On February 2, 2017 QB3@953, the Bay Area’s premier life science incubator, reported the collaboration between one of its member companies, Telo Therapeutics, and one of its sponsor companies, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (Press release, Telo Therapeutics, FEB 2, 2017, View Source [SID1234574485]). Telo Therapeutics is a start-up biotechnology company co-founded by Joe Costello, PhD, UCSF Professor of Neurological Surgery, and Robert Bell, PhD, a former post doc in Dr. Costello’s lab. GSK’s Discovery Partnerships with Academia (DPAc) group recently extended its 2015 collaboration agreement with QB3@953, and has now formed a collaboration with Telo Therapeutics to develop a novel precision medicine with the aim to reverse cancer cell immortality.
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"We’re delighted to collaborate with GSK because of their extensive chemistry resources and drug development expertise," said Dr. Costello.
"This collaboration is a tremendous step forward for Telo, and it will accelerate our development timeline towards patient trials faster than would be possible alone," added Dr. Bell, now CEO of Telo Therapeutics.
"Telo is exactly the type of innovative target concept that we were hoping to see through our collaboration with QB3@953," said Carolyn Buser-Doepner, Head of the GSK DPAc team. "The principal scientists and their innovative, early target concept are an excellent fit for the DPAc model."
Telo first became a member of QB3@953 and then a collaborator with GSK’s DPAc team as well as the recipient of GSK’s "golden ticket" lab bench at QB3@953. The "golden ticket" is provided by QB3@953 to allow sponsor companies to select a promising Bay Area biotech company of their choice to allocate use of state-of-the-art research equipment and lab space granted to partners of QB3@953. As a "golden ticket" company, Telo Therapeutics will have access to GSK’s allocated space and equipment for one year while the two companies work together to perform a series of small molecule screens. If promising drug candidates are identified through this collaboration, a longer multi-year partnership between the parties could be established to advance the drug to the clinic.
"The formation of the collaboration between Telo Therapeutics and GSK is a great example of how QB3@953 serves as a launch pad to pair local researchers possessing great science and entrepreneurial aspirations with partner resources necessary to advance innovative programs within new companies," said Doug Crawford, QB3@953 Managing Director.