthcare and life science M&A efforts.

OICR's new deputy director, Dr. Nicole Onetto, also hails from the private sector. She worked as senior VP and chief medical officer of ZymoGenetics Inc, executive VP and chief medical officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc and held senior positions in international pharmaceutical firms.

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