9Bio Therapeutics and TransBIOTech awarded $450,000 Applied Research and Development (ARD) grant to accelerate oncology innovation
Multi-year funding advances promising cancer therapeutics through rigorous pre-clinical safety and efficacy studies required for regulatory approval of clinical testing
Quebec City, QC, March 20, 2025 – 9Bio Therapeutics, a biotech company pioneering next-generation oncology therapeutics, today announced that, in partnership with TransBIOTech (Levis, QC), it has been awarded a $450,000 Applied Research and Development (ARD) grant via the College and Community Innovation (CCI) program, administered through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in collaboration with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
This federal investment over three years enables 9Bio Therapeutics to leverage TransBIOTech’s remarkable expertise in preclinical research, advancing the development of its innovative pipeline of targeted oncology therapeutics. Complementing a recently approved Partenar-IA grant from CQDM, this funding positions 9Bio to accelerate two therapeutic candidates toward clinical trials, reinforcing Canada’s standing as a global biotech innovation leader.
TransBIOTech, a College Center of Technology Transfer (CCTT) and not-for-profit organization specializing in applied research and preclinical drug development, will provide robust expertise in preclinical and regulatory-supporting studies. These include, but are not limited to, functional immune assays, tumor cell killing, and in vivo pharmacokinetic, efficacy, and mechanism-of-action studies. TransBIOTech’s efforts will ultimately support regulatory submissions and facilitate clinical translation.
The therapeutic candidates evaluated in these studies originate from 9Bio’s discovery efforts and will be supplied by 9Bio, which will retain full control over their development, regulatory strategy, and commercialization. TransBIOTech will not receive intellectual property (IP) rights under this agreement, in accordance with its business model.
“9Bio’s platform harnesses the power of computational biology to enable rapid development of conditionally active therapies. The validation of our models and the development of our therapeutics demand cutting-edge laboratory technology and scientific excellence,” stated Philipe Gobeil, Co-founder, President & CSO of 9Bio Therapeutics. “This collaboration with TransBIOTech fulfills a key component of our preclinical development strategy and will expedite our transition to clinical studies.”
Fred Couture, PhD, Principal Investigator (PI) and Head of Pharmaceutical Sciences at TransBIOTech, added: “We are thrilled to support 9Bio’s research and contribute to the advancement of cutting-edge therapeutics. This funding underscores the importance of applied research collaborations in driving biotech innovation to deliver innovative cancer treatments for patients who do not respond to current therapies or require more tolerable options. I believe that, along with co-PIs Prof. Yvan Boutin and Prof. Marie-Eve Janelle, our expertise will contribute to expedite 9Bio’s preclinical pipeline development.”
About 9Bio Therapeutics
9Bio Therapeutics is a biotech company committed to developing innovative oncology therapeutics. Our AI-guided structural biology platform integrates anatomical and biochemical contexts to design drugs that selectively target tumors. Using this approach, we generate medicines with specificity for tumors that spare healthy tissues, improving safety, efficacy, and opening the door to previously underexploited therapeutic modalities. Our pipeline includes three discovery-stage therapies: an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting tumor cells, an ADC targeting tumor-subverted immune cells, and an engineered cytokine.
About TransBIOTech
TransBIOTech, a Collegial Center for Technology Transfer (CCTT) affiliated with the Cégep de Lévis, QC, Canada, is a non-profit organization specializing in biotechnology. Since 1999, TransBIOTech has provided expert support in drug development, offering services in pharmacology, cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry, pharmacokinetics, and toxicology. TransBIOTech researchers use their expertise and advanced methodologies to evaluate the mechanism of action, efficacy, and safety of therapeutic candidates at various stages of preclinical development. Get more information at www.transbio.tech.