We hope you won't need our drug, say the Neuron Award laureates

At the academic spin-off CasInvent Pharma they work on research into inhibitors of casein kinase 1 — CK1. Their intention is to develop a drug against leukaemia to the clinical stage and sell it to a pharmaceutical company. Meet Vítězslav Bryja, Kamil Paruch and Radoslav Trautmann, laureates of the Neuron Award for the exceptional connection of science and business. The Neuron Endowment Fund presented this award for the very first time this year. Watch the recording of the discussion with the scientists and the transfer specialist, which took place immediately after the gala evening, and read the story of CasInvent Pharma, which caught the attention of the fund's scientific board too.

How the development of a leukaemia drug became a university spin-off

Two respected names in Czech science were brought together by a shared interest and long practice in an innovative approach to developing substances for treating leukaemia. The subject of their research is inhibitors of casein kinase 1 — CK1 — and their commercial vehicle is the joint-stock company CasInvent Pharma. And the third name is Masaryk University's businessman, who licenses their work for further development.

Vítězslav Bryja is a molecular biologist and geneticist, Kamil Paruch an organic chemist. Both studied in Brno, both spent time abroad and both decided that the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University would be their refuge. And finally Radoslav Trautmann, originally a chemist, who returned from business to the academic world and today leads a team in the university's Technology Transfer Office.

Besides the effort to move CK1 research towards practice, all three gentlemen have one more thing in common: the scientific board of the Neuron Endowment Fund honoured them with the Neuron Award for exceptional transfer from science to business. Their company shows the academic community and the public a path leading to a successful connection of university, science and investment.

A one-off in academic business

Only a few years ago the story of the three men was a divided one: within his laboratory Vítězslav Bryja was studying the nature of intercellular communication and the role of CK1 in it, using substances originally intended for treating insomnia; Kamil Paruch was working for a multinational pharmaceutical company in the USA, where he took part in developing new compounds for cancer treatment. Radoslav Trautmann was only just starting out on transferring the results of academic research into practice.

When Bryja's research met Paruch's, a new class of patentable CK1 inhibitors emerged showing very attractive activity; and subsequently the need arose for a large financial investment in further research that would allow work on the compound right up to the clinical testing stage. Given that this type of investment cannot be secured from the standard sources used for academic research, the whole project had to be converted into a commercial form so that the necessary funding could be obtained from investors. Trautmann, together with other colleagues, began to look after the project from the business side (part of the company's shares are today held by the honoured team and also by other colleagues who take part in this unique project and without whom even the scientific work would not be possible).

Masaryk University, which has long been devoted to transfer, supported the opportunity, but wanted to keep the next steps under control and to own a stake in the company. The university entered the company with intellectual property, and the money for further development was secured by the investment partner i&i Prague. In the autumn of 2020 the first chapter of the academic spin-off thus began.

The shareholders are already negotiating a sale

CK1 inhibitors are heterocyclic compounds developed for treating cancer — tumours, lymphomas and leukaemias. CasInvent focuses on the last of these, on the market for drugs against chronic lymphocytic and acute myeloid leukaemia. It has taken its work to the preclinical stage; once that is complete it will embark on clinical testing with another investment partner and finally, if development continues successfully, there is a realistic prospect of selling CasInvent to a large pharmaceutical company. That company should have the facilities and the money to complete the clinical phases and bring the new drug to market.

Czech universities have rich experience with licensing inventions; Masaryk University wanted its own company — and with that came processes it had to learn itself: to build a legal company with management, a budget and a plan with investment phases. And with the belief that their invention in particular would catch a buyer's eye. CasInvent has set itself five years for this and has limited the company's life to developing the inhibitors under study. The company's expected value in the event of a successful sale is estimated at up to three billion crowns, and serious negotiations with new investors from abroad are already under way.

The unequivocal success of CasInvent Pharma will be confirmed in the future by the market. But it is already clear that it can be an inspiration for other projects in science and business and that it deserves the Neuron Award today.