Canada's OICR makes equity investments in novel cancer therapies and diagnostic tools

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) in Canada has made unspecified equity investments in three Ontario technologies to accelerate the path to commercialization. Included among these are a novel cancer immunotherapy that can be tailored to the patient and two informative diagnostic tools aimed at enhancing cancer screening and treatment.

'These technologies hold exceptional promise in the advancement of personalized cancer medicine,' said Frank Stonebanks, vice president, commercialization and chief commercial officer of the OICR, noting that 'these investments will help close the gap between seed funding and clinical proof of concept, moving these programs closer to the commercial arena.'

'The OICR has quickly established itself as a global leader in research commercialization,' said John Milloy, Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation. 'The Ontario government continues to support OICR as it invests in health technologies and strengthens Ontario as an innovation-based economy and society,' he added.