LICR Launches 'Recepta' in Brazil—That Country's First Oncology Biotech
On June 14th, Brazil's first oncology biotechnology company — Recepta Pharma — was launched by LICR and PR&D, a Brazilian venture capital company. The launch, which included a press conference involving LICR’s Drs. Andy Simpson (Scientific Director) and Jonathan Skipper (Executive Director for Intellectual Property & Technology Licensing), and Minister Sergio Rezende (Brazil’s Federal Minister for Science and Technology), received nation-wide media coverage.
Recepta has licensed four antibodies from LICR, one of which is expected to enter clinical trials at the Oswaldo Cruz German Hospital (HAOC) — the São Paulo Branch’s new host institution and one of the centers of clinical excellence in Brazil — this year. The first trial will assess the antibody’s efficacy for patients with resected ovarian cancer that is refractory to chemotherapy. This will be the first phase II oncology clinical trial sponsored by a Brazilian company.
Dr. Simpson says that the creation of Recepta is very much in line with Mr. Ludwig’s goal for LICR to contribute to, and benefit from, local cancer research resources. “There are tremendous clinical research opportunities in Brazil. It is a country with many very talented laboratory and clinical researchers, there’s a large population to draw patients from, and we know we can have great confidence in their clinical practices with respect to the highest standards of ethical patient care.”
Dr. José Fernando Perez
The Director of Recepta, Dr. José Fernando Perez, agrees that the company has benefited greatly from the international collaborations and support provided by LICR. “It’s important to appreciate that the Ludwig Institute is more than just a share-holder in Recepta. This is a partnership that involves Ludwig Institute investigators from around the world contributing their knowledge and expertise to assist Recepta’s development efforts.” The company has received a multi-million dollar federal grant from FINEP, a public enterprise connected with the Ministry of Science and Technology, which has a purview to make investments that boost competitiveness and national technological capacity. The FINEP grant was made to fund clinical trials and also to construct a small-scale production facility at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zoology - University of São Paulo (FMVZ-USP) located at Butantã (pronounced “boo-tan-tan”). There, a team headed by Dr. Ana Maria Moro will conduct preclinical work as well as cell line development and antibody production. Members of Dr. Moro's team will visit the Institute’s New York Branch and Melbourne Center to learn some of the necessary techniques, and Dr. Angelo Perani, from the Biological Distribution Facility at the Melbourne Center, will spend some time in Brazil to assist the team set up the necessary production technologies. Recepta is also receiving preclinical research guidance from investigators at the São Paulo Branch.
Dr. Simpson says that the spin-off model exemplified by Recepta is the most efficient and cost-effective way to investigate the clinical benefit of some of the Institute’s research discoveries. “Launching a company, like Recepta for these antibodies, or Vegenics for some of LICR’s angiogenesis discoveries, allows the Institute and its partners to draw on new, quite different groups and resources such that we can pursue clinical development of potential therapies. The FINEP grant is one example of this, and the business plan drawn up for Recepta by the Sloan School of Business at MIT (Massachusetts’ Institute of Technology) is another.”
The partnership between LICR and PR&D evolved from an institutional partnership formed by LICR and FAPESP in the 1990’s. Dr. Perez is the former director of FAPESP (State of Sao Paulo funding body), and was one of the drivers — together with Dr. Simpson — of the internationally acclaimed ONSA (Organization for Nucleotide Sequencing and Analysis) and Human Cancer Genome Project (HCGP), state- and nation-wide sequencing programs, respectively, that brought Brazilian genomics to the world’s attention.
Recepta press conference panel