Emerson Collective today announced a new partnership with Takeda, a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, to accelerate the development of cancer therapies. The Oncology Innovation Accelerator Initiative will support the development of early innovations from academic partners with the combined capabilities, expertise, and funding necessary to approach therapeutic development processes differently. Working together, Emerson and Takeda will seek to find ways of guiding the most promising work in the lab towards the clinic as quickly as possible.

Designed to fast-track novel potential treatments for patients in need, the initiative connects academics engaged in the early stages of groundbreaking cancer research with experienced Takeda drug development teams and venture investors. Emerson Collective and Takeda will actively collaborate with academic scientists, providing project planning and high-engagement, in-kind scientific guidance throughout the project design and execution phases to help accelerate discovery and translation.

“This initiative reimagines the relationship between academia, the biopharma industry and philanthropy to accelerate transformative patient-driven solutions,” Reed Jobs, Managing Director, Health at Emerson Collective, said. “At Emerson Collective, we’re constantly looking for new ways to serve as a catalyst for paradigmatic change in the fight against cancer. This partnership with Takeda offers academics at the forefront of discovery an unparalleled opportunity to cultivate collaboration across the ecosystem, and collectively pursue the best path towards delivering effective cancer therapies to patients.”

Emerson Collective and Takeda also bring extensive experience working with academics to form new ventures and collaborations around promising assets. This initiative offers academic investigators the opportunity to maximally leverage both expertise in commercial research and development and potential financial support needed to carry promising programs through clinical development.

“Discovering the next generation of innovative cancer therapies requires more pre-competitive collaboration across the ecosystem,” said Kathy Seidl, Head of Takeda’s Oncology Drug Discovery Unit. “Takeda’s new alliance with Emerson was established to foster close collaboration between academia, industry, investors and other stakeholders to support the most promising innovative research science. Each month, research project teams and Emerson and Takeda experts will convene to share their expertise to translate today’s cutting-edge research into cancer treatments of the future fulfilling on our shared vision of high impact therapies for cancer patients.”

This combination of philanthropy, patient-first focus, and drug development expertise, coupled with the cutting-edge innovation of academia presents a unique approach to driving therapeutic innovation. Emerson and Takeda will work with each academic partner throughout a project to determine the most effective route to commercialization. These collaborative engagements will further facilitate each project’s commercialization, whether through new company formation or licensing to the right industry partner.

This is the first of multiple initiatives Emerson Collective expects to forge with strategic partners across the ecosystem dedicated to complementing efforts and impacting the lives of cancer patients.