The Tx Accelerator focuses on early-stage therapeutic ventures with the potential for significant market impact
Service offerings include:
- Scientific and regulatory guidance for pre-clinical and clinical studies.
- Coaching and expertise in business development and IP strategy.
- Advanced personalized training and team building.
- Access to a digital community platform, C-suite executives, industry partners and investors.
- Access to financial support for ventures to scale and achieve growth-related milestones.
- Access to state-of-the-art wet laboratory facilities in the MaRS Centre.
Please see FAQ section below for more details.
The Tx Accelerator focuses on early-stage therapeutic ventures with the potential for significant market impact
Eligibility and key areas of interest
Ventures working in the following areas will be considered high priority:
- Therapeutics: A broad range of disease indications (immunology, oncology, neurology, metabolomics) and categories (small molecules, biologics, RNA, cell therapy).
- Artificial intelligence/machine learning platforms: Supporting drug discovery or digital therapeutics.
- Enabling platforms: Such as novel drug screening, discovery and delivery platforms.
Ventures must be incorporated in Canada with ambitious growth plans.
MaRS and adMare are committed to equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.
Eligibility and key areas of interest
Application process and program duration
Applications for the MaRS® adMare™ Tx Accelerator are accepted on a rolling basis.
Selected ventures will have the opportunity to remain in the program for up to 24 months, based on progress in de-risking therapeutic technologies and achievement of milestones toward entering clinical trials and/or partnerships with pharmaceutical companies.
Application process and program duration
Submission requirements
Eligible ventures are invited to apply by submitting a non-confidential pitch deck in pptx or PDF format, covering the following criteria:
• Problem
• Technology
• Supporting data
• Intellectual property
• Market size
• Business and technology development plan
• Team
Submission requirements
Diligence process
Under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), certain ventures will undergo a due diligence process with MaRS and adMare prior to finalization. Such a process will be kept confidential, pursuant to the terms of an NDA between the parties. During this due diligence period, ventures will be expected to grant access to the following:
- Scientific results generated to date
- Agreements/contracts in place
- IP granted/submitted to date
- Governance and ownership structure
- List of all investors and private funding
- List of all non-dilutive grants obtained
If you have any questions regarding the application for the MaRS® adMare™ Tx Accelerator Program, please contact us at txaccelerator@marsdd.com
Diligence process
Interested ventures are invited to complete the application form and submit your company presentation below.
Note that applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
1. When can I apply to the Tx Accelerator?
Applications are considered on a rolling basis throughout the year depending on space availability.
2. Can I apply to the Tx Accelerator if I am currently part of another commercialization or accelerator program?
Yes. Participation in other commercialization programs or accelerators will be discussed with each company and decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis related to commercialization goals and technology development plan.
3. What is the due diligence process?
The due diligence process requires presentation of the venture’s goals and technology development plan to our internal board or reviewers under mutually-agreed terms of confidentiality. Ventures will be expected to provide access to data, IP, organizational and business-related material during the process.
4. How do I apply to the Tx Accelerator if I live outside of B.C., Quebec or Ontario?
All Canadian incorporated companies are welcome to apply for the Tx Accelerator. Please determine which accelerator location would be best for your company based on region, resources and facilities available. An in-person component is required so please consider this during your application.
5. Do adMare BioInnovations and our regional partners provide continuous funding for my company if I am part of the Tx Accelerator?
Upon the acceptance to the Tx Accelerator each company will enter into a standard agreement regarding the type of support that will be provided by the Accelerator. Acceptance into the accelerator program does not mean that adMare BioInnovations or its regional partners will automatically provide a direct investment (i.e. equity) or continuous funding support for your venture. Support to ventures will be a combination of in-kind and external resources depending on the needs determined at intake.
® is a trademark of Mars Discovery District. ™ is a trademark of adMare BioInnovations and is used under licence.
Jacki Jenuth
Partner, Lumira
With over 20 years of life science, IT and business development executive-level experience, Jacki is a key member of the senior management team with responsibilities that include financial analysis, industry intelligence, proactive sourcing of deals, structuring deal terms and fund raising initiatives in North America. Jacki has a strong reputation for providing the focus, clarity and cohesion required to drive projects from efficient inception to effective completion.
Jacki focuses on early stage companies developing new therapeutic drugs in a variety of indications and also within the digital health health space. In addition to her investment activities, Jacki also directs all aspects of Lumira Ventures’ information technology initiatives having developed a world class venture capital analytics platform.
Jacki has published several scientific articles and two book chapters, and is the recipient of three major academic research awards.
Maura Campbell
President & CEO, OBIO®
Dr. Maura Campbell is the President and CEO of the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®), a not-for-profit, membership-based organization dedicated to advancing health technology innovation and commercialization. Dr. Campbell has more than 30 years of experience in all key areas of biotech, including private and public companies, universities and research institutes, and government-funded public sector research organizations.
With expertise in technology transfer and commercialization of intellectual property, Dr. Campbell has held various roles in senior management, most recently as the Vice-President of Intellectual Property and Contracts for Turnstone Biologics, which recently went public on the NASDAQ. She played a significant role in the company’s seed and Series A, B, C, and D financing, as well as the execution of two large pharma-licensing deals with AbbVie Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals International Co. raising over $450 million (U.S.) for Turnstone. Previously, Dr. Campbell served as Director, Intellectual Property at VBI Vaccines. Among the various roles she held in her career are Senior Research Program Manager, and Manager of Technology Transfer & Commercialization at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Director of Intellectual Property for PainCeptor Pharma Corporation, and Manager of Technology Transfer at the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems National Centre of Excellence. Dr. Campbell has also served as an IP consultant to a number of Canadian start-ups including Neurochem, Conjuchem, Aonix, AMRIC and Sussex Research Labs.
