The Quebec government awards $13.9 million to IRIC for the development of new drugs against cancer and other medical conditions

MONTREAL, Feb. 14, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - The Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Université de Montreal (UdeM) received an award of $13.9 million from the "Fonds de partenariat pour un Québec innovant et en santé" (FPQIS) to develop new drugs against cancer and other medical conditions, in collaboration with, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck, two biopharmaceutical companies.

The award was announced by the Minister of Finance and the Economy, Nicolas Marceau, at the "International Symposium on Genomics and Personalized Prevention Health", held at the Montréal Science Centre on February 14.

In accordance with FPQIS' criteria, which were targeted towards collaborative initiatives in personalized healthcare and drug discovery with industry, IRIC will undertake over the next four years a series of projects aimed at improving the health of the population through the development of novel medicines which will improve the performance of the health care system while increasing economic impacts for the province of Québec and for the Institute.

"This good news confirms, once again, the vision of the IRIC and the relevance of our drug development model. It is also a recognition of the importance of the discoveries, technologies and cutting-edge expertise of researchers from our institute", says Dr. Guy Sauvageau, CEO and Principal Investigator at IRIC and Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal.

The partnership agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb includes drugs identification and optimization with IRIC and Bristol-Myers Squibb researchers. Initiatives developed in collaboration with Merck will support a range of innovative projects in the fields of oncology and immunology, as well as other diseases for which there is no satisfactory treatment.

IRICoR (Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer - Commercialization of Research), whose mission is to accelerate the process of drug discovery at the Université de Montréal, made possible these partnerships.

"IRICoR's partnership model with the biopharmaceutical industry demonstrates that bringing together the complementary drug discovery expertise at IRIC and at our industry partners will accelerate the development of new medicines and lead to important socio-economic benefits for Quebec", says Michel Bouvier, President and CEO of IRICoR, Principal Investigator at IRIC and Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Université de Montréal.

About the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer
www.iric.ca

About the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer - Commercialization of Research
www.iricor.ca

About the Université de Montréal
www.umontreal.ca

SOURCE: Université de Montréal

Manon Pepin
Communications and Media Relations Director
Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer│IRIC
Université de Montréal
514 842-4035│[email protected]