Frank Stonebanks
Founder, President and CEO, Triphase
Accelerator Corporation
I’ve
always had ties to both Canada and the U.S. given my dual citizenship, so when
forming my next business, it was natural for me to take advantage of having my
company have “dual citizenship,”’ as well. In 2010, I formed Triphase
Accelerator Corporation as a spin-out of the Ontario Institute for Cancer
Research (OICR) in Toronto, one of the world’s leading oncology translational
research institutes, where I served as chief commercial officer.
Triphase is a private drug development accelerator with a primary focus on oncology. We acquire and in-license promising drug candidates that have potential as products and accelerate them from pre-IND through Phase 2 proof-of-concept. Our goal is to advance compelling, well-differentiated drugs in order to bring more effective, affordable treatments to patients.
We
have operations in both Canada and the U.S. – specifically in the MaRS
Discovery District, an innovation hub, in downtown Toronto and in the Johnson
& Johnson Innovation Center in San Diego --- and we have several team members
with ties to both countries. Our chief medical officer, Robert Corringham,
M.D., and I are dual citizens, and our Board of Directors includes Kevin Leshuk,
who serves as vice president and general manager of Celgene Canada.
MaRS
Centre Phase 2 in Toronto
Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in San Diego
We
are unique in that we offer a straightforward, translational science-based, high-quality
drug development model that focuses all of our financial and human resources on
accelerating compounds from pre-IND to clinical proof-of-concept. We leverage the
scientific and drug development expertise of our highly experienced senior
executive team to efficiently make data-driven decisions about moving compounds
forward.
Our
capital-efficient model is faster and more cost-effective than the traditional biotech/pharmaceutical
approach, which spends disproportionate resources on infrastructure and fixed
costs. We maintain very low overhead so we can direct the vast majority of the capital
we use into product development. Specifically, we spend 95 cents of every
dollar directly on drug development, and utilize a semi-virtual model in which
we employ reputable, top-quality contract research organizations (CROs) and
contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs).
Our
process is straightforward:
·
We
seek out promising drug candidates by drawing on our network of personal
relationships across North America and around the world, and tapping into the
people, skills and infrastructure in Toronto and San Diego.
·
We
select and in-license innovative, high-risk drug candidates based on their
scientific merit, unmet medical need, and ability to rapidly achieve clinical
proof-of-concept in selected patient populations.
·
We
run the key early-stage studies that provide the high-quality scientific data
that companies need to make decisions about whether to advance candidates
through further development or to abandon them.
Our first strategic collaboration
is with Celgene Corporation, which is seeking to enable rapid proof-of-concept
for important new cancer therapeutics to strengthen its oncology pipeline. Celgene
has rights of first refusal on the first three oncology products that we advance
to clinical proof-of-concept, and the right of first negotiation on three
additional subsequent products. The novel, highly
potent proteasome inhibitor marizomib is the first product to move forward
within this collaboration. We are currently evaluating an intravenous (IV)
formulation of marizomib in a Phase 1 study in combination with pomalidomide
and dexamethasone in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, and in a Phase 2 clinical trial in combination with
dexamethasone in a highly refractory multiple myeloma population, including
patients refractory to carfilzomib. We also are evaluating an oral formulation
in IND-enabling studies.
We
believe that we fill a significant need for the biotech/pharmaceutical industry
by helping companies offset the time and costs of early drug development so
they can efficiently reach go/no go decisions. With our capital-efficient model
of de-risking drug candidates, we are not driven by binary events or investors
and venture capitalists. Rather, we work strategically on behalf of our biotech/pharmaceutical
partners to help them make critical decisions about drug candidates in a timely
and cost-efficient manner.
For
more information, please visit our website at www.triphaseco.com or our profile
on LinkedIn.
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