Parimal Nathwani
President and CEO, TIAP
Parimal Nathwani has over 15 years of experience in various aspects of the biotechnology industry including corporate finance, business development, transactions, intellectual property management, technology development and operations. He has been actively involved in forming and managing start-ups, preparing and executing on business plans, raising early-stage capital and in- and out-licensing activities.
Before joining Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners, Parimal was a healthcare analyst with a boutique investment bank, where he conducted equity research on publicly-traded biotechnology companies in Canada and the U.S. He has also led commercialization activities out of BC Women’s and Children’s Hospital as part of his role at the University of British Columbia’s Industry Liaison Office, and was a research scientist at a start-up biotechnology company involved in drug discovery targeting ABC Transporters.
Parimal received his MBA from Simon Fraser University and his M.Sc. from the University of British Columbia. He currently sits on the boards of TRIUMF Innovations, Zucara Therapeutics, Cohesys Inc. and Vasomune Therapeutics and is an observer on the board of Encycle Therapeutics.
Richard Bozzato
Executive in Residence
Scale-up Experience: Head of Drug Development at Allelix Biopharmaceuticals
- Successful product development partnership with multinational Pharma
- Team member raising venture capital financing and eventual IPO
- Early-stage research through to clinical development
- Growth of drug development programs from 10 staff to over 200.
- Successful regulatory approval and marketing authorization
- Founder of Advanced Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering Consortium - industry-academic partnership
- Integrated multi-site contract manufacturing and clinical development facilities
- Biotech strategic partnerships
- Therapeutics product development strategies
- VC interactions and financing
- Product licensing (in-/out)
Stefan Larson
Partner, Sectoral Asset Management
Stefan joined Sectoral in 2018 as Partner and is responsible for the company’s venture capital group. Stefan is a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Also, he serves as a director on the boards of Pipeline Therapeutics, Prilenia Therapeutics, Amolyt Pharma, Apnimed and Turnstone Biologics.
Stefan graduated in 1997 from McGill University with a B.Sc. in Biology, and in 1999 from University of Toronto with an M.Sc. in Molecular and Medical Genetics. He completed his Ph.D. in Biophysics at Stanford University in 2004.
Prior to joining Sectoral, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and later Venture Partner with Versant Ventures, where he led the establishment of their Toronto-based Discovery Engine and was the founding CEO of Northern Biologics. He was also a cofounder of two medical device companies: Perimeter Medical Imaging, and Tornado Spectral Systems. He began his career at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco and Toronto.
Stephan Gauldie
Scientific Director, Managing Director, Head of Back Bay Canada
Stephan Gauldie is a founding member of Back Bay Life Science Advisors and head of Back Bay’s Canadian Operations. Dr. Gauldie helped build Back Bay’s integrated strategic advisory and investment banking offering for life science companies at every stage. Dr. Gauldie’s role emphasizes commercial assessment and forecasting, strategic franchise-building, M&A and licensing strategy, buy-side diligence, and exit planning with defensible, analysis-driven positioning for venture-backed companies.
Dr. Gauldie is also a member of Back Bay’s investment banking team, providing forecasting, valuation, market, and scientific analytics in sell-side transactions, buy-side engagements, and financing support.
He has more than 20 years of experience across drug development research, market analysis, and strategy consulting. Before joining Back Bay, Dr. Gauldie led the Commercial Research Group at Decision Resources. He was a Principal Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, leading teams that covered US and EU-based pharmaceutical companies, as well as CNS/Pain and Immunology therapeutic areas.
Zain Kassam
Founder, ZK Consulting
Dr. Zain Kassam is an entrepreneur, investor, senior biotechnology executive, and physician-scientist at the intersection of medicine, biological engineering, and computer science. He co-founded and led a healthcare company, OpenBiome, that scaled to become a national supplier, at peak delivering life-saving treatments to over 10,000 patients per year with ~$15M annual revenue. Dr. Kassam co-founded and built a first-in-field biotechnology company, Finch Therapeutics, that resulted in an upsized IPO on the NASDAQ with peak market capitalization of $1B and secured leading pharmaceutical partnerships for AI-enabled drug discovery. He has led Phase I-III clinical trials with top-tier academic collaborators across multiple therapeutic areas. Dr. Kassam is a mentor at Creative Destruction Labs, an investment committee member of the UCeed Health and Child Health Funds, and a steering committee member of the national MaRS-adMare Therapeutic Accelerator. He has experience with diverse technologies serving on the Board or as an advisor to venture capital firms, foundations, and private healthcare companies.
Dr. Kassam received the 2020 Public Health Innovator Award from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and was named to the prestigious Top 40 under 40 Healthcare Innovator List by MedTech (2016). He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications, including in leading journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, and Gastroenterology. Dr. Kassam is an inventor on over 15 patent applications or patents. He has been featured on PBS, CNN, BBC, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and numerous other media outlets. Dr. Kassam was the previous Co-Chair of the CMO Summit 360 Summit (2019-2021) which brings together 70+ CMOs from around the globe.