The Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals in Cleveland is partnering with the University of Oxford and a U.K.-based investment company to launch a transatlantic therapeutics accelerator aimed at developing treatments for rare diseases.
The Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre Therapeutics Accelerator is a first-in-kind initiative to identify, fund and advance breakthrough academic discoveries for rare genetic diseases — such as rare neurological diseases, cancers and developmental diseases — affecting some 400 million children and adults worldwide, the partners said Tuesday.
The accelerator partners, which include Oxford Science Enterprises, announced the accelerator's launch on Tuesday during a signing event at the University of Oxford.
The event was hosted by the Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre, a partnership established in 2019 between University Hospitals' Harrington Discovery Institute and the University of Oxford.
The accelerator is "designed to make a transformational, global impact on the treatment of these devastating and often neglected diseases," said David Cameron, the former U.K. prime minister who will chair the accelerator's advisory board, in a statement.
"This accelerator will deliver new, real and tangible therapies for patients and, by doing so, offer huge benefits for patients, their families and wider society," said Cameron, whose son suffers from a rare disease.
The accelerator plans to operate an unusual nonprofit/for-profit model with up to $250 million in funding and the goal to deliver into clinical trials 40 therapies for rare diseases over the next decade, the partners said. The partners plan to target multiple approvals from regulators in U.S., U.K. and European markets.
The new accelerator and extended collaboration with Oxford and Oxford Science Enterprises represent "a major step forward" toward finding medicines that improve outcomes for the millions of individuals and families affected by rare diseases, said Dr. Jonathan Stamler, president and founder of Harrington Discovery Institute, in a statement.
Oxford Science Enterprises is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Oxford, U.K., that invests at the pre-seed and seed stages in spinouts from Oxford University, according to the firm's website.
Many of these spinouts are located in the "Oxford cluster" — a concentration of technology startups and companies, incubators, accelerators, funders, laboratories and co-working spaces around the University of Oxford.
Last month, the Oxford cluster was named the world's third-most intensive science and innovation cluster by the 2023 Global Innovation Index, according to the University of Oxford.
