Biogen Idec Announces First Startup In Its Innovation Incubator
Initiative Designed to Contribute to Productivity of Early-Stage Pipeline First Project Leverages Original Finding by Columbia University Medical Center Geneticist
Cambridge, MA - Biogen Idec announced the first occupant in its Biogen Idec Innovation Incubator (bi3). Bi3 is a corporate initiative designed to contribute to the company's drug development pipeline by offering entrepreneurial scientists the opportunity to rapidly convert novel biological insights into life-saving and life-changing therapies.
The company, Escoublac, is based on the discovery of a new link between bone biology and metabolism by Gerard Karsenty, MD, PhD, professor and chair of Genetics & Development at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). Dr. Karsenty, in addition to his position at CUMC, will be key scientific advisor at Escoublac. His goal in building the company is to explore whether the discovery can be translated into new treatments for metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and obesity. Escoublac's research focus will build upon Dr. Karsenty's discoveries that the hormone osteocalcin is involved in regulating insulin and fat storage in the body.
"We're very pleased to be embarking upon this venture with Biogen Idec," said Dr. Karsenty. "What appealed to me about bi3 was the access to Biogen Idec's scientists. The ability to tap into their drug discovery and development expertise increases our collective chances of turning a promising discovery into therapies that actually help patients."
Biogen Idec began reviewing candidates earlier this year for bi3. The innovation incubator is designed to put scientific founders in the best position to successfully demonstrate the therapeutic potential of a drug candidate and realize significant economic benefits within timelines as short as two to three years. The incubator provides founders with access to three critical resources necessary to building a company and advancing a scientific discovery from the lab bench to a patient's bedside:
- Funding: bi3 supplies the financial resources necessary to convert "drug prototypes" into development candidates that can quickly enter the clinic.
- Facility: bi3 offers state-of-the-art laboratory space, office space and shared equipment in an access-controlled environment adjacent to Biogen Idec's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Focus: bi3 offers entrepreneurs the ability to focus on the science by providing access to Biogen Idec's drug discovery expertise, scientific services and world-class technology, as well as all the business and administrative support required to manage day-to-day company operations.
"It's this combination of components that makes the bi3 model quite unique," said Rainer Fuchs, PhD, Biogen Idec vice president and executive director of bi3. "For each company's founder, it's an opportunity to advance the science beyond what the academic environment allows. For us, it's an opportunity to get involved in innovative and exciting science that complements our internal R&D efforts and potentially adds product candidates to our pipeline."
Bi3 supports entrepreneurs working to translate innovative biology into a product candidate with disease-modifying potential. Research programs should be advanced enough that they have the potential to generate product candidates and transition them into development in two to three years.
SOURCE: Biogen Idec