Actively engaged in the fight against cancer, IRIC is committed to commercializing discoveries in fundamental research in order for them to rapidly evolve into therapeutic solutions that will benefit patients. In order to do so, the Institute can rely on the expertise of IRICoR, a research maturation cluster, on the lookout for the most promising scientific breakthroughs for the development of innovative drugs and treatments.
From today’s research to tomorrow’s therapies
Created in 2008 and based at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, IRICoR is a research maturation centre, specializing in drug discovery. Possessing both scientific and business expertise, its team targets the best research projects from academia in order to facilitate their transformation into new therapies, through the development of strategic partnerships with the private sector and the creation of new companies.
IRICoR’s privileged relationships with the biopharmaceutical industry and clinical centres results in accelerating the transformation of research into therapeutic solutions that are accessible to patients, while also maximizing the economic benefits.
Strategic assistance from discovery to commercialization
IRICoR, From today’s research to tomorrow’s therapies
Over the past ten years, IRICoR has supported several research projects through to the clinical stage. Two of these have resulted in the creation of the following companies: ExCellThera and Epitopea.
In the case of ExCellThera, a company incubated at the UdeM and based on the discovery of the molecule UM171, it took only ten years to obtain a positive recommendation from the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for the marketing of Zemcelpro®.
Among other projects, the collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) could be mentioned for the development of oral antiplatelet compounds targeting PAR4, which have undergone several Phase I and II clinical trials.
Other research projects have led to licensing agreements with pharmaceutical partners. One example is the molecule IPN01195, developed at IRIC and licensed by Ipsen since February 2023, which entered Phase I clinical trials in April 2025.
IRICoR also supported the creation of Drave Therapeutics, a spin-off company dedicated to the development of new specific treatments targeting RCPGs.
IRICoR has demonstrated the success of its model with more than 100 Canadian project grants, including just over 60 public-private partnership projects. In addition to its contribution to the creation of four active companies, 30 licensing agreements have been signed with industry leaders, nearly 70 patent families have been generated, and eight clinical trials have been initiated.
UM171: a major breakthrough in oncology
IRICoR works very closely with the team headed by Anne Marinier, Principal Investigator, Director of Medicinal Chemistry, and Director of IRIC’s Drug Discovery Unit, and that of Dr. Guy Sauvageau, Principal Investigator at IRIC and hematologist at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, who discovered the UM171 Molecule, which has the capacity to multiply the stem cells present in umbilical cord blood.
These stem cells are used for transplants for the purpose of curing several blood diseases, including leukemia, myeloma and lymphoma. The results of the first phases of a clinical trial testing the efficacy of stem cells produced thanks to UM171 in patients suffering from blood cancer show hope.
This global breakthrough by IRIC’s teams, assisted throughout its development and supported in part by IRICoR, may soon provide thousands of patients with access to a safe stem cell transplant.
Over the past 17 years, IRICoR has demonstrated the success of its model with more than 100 project financings, including over 60 projets in public and private partnership. Along with creating four active companies, 30 licence agreements have been reached, 70 patent families have been generated and eight clinical trials have been initiated.