Eric LaCasse

Dr. Eric LaCasse is an innovator and a cancer researcher. He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry (uOttawa) and completed his post-doctoral training at the Ontario Cancer Institute (Toronto). He was previously Head of Oncology at the biotechnology company Aegera Therapeutics (Montreal). In 2004, Dr. LaCasse developed the first inhibitor-of-apoptosis (IAP) targeting drug, an antisense oligonucleotide to the X-linked IAP, to enter clinical trials and to show clinical activity. This validated the IAPs as cancer targets and launched small-molecule development campaigns to inhibit the IAPs. This resulted in Aegera entering the first ever bivalent IAP antagonist, known as a dimeric Smac mimetic, and coincidentally the first clinical homo-PROTAC TM, into cancer trials in 2008. This provided in vivo proof-of-concept for a novel class of conjugate drugs capable of targeting proteins for ubiquitin- and proteasome-mediated degradation.
Dr. LaCasse is a CHEOri Associate Scientist and also Chief Scientific Officer for a biotech company, Protaxis Therapeutics (Cobourg), which is developing targeted protein degrader drugs based on IAP antagonists, for cancer, inflammation, infection and immunity (CI3). His research program centers on the understanding of the IAPs and their antagonistic drugs in CI3 biology. The urgent medical need to translate key discoveries made at the lab bench and to apply them clinically drives his research program, patient focus and commercialization goals. This includes developing drugs for many disease proteins that were previously thought to be ‘undruggable’ and this will provide new treatments for childhood and adult disorders.