On Tuesday, December 2, MSK hosted “Demo Day 2025,” a strong follow-up to the institution’s November 2025 “Innovation with Lasting Impact Summit” on entrepreneurship and innovation.
Fifteen cutting-edge companies selected to work with MSK’s laboratory, clinical, and digital health experts through two key programs in our commercialization ecosystem — The MSK Therapeutics Accelerator and the MSK Innovation Hub Challenge — participated in this year’s “Demo Day,” which was attended by a diverse group of business executives, investors, and innovators from across MSK. Both initiatives ran cohort programs during 2025 that connected our institution with novel companies working on drug development challenges.
“There was great momentum at our iHub and Therapeutics Accelerator ‘Demo Day,’” says Yashodhara Dash, MBBS, PhD, MBA, Vice President, Entrepreneurship and Commercialization. “It was inspiring to bring together leading therapeutics and digital health companies and highlight MSK’s exciting collaborations at the forefront of technology and life science.”
Advancing Innovation Through Work With Industry
Through its two accelerator programs as well as other initiatives in the Office of Entrepreneurship and Commercialization, (OEC), MSK’s commercialization ecosystem helps build strong connections between our innovators and potential industry partners.
This year’s accelerator cohort programs shared a collective focus on addressing significant drug development challenges. So, it was appropriate that “Demo Day’s” keynote address was delivered by David A. Scheinberg, MD, PhD, Leukemia Specialist, Chair, MSK’s Experimental Therapeutics Center, and Deputy Director, Therapeutics Discovery, Sloan Kettering Institute. His remarks highlighted drug discovery and development at MSK — a longstanding effort which, as he explained, yields extensive benefits to both patients and our institution as a whole.
As a key element in MSK 2030 Strategy, there is a growing network of support throughout MSK for strengthening our innovation infrastructure and resources. This includes the two cohort programs showcased on ”Demo Day,” as well as the recently announced MSK Therapeutics Bridge Labs (TxBL) program — another commercialization ecosystem initiative, launching in early 2026.
“I’m thankful to be part of MSK, where we strive to apply the latest and greatest technologies to solve unsolved, challenging problems in cancer,” notes Rick Peng, MBA, Lead, Digital Ventures, OEC. “Our accelerator ’Demo Day’ was a special occasion to showcase what can be achieved when we bring together stakeholders from all over the healthcare ecosystem and the world to tackle these challenges together.”
An Exciting Roster of Cohort Projects
The event included two presentation sessions, with a morning segment focused on the iHub Challenge cohort companies: 4BaseCare, Standard Model Biomedicine, StratifAI, Synteny, and Turbine. The morning session also included a discussion of a new initiative, the MSK Datahub, designed to facilitate productive use of MSK’s vast range of de-identified data to support innovative work by our industry partners.
The afternoon session focused on the 10 companies in the Therapeutics Accelerator cohort, including BriaCell, Eris Biotech, Saccharo, StimOxyGen, Manhattan BioSolutions, Antelope Surgical Solutions, Australis, DoriNano, Frezent Biological Solutions, and Rejuvenation Technologies. Three other companies that are involved in larger collaborations with the MSK Therapeutics Accelerator also presented their activities and research: Immix Biopharma, Curadev Pharma, and Targinta AB (a subsidiary of Xintela AB).
It was an exciting program. Some companies presented projects exploring ways that AI is enabling a faster, more adaptive, data-driven future for cancer research and treatment. Other presentations discussed strategies to de-risk and accelerate the process of getting research from the laboratory to the clinic.
Eileen Flowers, PhD, Director, Technology Development & Licensing, OEC, notes: “As we saw on ’Demo Day,’ by joining forces with the MSK Therapeutics Accelerator, partners gain access to internationally recognized expertise and best-in-class infrastructure. Our partnerships catalyze next-generation therapy development, streamlining the translation from laboratory insight to clinical impact, all in pursuit of revolutionizing cancer treatment.”
The afternoon session also included an insightful panel discussion about drug development innovation. The panelists included Charles Sawyers, MD, Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chair in Human Oncology & Pathogenesis, Chair and Laboratory Head, Human Oncology & Pathogenesis Program (HOPP); Arvin Dar, PhD, Benno C. Schmidt Chair of Cancer Research and Laboratory Head, Chemical Biology Program, SKI; and Michael Foley, PhD, CEO and Co-founder, Excelsior Sciences Inc.
”Demo Day” concluded with a networking reception that encouraged further discussion on the important issues raised during the course of the day.