Israel’s academic institutions and healthcare organizations have long been recognized for their talent pipeline and scientific biomedical research. Yet for all their promise, many potentially life-saving technologies born in research institutions languish in academic labs, struggling to spin out into viable biotech startups and ultimately reach patients.

A new venture launched Sunday by 15 major Israeli universities, healthcare institutions, and medical centers from across the country aims to turn Israel into a competitive biotech hub by bridging the critical gap between academic discovery, financing, clinical application and commercial viability of new medicines.

Designed as a non-profit, the Israel National Biotech Innovation Center, or INBI, aims to advance and commercialize disruptive biomedical research, driving the development of new therapies and human cures.

“From an academic research point of view in life sciences, Israel is a very strong player in the world, on a par with major global hubs in Germany and the UK and some of the major hubs in US cities — not in quantity, but in quality,” INBI chairman Samuel Moed told The Times of Israel. “But great research is languishing in labs as Israel has been challenged to translate the potential that sits inside of academic institutions into a steady flow of world-class investable biotech companies.”

“If you compare Israel to other hubs, Israel is producing roughly 50 percent of the potential value from academia to early biotech venture formation,” Moed remarked.

Though medical advances can be extremely lucrative, developing new therapies can be risky, costly and take years longer than other technologies to bring to market. That makes biomedical firms especially choosy about what they invest in, leaving potentially lifesaving cures orphaned.

Moed said INBI is in the process of raising $500 million from philanthropic bodies in Israel and abroad for a 10-year program to fund cohorts of about 10 early-stage biotech projects a year.

The cohort of Israeli pre-clinical biomedical research programs will be selected from the 15 partners, which include Bar-Ilan University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University, The University of Haifa and the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Also partnered in the venture are the Maccabi and Clalit health maintenance organizations, as well as Rambam Health Care Campus, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Sheba Medical Center, Beilinson Hospital — Rabin Medical Center, Hadassah Medical Center, and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov).

Alongside Moed, a former head of corporate strategy at US drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb, INBI will also be led by Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag, chairperson of Israeli drug discovery company Compugen.

Previously, Cohen-Dayag........

© The Times of Israel