Start-ups Founded by PRiME Members Attract Major Pharmaceutical Interest

Start-up companies co-founded by PRiME faculty members Sachdev Sidhu and Jason Moffat garnered the attention of major pharmaceutical partners, with several acquisitions transpiring over the course of a single month.

Gilead Sciences purchased a stake in Pionyr Immunotherapeutics for $275 million to access its Myeloid Tuning approach to cancer immunotherapy — a collaboration involving Dr. Sachdev Sidhu (U of T) and Dr. Max Krummel (UCSF) when the company was founded in 2015.

On the same day, Empirica Therapeutics — co-founded by Dr. Jason Moffat (U of T) and Dr. Sheila Singh (McMaster) to develop glioblastoma therapies — was acquired by Bayer-backed Century Therapeutics, becoming Century Therapeutics Canada. Earlier, in May 2020, Northern Biologics — another Toronto company co-founded by Drs. Sidhu and Moffat — was acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim, with a lead anti-LIF antibody in Phase I trials.

These successful ventures exemplify the ground-breaking research being conducted by PRiME investigators that is making its way to real impact for patients, providing momentum for the emerging Toronto and Canadian biotech ecosystem.