Jun 8, 2022   SOURCE: BusinessWire

The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Resilience Announce Strategic Alliance to Develop Next-Generation Cancer Therapies

The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), a network of the largest concentration of immuno-oncology (IO) expertise in the world, and National Resilience, Inc. (Resilience), a technology-focused biomanufacturing company dedicated to broadening access to complex medicines, today announced the launch of a five-year strategic alliance to develop next-generation cancer therapies generated from PICI’s network of leading immunotherapy research centers.

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Together, PICI and Resilience aim to bring novel cell and gene therapies to market through the creation and incubation of new companies with a commitment of up to $50 million in funding. These startups will leverage groundbreaking technologies from across the PICI Network and have direct access to Resilience’s biomanufacturing capacity, capability, and know-how.

“This strategic alliance is representative of the transformative growth underway at PICI as we take our vision to the next level with new company investments and incubation,” stated Sean Parker, PICI founder and chairman. “Now, in collaboration with Resilience, we are closing the loop with access to critical biological manufacturing that will further accelerate our mission of delivering breakthrough immune therapies to patients and transforming all cancers into curable diseases.”

Under the agreement, Resilience will also collaborate with PICI Network investigators on challenges related to biomanufacturing and novel treatment modalities. As PICI’s first valued manufacturing partner for complex modalities Resilience will be well positioned to work with PICI Affiliated Partners (PICI-invested companies, PICI Network Institutions, and Network Investigators) on developing enabling biomanufacturing technology and to lower the barriers for technology access across the PICI network and more broadly within the therapeutic development community.

“By combining our organizations’ capabilities in drug discovery, development and cutting-edge biomanufacturing technologies, we aim to advance a new wave of treatments to patients in need,” said Rahul Singhvi, ScD, Chief Executive Officer of Resilience. “This alliance with PICI will demonstrate the power of new business models in finding and advancing cancer therapies.”

Resilience and PICI will establish a Joint Steering Committee to approve investments and new company opportunities, monitor and track the progress of alliance portfolio companies, and identify innovation challenge focus areas, among other duties.

“Through this strategic alliance, we have an opportunity to deliver unparalleled access to innovation in cancer immunotherapy and manufacturing across PICI-invested companies and the PICI Network,” stated PICI Chief Scientific Officer, John Connolly, PhD. “The combination of PICI’s bench-to-market-to-patient philosophy and Resilience’s end-to-end biomanufacturing solutions support novel idea generation and development, delivering cutting-edge therapeutics to patients with cancer faster.”

“By working closely with PICI Network Investigators, we can develop the advanced manufacturing technologies needed to bring cutting-edge therapies to patients that need them,” said Rich Stoner, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Resilience. “Our goal is to ensure these therapies can be made at the quality and scale required to bring transformative immune therapies to people with cancer.”

About The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy

The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) is radically changing how cancer research is done. Founded in 2016 through a $250 million gift from Silicon Valley entrepreneur and philanthropist Sean Parker, the San Francisco-based nonprofit is an unprecedented collaboration between the country’s leading immunotherapy researchers and cancer centers. The PICI Network of research institutions includes Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford Medicine, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Pennsylvania, and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The institute also supports top researchers at other institutions, including the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, City of Hope, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Institute for Systems Biology, and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. By forging alliances with academic, industry, and nonprofit partners, PICI makes big bets on bold research to fulfill its mission: to accelerate the development of breakthrough immune therapies to turn all cancers into curable diseases. Find out more at www.parkerici.org and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @parkerici.

About Resilience

Resilience is a technology-focused biomanufacturing company dedicated to broadening access to complex medicines. Founded in 2020, the company is building a sustainable network of high-tech, end-to-end manufacturing solutions to ensure the treatments of today and tomorrow can be made quickly, safely, and at scale. Resilience seeks to free its partners to focus on the discoveries that improve patients’ lives by continuously advancing the science of biopharmaceutical manufacturing and development. For more information, visit www.Resilience.com and follow us on social media: @IncResilience on Twitter and Resilience on LinkedIn.