2020-2021

The 2020-2021 year had a marked effect on the entire planet, underscoring the fact that research in life sciences is more important than ever. The ways of doing things have changed around the world and IRICoR was no exception. The members of the IRICoR team, as well as all of the partners and collaborators, met major operating challenges with flying colors, in spite of the context.  

The year unfolded under the theme of relevance for IRICoR and the intended target of its activities, cancer. In this context of COVID19, the situation is particularly alarming, because cancer diagnoses dropped dramatically (by 40% according to a Presse Canadienne publication in February of 2021) without any decline in the incidence. Finding therapeutic solutions in that area is more relevant than ever.

The pandemic has shown us that we need to be ready for action quickly when faced with any scourge that threatens global health.  

The IRICoR solution of funding and supporting the best drug discovery projects in oncology and rare diseases as they move to their next value inflection point shows how relevant it is for Canadian innovation to truly benefit patients. Again this year, we contributed to the economic recovery of Quebec and of Canada, including by attracting $16M in foreign capital that funded local R&D, by creating and maintaining jobs with high added value in a sector that is vital for the country (n= 218 highly qualified people) and by helping to ensure a critical mass of future entrepreneurs in life sciences (71 participants to date in the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Development Program).

We reached new partnership agreements in Canada and abroad with the private sector to foster Canadian innovation stemming from projects that we initially supported. Among other things, the year was marked by reaching the major agreement with Ipsen (France) and by the start of research activities carried out in Canada and funded by the French multinational. This partnership adds to the list of 17 others that we helped establish/maintain in 2020-21.

We finished the year by having reached the number we had targeted, namely 35 pan-Canadian portfolio projects, 20 of which are actively funded by IRICoR, on its own or in partnership with Oncopole/Merck/FRQS, the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation and Ovarian Cancer Canada. We also invested in 2 spinoff/start-up companies.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Board of Directors for their renewed and continued commitment to IRICoR as well as the members of IRICoR’s team, whose professionalism under such unusual circumstances has been energizing. We continue to build momentum on our way towards 2021-2022, feeling confident about the undeniable importance of IRICoR in the scientific and economic renewal of our sector.

Our accomplishments, year after year, are proof of the soundness of every dollar invested in IRICoR by the federal and provincial governments in accordance with the recommendations of the Economic Strategy Table – Health/Bio-sciences put forward by the federal government. With the health of Canadians as its raison d’être, the IRICoR solution generates sizeable socio-economic benefits in the life sciences sector, a sector that is more relevant than ever.

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