Zealand Pharma’s acquisition of Encycle Therapeutics highlights the impact of CQDM’s early support on Canadian biotech company creation and success.
Montreal, November 11th, 2019 – CQDM commends Encycle Therapeutics for their acquisition by Zealand Pharma (NASDAQ: ZEAL)[1]. CQDM is proud to have supported Encycle Therapeutics and its technology platform from the very beginning in partnership with Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partnership (TIAP) and the Ontario Centers of Excellence (OCE).
CQDM’s support began as research funding for a collaboration between Dr. Andrei Yudin (University of Toronto) and Éric Marsault (Université de Sherbrooke) to develop a powerful chemistry platform for the creation of macrocyclic peptides. The research yielded a unique technology, leading to the creation of Encycle Therapeutics. Following this major step, CQDM continued to support Encycle and the development of its lead drug candidate, ET3764. CQDM looks forward to following the development of ET3764 in gastrointestinal diseases by Zealand Pharma’s experienced clinical development team.
“The creation and following acquisition of Encycle is a prime example of how CQDM’s collaborative model of funding high-risk, high value translational research can bridge a strategic development gap. Furthermore, CQDM’s unique mentorship program, which connects researchers with Senior Scientists of CQDM’s pharmaceutical partners, provided industry guidance to the research and facilitated Encycle’s interactions with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies” said Diane Gosselin, President and CEO of CQDM.
About CQDM
CQDM is a biopharma-based research consortium created in 2008 with the mission to fund the development of innovative technologies to accelerate the drug discovery and development. Its business model is based on a collaborative approach bringing together world-leading pharmaceutical organizations, Canadian biotech companies as well as the Canadian and Quebec governments who share the costs of the research. CQDM uses this leverage to reduce the risks inherent to early-stage biopharmaceutical research. In doing so, CQDM bridges the funding gap needed to drive innovation across the academic and private sectors, especially where early-stage research is concerned. Over the last 10 years, CQDM has benefited from the contribution of 13 industrial members: that includes Merck, Pfizer, AstraZeneca as founding members as well as Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly Canada, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Novartis Pharma Canada, Roche, Sanofi Canada, Servier, Takeda and now Amgen. CQDM also received contributions from Quebec’s Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MEI) and from the Government of Canada under the Business-Led Networks of Centres of Excellence Program (BL-NCE). Since 2008, CQDM has supported the development of 77 outstanding innovative technologies totaling $93M in funding. These R&D projects, carried out by more than 1,200 scientists from 83 different research institutions (40 public and 43 private) across Canada, have generated numerous economic benefits for all the stakeholders of the life science ecosystem. For more information: https://cqdm.orgen.
Source:
CQDM
Jesse Paterson
Principal Director, Business Development
+1 (514) 850-7088
jpaterson@cqdm.org
www.cqdm.org
[1] Source: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/10/22/1933033/0/en/Zealand-Pharma-expands-its-peptide-platform-with-acquisition-of-Encycle-Therapeutics.html
