Eileen Flowers, PhD is the Director of Technology Development and Licensing in MSK’s Office of Entrepreneurship & Commercialization.
MSK recently announced the launch of a new cohort program in the MSK Therapeutics Accelerator. Scheduled to start in Summer 2025, this cohort program will facilitate tailored mentorship with MSK faculty, while providing insight into MSK’s drug development resources and a pathway for future collaboration via the Accelerator.
“The goal of the Therapeutics Accelerator is to connect partners with MSK’s resources to co-develop and advance therapeutics for people with cancer,” notes Eileen Flowers, PhD, Director Technology Development & Licensing, in MSK’s Office of Entrepreneurship & Commercialization.
For the 2025 cohort program, MSK is seeking oncology-focused companies that are driving innovation in targeted therapies and are eager to collaborate in the development of their therapeutic(s). In addition, MSK has a particular interest in supporting treatments for patients with rare cancers. This program will match participants with MSK’s leading clinical and scientific experts to advise on potential collaborations and, if feasible, transition to a formal Accelerator partnership.
Applications will be open until Wednesday, May 28th, here.
(Note: To access our application, please create an external applicant account first.)
Learn More: The MSK Accelerator Program
Formal Accelerator partnerships can span all stages of drug development, including, but not limited to the following examples:
- Partner with MSK for streamlined use of our core translational facilities to perform compound optimization, in vivo efficacy and toxicology studies
- Collaborate with research faculty to conduct complex sponsored research and consult on ongoing experiment / assay design
- Engage MSK’s manufacturing cores (i.e., Cell Therapy and Cell Engineering Facility) to develop, validate and implement processes to manufacture therapies for clinical trials
- Access clinical, phenotypic and genomic data and biospecimens to help identify populations of interest, identify novel targets for drug discovery, or develop novel biomarkers
- Consult MSK’s Product Development Unit for end-to-end planning and project management of IND applications
- Partner with clinical experts to provide guidance on trial protocol development, as well as access to specialized patient populations for investigator-sponsored trials
In addition, the Accelerator provides dedicated liaison support to coordinate projects and facilitate additional work as requested, as well as committed marketing support. For Accelerator partnership, MSK requests a pre-negotiated commercial stake in partner companies or co-developed products, which enables more flexible terms and streamlined contracting of individual projects moving forward.
Learn More: Applications and Selection to the 2025 Cohort Program
Applications for our cohort program will be evaluated by the potential impact of the therapeutic program, a company’s overall health and record, as well as the feasibility of co-development at MSK. Selected companies will be matched to faculty according to their scientific and clinical needs. Programming will facilitate one-on-one mentorship with a faculty sponsor to define a potential collaboration and structured introductions to MSK’s translational and clinical facilities. This collaborative program will culminate in producing concrete workplan for co-developing companies’ assets at MSK and, if feasible, transition to a formal Accelerator partnership.
Cohort Application & Selection Timeline
- By May 28th: Submit your application online
- Through Early-July: We will reach out to shortlisted teams for follow-ups
- Early-July: All teams will be notified about final selection decision
- July: For selected companies, the cohort will kick off
- Note: Program participation will entail an in-person kickoff summit on Monday, July 21st, onsite at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
For more information on the Therapeutics Accelerator program or the Summer 2025 cohort application, reach out to Jonathan Dow, PhD dowj@mskcc.org.