Making Institut Curie a reference for Technology Transfer in oncology

Institut Curie has adopted an ambitious strategy for technology transfer and partnerships with innovative companies. This new dynamic, initiated within the framework of the 2015-2020 MC21 strategic plan, aims at positioning Institut Curie a reference for technology transfer in oncology. Faithful to the model conceived by Marie Curie in 1909, this new breath will strengthen the interactions between research and care, catalyzing the transformation of research findings into medical applications for maximum patient benefit.

A new impetus for Technology Transfer is at the heart of Institut Curie’s strategy

Institut Curie is in a new dynamic to accompany its researchers and physicians in the protection, development and commercialization of their inventions, and reinforces support for the setting-up of collaborations with innovative companies.

"The objective is to optimize the identification, promotion and transfer of all the scientific, technological and medical resources of the Institut Curie in an open innovative approach" says Amaury Martin, Executive Director of Institut Curie Technology Transfer and Industrial Partnerships Department and of Institut Carnot Curie Cancer since 2016.   "Our ambition is to make Institut Curie a reference in the transfer of technologies in oncology with a full continuum from basic, translational to clinical research."

Two priorities are placed at the heart of the new action plan: to develop early sourcing and scouting of innovations and to speed up the process of identifying and supporting start-up projects from Institut Curie.

This project, which promotes innovation and interdisciplinarity, is fully integrated in the Institut Curie Medico-Scientific Program, whose ambition is to be one of the major Comprehensive Cancer Centers of the 21st century in Europe and the world.

"Institut Curie must be the driving force behind the changes currently taking place in society, particularly in defining the place to be given to innovation. The challenge will be to strike the right balance between open research addressing fundamental scientific issues and to ensure the transfer of innovations that associate partner companies as soon as possible with the condition of fair revenue sharing to maintain investment capacity of the Institute. In order to do this, Institut Curie must continue to be open to the innovation ecosystem, including PSL Valo, institutions of the Cancéropôle Ile-de-France (Gustave Roussy, Institut Pasteur, AP-HP, public research organizations (Inserm, CNRS, universities), the Technology Transfer Acceleration Companies (SATT) and the Carnot Institutes network, "adds Amaury Martin.

Priority given to development of start-ups and early detection of innovations

A complete offer dedicated to start-ups

The strategy is based on a strong and innovative pillar: the implementation of a comprehensive offer dedicated to support, finance and host start-up projects from Institut Curie. Specific human resources will be dedicated to this new activity and an Investment Committee will be created by the end of 2017 to accompany the investments of the institution. In 2018, a program to guide the promoters of start-up projects in close interaction with the actions already in place within the University Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL) will be set up.

"Institut Curie already has considerable advantages in this field, thanks to its integrated model (fundamental, translational and clinical research) and its expertise in the key development stages of an innovation (patents, licenses, R & D collaborations). In particular, the institution supported DNA Therapeutics, a start-up that developed the Dbait technology developed in Curie's laboratories and acquired by Onxeo in 2016. We recently supported the creation of Stimunity, research carried out at the Institut Curie in immunotherapy of cancers, "says Amaury Martin.

Two programs for sourcing and scouting innoations

The second pillar of the strategy is devoted to the development of two programs for Sourcing and Scouting innovations. These programs, named In'C2 initiative and Curie'Innov, respectively, will be in place by the end of 2017 and serve to increase awareness and training of researchers / physicians on the challenges of protecting their innovations, in order to better identify and support the obtention of their proof of concept. Curie'Innov will communicates with the ecosystem of the Ile-de-France region in a shared regional strategy for the development of oncology research driven by Cancéropôle Ile-de-France, in conjunction with PSL Valo.

Consolidation of the know-how in intellectual property protection and partnerships with companies

A stronger patent and licensing policy

A third priority will be to strengthen protection in strategic sectors for the Institut Curie such as data, bioinformatics, software, medical technologies and, more generally, innovation from within the hospital.

"With this strategic plan, we intend to build on our achievements in intellectual property protection and licensing. This will translate into increased interaction with public research organization, internal monitoring processes and a stronger presence at professional events, "says Amaury Martin.

Facilitated industrial partnerships

Another strategic objective is to develop exchanges and collaborations between researchers / doctors of Institut Curie and innovative companies. In this context, we will introduce an internal incentive policy by 2019. We will consolidate framework agreements signing policy with pharmaceutical companies at the institutional level. A strategic marketing program within the Global Care Initiative & inter Carnot institutes consortia FINDMED will also be developed.

"The Institut Curie already develops numerous partnerships combining the interests of research with those of biotech companies or the pharmaceutical industry. This specificity, recognized through the Institut Carnot Curie Cancer label, will be developed, "says Amaury Martin.

The Institut Curie and the Roche Institute signed a three-year framework agreement last June to speed up the implementation of scientific collaboration programs, particularly in immunology, onco-pediatrics and epigenetics. In September 2016, the Curie Institute partnered with Bristol-Myers Squibb to stimulate research in immuno-oncology and pediatrics. Very recently, the alliance with Servier around breast cancers has been renewed and extended to new scientific horizons (immunology, cardiology, drug discovery).