In early 2020, when the world was first learning about the coronavirus, Naheed Kurji (MBA ’12) knew he needed to do something. Kurji felt a moral obligation, and he was concerned by the potential damage this virus would do if left unchecked.
Naheed Kurji (MBA '12)
He and his colleagues at Cyclica, a biotech startup that Kurji heads, quickly shifted gears to tackle the COVID-19 problem.
By late January, Cyclica had established a COVID task force and used their drug discovery platform to identify existing drugs that could potentially treat the virus. They’ve since partnered with CIMM, a leading Chinese research group, to test some of the drug candidates they’ve identified. Recently, when labs shut down because of pandemic, the group launched the Cyclica Stimulus Package — offering researchers working on COVID-related projects free access to their platform.
“For us, it was a way for us to contribute during this time,” says Kurji. “Above all else, we still wanted science to progress.”
Since they got their start at Rotman, Cyclica — which announced a 23 million dollar series B financing round in June 2020 — has been staying on top of the latest technologies and leveraging the management and leadership skills they honed at the Rotman School to tackle some of the most pressing global issues.
Cyclica’s origin story
Cyclica’s founding mission has been to build and use novel computational methods, aided by artificial intelligence, with a vision to support how scientists design new medicines for all diseases to benefit all patients.
For instance, in very simple terms, one of their platforms, LigandDesign, works like this: researchers start by identifying one or multiple proteins relevant to a disease they are interested in, and — if applicable — the protein(s) that are linked to side effects that they want to avoid. With this information, the platform designs molecules which will interact with desirable protein(s) and avoid undesirable ones. The platform also considers the ways a potential drug would work (how it might be absorbed, distributed in the body and metabolized), and, with machine learning, can generate a few potential leads and predict some of the drug’s properties.
“Our primary objective is to decentralize the way in which new medicines are discovered,” explains Kurji. “We strongly believe that our platform can help research institutions get a jump start on what is otherwise a lengthy process.”
Today, they work with organizations of all sizes and types, including academic institutions, early stage companies and large pharmaceutical companies.
It’s hard to believe that this thriving enterprise was borne out of a 10-slide presentation delivered at a Rotman Entrepreneurial and Venture Capital Case Competition. Kurji, who was a member of the Rotman Entrepreneurial and Venture Capital Association, was in the room when the idea was first presented by one of his peers. Cyclica won the competition.
After graduating from the program, Kurji started a career in corporate finance, but he still had the entrepreneurial bug: Cyclica came up on his radar again. By that point, the student team from Rotman had developed their slidedeck into a robust business plan, and were ready to raise the capital to get started. In 2013, Kurji became an investor and was invited to join as a co-founder.
Though his days as a student were long over, Kurji was surprised to find that the Rotman School continued to play a supportive role in Cyclica’s development. Several former professors stepped in to offer their advice and mentorship. In the early days, Cyclica would hold their annual strategy sessions in Professor Brendan Calder’s office, where Calder would moderate.
“Naheed is the kind of student I hope to see more of at Rotman. He’s energetic, interesting, effective and works hard to get the right things done,” says Calder. “He could have gotten any Bay Street job, but he found a startup to pour his heart and soul into, and now they are on their way."
“Innovation doesn’t happen overnight. You need to be strategic in how you develop your idea and introduce it to the marketplace.”
—Naheed Kurji (MBA ‘12)
Looking forward
Cyclica quickly outgrew their first workspace in downtown Toronto and expanded to team of over 35, with offices in Boston and London. They are as busy as ever. In 2020 alone, they announced a number of new drug-discovery partnerships with Genome Institute of Singapore, NeuroTheryX Canada (with the aim of finding new drugs to treat neuropsychiatric disorders) and Mannin (to find COVID-19 related drugs). And they’ve just closed their Series B round of financing with new institutional investors.
The last few years have been remarkably challenging, frustrating but fun — and their journey is far from over.
“Innovation doesn’t happen overnight. You need to be strategic in how you develop your idea and introduce it to the marketplace,” says Kurji. “That’s how you’ll make a tangible impact.”
Written by Rebecca Cheung | More Student Stories »