The Sanofi Innovation Awards (iAwards) initiative is a multi-institutional partnership program designed to support collaborations with academic investigators to accelerate innovative early-stage, disease-relevant research towards the clinic. With this program, Sanofi aims to fund cutting-edge translational research that can contribute to its early-stage pipeline and ultimately benefit patients.

Award winning proposals will receive:

  • $150,000 research funding (inclusive of direct and indirect costs) for 12 months
  • Sanofi R&D expertise and guidance

Sanofi’s main objective in creating the iAwards program is to convert successful and promising iAwards projects to sponsored research programs and subsequently create in-licensing and start-up opportunities with the potential to continuously enrich Sanofi’s early-stage portfolio.

BCH iAwards Webinar

Sanofi is holding an iAwards webinar exclusively for BCH investigators on Friday, May 17 at 8-9 AM. This event will feature Sanofi scientists and iAwards staff, who will speak about Sanofi’s therapeutic areas of interest and key information about the iAwards program. An agenda and calendar invite for the BCH iAwards webinar will be disseminated next week.

Please contact TIDO.Alliances@childrens.harvard.edu with any questions.

Details
Date: May 17, 2024
Time: 8:00-9:00 AM
Location: To be Announced

A recording will be made available after the event.

The Technology & Innovation Development Office (TIDO) is hosting open coffee hours! Swing by the Enders Lobby on May 28th, anytime from 10:30-2:30 PM for a free coffee and to chat with us about how our office can best support your innovations and move your projects toward commercialization.

Details
Date: May 28. 2024
Time: 10:30-2:30PM
Location: Enders Lobby

Join us in hosting a team of patent attorneys from Fish and Richardson, a leading intellectual property law firm, who will present information and insights on patent prosecution with a focus on how to best demonstrate possession of the working invention. Understand key differences between the data requirements of peer reviewed publications and those of patent prosecution and gain knowledge on the level of supporting evidence for patent claims in specific subject matter domains.

Please indicate your interest by RSVP’ing here.

Guest Speakers
Todd E. Garcia, PhD, Principal Fish and Richardson, Boston, MA

Jeff Barclay , Principal Fish and Richardson, Boston, MA

Jay DeYoung , Principal Fish and Richardson, Boston, MA

John Kendall, PhD , Senior Patent Agent Fish and Richardson, Boston, MA

In Person Details
Time: 5:30-6:30 PM
Location: Folkman Auditorium

Webinar Details
Time: 5:30-6:30 PM
Zoom Link: Click Here
Passcode: 700617

Contact Ulysses Sallum, Director of Business Development, at Ulysses.Sallum@childrens.harvard.edu with any questions.

The Sanofi Innovation Awards (iAwards) initiative is a multi-institutional partnership program designed to support collaborations with academic investigators to accelerate innovative early-stage, disease-relevant research towards the clinic. With this program, Sanofi aims to fund cutting-edge translational research that can contribute to its early-stage pipeline and ultimately benefit patients.

Award winning proposals will receive:

  • $150,000 research funding (inclusive of direct and indirect costs) for 12 months
  • Sanofi R&D expertise and guidance

Sanofi’s main objective in creating the iAwards program is to convert successful and promising iAwards projects to sponsored research programs and subsequently create in-licensing and start-up opportunities with the potential to continuously enrich Sanofi’s early-stage portfolio.

BCH iAwards Webinar

Sanofi is holding an iAwards webinar exclusively for BCH investigators on Friday, May 17 at 8-9 AM. This event will feature Sanofi scientists and iAwards staff, who will speak about Sanofi’s therapeutic areas of interest and key information about the iAwards program.

Pre-Proposal Submission Process

Pre-proposals must be submitted using the pre-proposal template to TIDOAlliances@childrens.harvard.edu before May 30, 2024 to ensure that your application is aligned with the scope of the iAwards and fulfills the submission criteria. Sanofi will not evaluate pre-proposals that are not submitted by TIDO or do not fit with the guidelines (format, timeline, etc.). Please note that pre-proposals must not contain any confidential information or unpublished results and cannot include 3rd party collaborators other than those involved in the iAwards initiative.

Areas of Interest

  • Immunology and Inflammation
    Oncology
    Rare & Neurological Diseases
    Genomic Medicine
    Precision Medicine and Computational Biology
    Vaccines

For more information on Sanofi’s areas of interest, please email TIDO.Alliances@childrens.harvard.edu.

Timeline

  • April 22-Call for pre-proposals
  • May 17-Sanofi iAwards webinar for BCH investigators
  • May 30-Submission of completed pre-proposals to TIDO by BCH investigators
  • June 3-Submission of completed pre-proposals to Sanofi by TIDO
  • July 11-Notification of pre-proposals selected for full proposals stage
  • August 29-Submission of completed full proposals to TIDO by BCH investigators
  • September 2-Submission of completed full proposals to Sanofi by TIDO
  • October 22-Sanofi informs institutions of funding decisions

Please contact the TIDO Alliance Team at TIDO.Alliances@childrens.harvard.edu with any questions or to discuss your ideas for Pre-Proposals.

Deerfield has pledged up to $65 million with the goal of facilitating the translation and commercialization of novel biomedical research at Boston Children’s Hospital through a new collaboration called Blackfan Circle Innovations. Through Blackfan Circle, Boston Children’s Hospital scientists have the opportunity to submit therapeutic proposals for potential funding.

Deerfield will provide research funding and operational support in product development and commercialization to co-develop the jointly-selected research therapeutic candidates with the goal of achieving Investigational New Drug (IND) readiness. Successful projects that reach IND-enabled status may receive additional funding.

We would like to invite BCH investigators to begin the submission process to Blackfan Circle Innovations, the newly established entity created to accelerate research at BCH.

Areas of Interest:

  • Broad interest across all therapeutic areas and modalities
  • Early-stage projects with potential to progress to IND-enabled status, early clinical development, and human proof-of-concept

Proposal Process:

  • Proposal Concept Sheet
  • Letter of Intent
  • Full Proposal and Presentation

In order to engage initial interest with Blackfan Circle Innovations, TIDO encourages BCH investigators to submit one or more Proposal Concept Sheet(s), each of which will constitute a brief overview of the proposed project focusing on the areas listed below.

  • Genetic Evidence
  • Biologic Rationale
  • Preclinical Execution
  • Unmet Need
  • Clinical Development (if applicable)
  • Novelty/ Differentiation

A Proposal Concept Sheet submission template will be provided by TIDO. For more information on proposal submission to Blackfan Circle Innovations, a copy of the Proposal Concept Sheet, or questions related to the application process, please contact Sabrina Kamran, Strategic Alliance Manager at Sabrina.Kamran@childrens.harvard.edu.

If your Proposal Concept Sheet is selected for advancement, you will be asked to complete a Letter of Intent with a more detailed description of the proposed project. Finally, at the Full Proposal stage of evaluation, you will be asked to submit a detailed research plan and budget and meet with the Deerfield review team to discuss your proposal. Deerfield Discovery and Development experts will be available to consult with you on your proposal throughout the entire evaluation process.

Who Can Apply:

  • Full-time BCH Principal Investigators
  • Principal Investigators with faculty appointment who are subject to Boston Children’s policies regarding the conduct of research and ownership of intellectual property

Submissions:

Proposal Concept Sheets submitted to Blackfan Circle Innovations will be considered on a rolling basis, with operational and scientific guidance and support from TIDO during the submission process.