1. Industry-Academy Collaboration for Pioneering New Medicine
Mudi Sheves
Vice President for Technology Transfer
Weizmann Institute of Science; Israel
KoNECT International conference 2016
Nov. 1st 2016
Conference 2016

2. Basic Research Landscape
Weizmann Approach:
Basic Research Landscape
Physics
Basic Science only
Imbedded multidisciplinary
approach
Graduate school and
Public Education
Mathematics
Biology
Chemistry
High level education program
Intellectual Property rules
and technology transfer

3. Technological developments are fueled by scientific innovations coming from academia.
“The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius”.
Sid Caesar

4. “Society, having funded much of the university based research, has an 
too little
“Society, having funded much of the
university based research, has an
expectation that the fruits of that
research will improve the human
condition.”
Niels Reimers, 1987

5. Academy- Pharma Industry Interactions
The death valley

6. Basic research
Translational research

7. Yeda / Weizmann Success Stories Selected Success Stories
 COPAXONE®
Indicated for Multiple Sclerosis COPAXONE represents a new class of drugs for the treatment of the disease
Copaxone is a synthetic copolymer acting as an immunomodulator
1971: First Patent filed by Yeda
1987: Licensed to Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
2015 Sales: $US 4 Billion
Share market: ca. 32% Ci C
Coincident (serendipity) is the way of god to stay anonymous
A. Einstein

8. Selected Success Stories Yeda / Weizmann Success Stories
 Rebif®
Indicated for Multiple Sclerosis Rebif is a recombinant interferon beta 1a.
Rebif is marketed worldwide by Merck Serono.
1982: Licensed to Interpharm.
2015 Sales: Euro 2.5 Billion

9. Selected Success Stories Yeda / Weizmann Success Stories
 ErbituxTM
Erbitux is an antibody based therapy presenting synergism with conventional chemotherapy.
The synergistic effect was invented by Prof. Sela’s group at WIS between
Erbitux was developed by ImClone Systems and approved by the FDA in 2001.
Estimated yearly sales - $2.5 billion.

10. FROM A SINGLE PATENT TO THREE DRUGS MARCH2016 $2,500 MILLION
Prof. Sela and colleagues discovered that EGFR-inhibiting antibodies produce a synergistic anticancer effect when used together with chemotherapy
The three EGFR blockers are saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of cancer patients all over the world
$2,500 MILLION
Erbitux® Merck and Eli Lilly
metastatic colorectal cancer
EGFR BLOCKERS
$549 MILLION
Vectibix® AMGEN
Colorectal cancer
$500 M (EST 2016)
Portrazza® Eli Lilly
Lung cancer

11. 18.03.1992 Building the Future of Cancer Therapy (ImmunoTherapy?)
PATENT FILED BY
PROF. ZELIG ESHHAR
Prof. Zelig Eshhar,
The Israel Prize 2015
And Massry Prize 2014
Winner

12. Breakthrough Leukemia Therapy
source: KITE PHARAMA CORPORATE PRESENTATION February 2016
Prof. Eshhar began working on the concept for the therapy in the 1980s.
“We knew that the T-cells have the ability to destroy tissue. The question was how to convince them to attack cancerous tissue, which they do not normally recognize as foreign or harmful”
94% SUCCESS RATE
IN TRIAL BASED ON RESEARCH OF
PROF. ZELIG ESHHAR

13. May 2014

14. TOOKAD- Prof. A. Scherz and Prof. Y. salomon
Patent- 1993; Agreement 1996

17. Magnetic resonance images of the prostate gland after treatment with TOOKAD Soluble. The black regions show the portions of the prostate that have been eliminated to remove the previously detected cancerous tissue

18. Yeda Research & Development Co. Ltd.
A World Leader in Technology Transfer
Dozens of “Weizmann-Inside” products on the market.
Total annual Weizmann based technologies products sales in 2015: Over $35 Billion.
Over 50 new companies were established around Yeda’s technologies.
Yeda owns one of the largest portfolio of patents in Israel: 660 live patent families, with more than 1,700 patent families filed since 1971.

19. Annual sales of products based on technologies developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science

20. Cooperation with industrial partners
Add Amgen

21. “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination”
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination”. “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
Albert Einstein

22. Thanks for Your Attention

23. Develop next generation T cell therapy
Enhance T cell function by modulating immune synapse using the vIgD technology
Overcome immune suppression through combination therapy and gene modulation
source: KITE PHARAMA CORPORATE PRESENTATION February 2016

24. “Miracles sometimes occur, but one has to work terribly hard for them”
Prof. Haim Weizmann