By Daniela Fisher
innovator
Making the case for
Search and
T
Development
his is a transformative time for biotech. In response to the economic and market challenges, as well as the rising cost for drug discovery and development, companies are changing the way they conduct their R&D. As industry looks for new approaches to drug design, the focus has shifted to strategic partnerships, collaboration and new business models that offer reduced risk for investors. iCo Therapeutics is a Vancouver-based biotech making impressive progress with the changing R&D model. The TSX Venturetraded company eschews traditional R&D, instead in-licensing drugs and working with strategic partners to develop new therapies, with a focus on ocular indications such as Diabetic Macular Edema (DME). Under the guidance of co-founder and CEO Andrew Rae, the start-up’s approach to R&D is geared more towards drug development than drug discovery. It’s a model that’s paying off for the company. Since its foundation in 2005, iCo Therapeutics has secured the rights to two drug candidates, as well an oral drug delivery system. All target unmet medical needs. In February, the company was ranked number one in technology and life sciences on the 2013 TSX Venture 50. It’s also in the midst of a lucrative research partnership for a DME treatment with the JDRF (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), the world’s leading organization for Type 1 diabetes research. For a company to achieve these successes within 10 years of starting up is an impressive feat. “Our business model is basically that we don’t have research facilities, we don’t have 18 BIOTECHNOLOGY FOCUS May 2013
a staff of scientists and we don’t do preclinical work. It’s very much focused on reducing the capital inputs,” says Rae. “We’ve been able to become a Phase 2 clinical stage company with just over $20 million invested into the firm. That is just a fraction of what it has normally taken companies in the past.” This ‘No Research, Development Only’ (NRDO) business model focuses on getting drug candidates from big pharma or universities that are either off-patent, currently approved or near commercialization. iCo then redoses or reformulates the candidate for new or additional indications. The model is a sign of the times. In
drug through Phase 3 and to market. Or as Rae explains: “Our focus is really running the second and third legs of a 4 x 100 relay.” Rae is someone who knows how to get a biotech off the ground – and what business models will succeed in today’s financial environment. A serial entrepreneur, with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from Simon Fraser University, Rae is on his third start-up company with iCo. For iCo Therapeutics, setting up shop in Vancouver was an obvious choice says Rae. He and co-founders John Clement and John Meekison wanted to access the human capital in town.
“We’ve been able to become a Phase 2 clinical stage company with just over $20 million invested into the firm. That is just a fraction of what it has normally taken companies in the past.” — Andrew Rae today’s financial climate, investors are attracted to companies that offer lower levels of risk than traditionally associated with biotech firms. In theory, NRDO models offer drugs that already have preclinical or clinical history, and therefore have a good safety signal and potentially efficacy related data. This in turn helps de-risk assets. Another important factor is the lure of more efficient drug development. iCo Therapeutics licenses products that can be taken into clinical trials immediately. The company focuses on getting a drug from preclinical to Phase 2 studies, and then on finding strategic partners to advance the
One of those local talents was the company’s chief medical officer, Dr. Peter Hnik, who joined the company a year after it was founded. Dr. Hnik has a medical degree from the Medical Faculty of Charles University of Prague, as well as a Master of Health Sciences from the University of British Columbia. “I practiced ophthalmology for several years and with the patients who had Diabetic Macular Edema, it was always very frustrating to see the limited treatment options available those days. At that time in many cases one could just watch them lose their vision over the years,” says Dr. Hnik. Diabetic Macular Edema is a diabetic eye
