Fueling global innovation in health care through philanthropic partnership

Transforming discoveries into real applications for patients can take years of development, refinement, validation, and testing. While University Health Network (UHN)’s research and clinical investigators have long been at the forefront of global discoveries, securing funding for early, pre-clinical research can often be challenging due to the high risks and high costs of this phase. This creates a funding gap that can delay the scaling of promising technologies via commercialization.

UHN Foundation (UHNF) and The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation (PMCF) are addressing this gap through the creation of the Accelerator Fund, a philanthropic fund exclusively supporting commercialization efforts at UHN, helping promising innovations from within UHN and our ecosystem reach patients faster and maximizing their commercial potential.

Buoyed by philanthropy and substantial investment from partnerships, the process of commercialization takes health care innovations derived from research breakthroughs and brings them to market in the form of new medical products, devices or therapies.

UHN Commercialization has helped change the trajectory of patient care by providing support to companies such as Adela, who are facilitating the development of cutting-edge early cancer detection technology, and BlueRock Therapeutics, currently pioneering innovative stem cell therapies.

From these and other commercial successes, UHN Commercialization has helped generate nearly $111 million in licensing revenue since 2018, with a substantial portion being re-invested back into UHN research that will lead to even more breakthroughs in patient care.

The new Accelerator Fund will address the commercialization funding gap by allowing UHN to a) discern the most promising commercial opportunities and b) provide these projects with quick, critical funding to advance early-stage scientific research and maximize impact on patient care.

Dr. Brad Wouters, Executive Vice President of Science and Research at UHN, emphasizes the Accelerator Fund’s strategic focus on fostering collaboration and accelerating the commercialization of research. He envisions the Accelerator Fund as a catalyst for transforming bold ideas into tangible solutions that have a meaningful impact on health care delivery. “Through the Accelerator Fund we support early-stage projects, providing funding, mentorship, and access to essential resources. This support enables researchers and innovators to de-risk their discoveries, attract investment, and ultimately, bring life-changing therapies to those in need,” says Dr. Wouters. “Without this support, these new drugs and treatments might never leave the lab.”

The Accelerator Fund is a critical resource for advancing patient care in Canada and around the world, fueling leading-edge projects across UHN to change the lives of patients everywhere.

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