Cancer Society launches “first-of-its-kind” partnership with Creative Destruction Lab to support early-stage companies

The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS), for the first time ever, is investing millions of dollars to reduce the time it takes to move promising cancer research from lab to bedside. The $5-million, three-year partnership with the University of Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) will also see the launch of a new tech accelerator called CDL Cancer.

“This is a unique, first-of-its-kind partnership in that we have never focused on commercialization before,” said Annemarie Edwards, the inaugural director of CCS’s Centre for Cancer Prevention and Support Program (CPSP), a new nation-wide innovation hub launched last November aimed at addressing both ends of the cancer continuum—preventing cancer before it happens and addressing the challenges of life after cancer. CDL Cancer will be a signature program for the CPSP.

“This partnership is about saving more lives faster by compressing the time it takes to move cancer research discoveries into real-world application so that we can bring the most promising solutions forward in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. CDL Cancer will enable us to do that,” she told Research Money.

Despite progress in fighting the disease, cancer continues to be the leading cause of death in Canada. An estimated two in five Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime and about one in four will die from the disease. In 2018, a total of $490 million was invested in cancer research by 42 organizations, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, according to an investment report released in 2020 by the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance. The CCS contributes $45 million each year to cancer research, which now includes commercialization initiatives like CDL Cancer.

Translating this research into clinical practice continues to be a difficult and lengthy process, often taking 14 years, “in part due to a lack of connection between evidence providers and evidence users,” said Edwards. “Through the CDL community this is one way we can make those connections faster and accelerate the movement of cancer research into real-world application.”

Those new applications could include new ways to detect cancer earlier, screening methods tailored to communities, and advancements in precision medicine.

CDL Cancer, initially planned in 2019 but delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, will pair oncology-focused startups with industry leaders and subject matter experts, including top students from business schools that CDL has partnered with around the world. Program participants will be mentored at five, eight-week sessions held over nine months to sharpen strategic objectives, prioritize goals, raise capital and engage with partners working within their field.

“CDL is an objectives-based program,” explained CDL executive director Sonia Sennik. “We connect researchers or potential entrepreneurs in a structured process with a network of mentors, scientists and economists who help them prioritize their tasks as they scale and grow.”

CDL typically supports companies at their pre-financing, seed stage. It charges no fees and takes no equity in companies. “They may have interested investors, they may have their first customer, they may have access to talent—but there are other gaps that have been identified through the process,” added Sennik.

Successful graduates from the program have the opportunity to make connections with key network stakeholders and attract investment from CDL mentors and leading venture capital firms from across Canada and internationally. Mentors include exited entrepreneurs, successful operators, angel investors and venture capital partners.

CDL Cancer will be run out of CDL-Toronto (Rotman School of Management, U of T) and CDL-Vancouver (Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia) and will be integrated into the currently operational CDL Health and CDL Neuro streams—two of 17 technology streams offered by CDL.

CDL Health has supported some cancer-related initiatives in the past, including Kheiron Medical Technologies, which graduated from the program in 2019 after raising $22.1 million. The company has now partnered with National Health Service in the UK and uses its artificial intelligence technology to help radiologists detect cancer earlier. A 2018 graduate of CDL Health, immune cell therapy company Notch Therapeutics, raised $85 million in Series A funding in 2021 for the development of cancer immunotherapies.

Edwards said the goal of CDL Cancer is to graduate between 10-15 companies each year from the three-year program.

The CCS also plans to launch a “more fulsome research strategy” in the next couple of months that will include a focus on putting research into action, Edwards added. “So we are pursuing a number of other opportunities in the coming years to drive research into policy, practice and program change.”

Founded in 2012 by Professor Ajay Agrawal at the Rotman School of Management, the CDL program has expanded to 11 sites across five countries, including most recently to Estonia.

The deadline for applying to CDL Cancer is July 31, with selected ventures to start the program in October.

CCS receives $2 million from CIHR

In related news, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research announced April 21 that it is providing nearly $2 million for research that will inform polices and interventions to reduce alcohol-related harms in Canada, including several types of cancer. The partnership with the CCS is funding 20 projects that will evaluate policies, programs and practices that regulate alcohol and that have the potential to impact health.

One of the funding recipients, Dr. Hai Van Nguyen, will work with colleagues at Memorial University of Newfoundland to study the behavioural and health effects of alcohol policy changes during COVID-19 in Canada. Researchers will also examine interventions to prevent, treat, and reduce the harms of problematic alcohol use, as well as the effects of alcohol use and related health and psychosocial on specific populations and determinants of health.

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