Initium, the scientific innovation incubator

Published on October 13, 2023 in Entrepreneurship

When an innovator meets a university incubator, the result is an entrepreneurial seed that grows in an ecosystem that is supportive enough to help it flourish. This is the case for Romain Lanotte, a doctoral alumnus of the University of Montpellier whose deep tech startup project, Theralan, is supported by the academic incubator Initium. Meet a passionate young researcher who aims to revolutionize cancer treatment in the coming years.

The meeting takes place at the Initium coworking space in the Port-Marianne district. At the end of September, with Indian summer weather still lingering, a back-to-school breakfast is held, bringing together some of the project leaders supported by the incubator. Among them is Romain Lanotte, 34. Last June, his Theralan project was officially approved for incubation. This was a major milestone in a story that began a few years earlier, when he was still a student.

From 2014 to 2018, Romain Lanotte completed his thesis in health biology at the IRCM (Montpellier Cancer Research Institute). He "didn't count the hours" spent working on a complex subject: "My thesis was dedicated to studying a molecule present on the surface of cancer cells and how to target it with therapeutic antibodies and potentially turn it into cancer drugs." Antibodies are large molecules that can target tumors to destroy them, a process known as immunotherapy. Despite the pressure, with his final year of thesis work funded by the League Against Cancer, the results were promising and led to a scientific publication and a patent application for the new molecules developed. And he alreadyhas plenty of ideas in mind: "During my thesis, I thought to myself that I could reproduce the process on other molecules." The young researcher is not the type to jump into things on a whim. Preferring to enrich his professional and scientific background, he is aiming for a post-doc abroad, preferably across the Atlantic. But things don't always go as planned.

Lockdown and business plan

Instead of leaving for Toronto, Romain Lanotte is confined to his home due to the global health crisis linked to Covid-19. It is spring 2020, and everything has come to a standstill. Instead of twiddling his thumbs, the newly qualified doctor has thrown himself back into his research: "I put my ideas down on paper, drew up a budget, and taught myself about business plans and entrepreneurship online... " His financial situation remains problematic in these times of crisis. "As a young, unemployed doctor, I had difficulty convincing certain players in the ecosystem to support me in this entrepreneurial venture ," he admits. That's why he accepted a position as director of studies at Eurofins, close to his home, where he manages "more than 80 studies for pharmaceutical companies and a portfolio worth several million euros," which reassures him of his ability to manage an entrepreneurial project. He stayed there for a year and a half before resigning in January 2023, turning down a permanent contract in the process. His mind was made up: he was going to throw himself 300% into his business project, to which he was already devoting a good part of his free time.

i-PhD winner with Pepite Deep Tech

"I saw the applications to join the Initium incubator, and as I was an alumnus, it was perfect," says Romain Lanotte. I was accepted into the Pépite Deeptech program launched as part of the university innovation cluster (PUI). Why deeptech? Because it's a disruptive innovation, something that aims to transform society, which is exactly what I want to do with the molecules I'm developing." For six months, his startup project, called Theralan, developed and things finally started to move: "The incubator gave me the credibility I needed. Thanks to its support, I was able to convince several players in the ecosystem, such as Inserm, CNRS, and SATT AxLR, to access competitions and training courses on entrepreneurship... The hard work paid off. In 2023, Romain Lanotte was one of only two winners in Eastern Occitanie of the i-PhD state innovation competition, both of whom had graduated from the Pepite DeepTech program, and he also secured funding from Montpellier's Booster Innovation (BIM), which enabled him to launch the first stages of research and development.

Making things possible

And tomorrow? As part of Initium's incubation phase, the future entrepreneur continues to receive support in meeting his challenges. In this respect, his career path perfectly illustrates the ups and downs of a deep tech entrepreneur in the healthcare sector. Still registered with the unemployment office, Romain Lanotte needs to quickly affiliate himself with a research institute in order to benefit from development programs that match Theralan's scientific and economic ambitions. He already has an idea about this: "I would like to work with the Institute of Functional Genomics in Montpellier, where I did my master's degree. They are experts in this field and the laboratory is strongly supporting me in this project. It's the ideal place to continue this R&D."

The fact remains that his project is clearly identified: "We are going to develop a new class of drugs for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, drugs that are more powerful and less toxic than what is currently available." The main challenge in this incubation phase is to find the financial leverage to make this possible: "We will need to raise funds to develop our molecule in the clinical phase. I have already estimated the project's cost at several million dollars. Our goal? To enter clinical phase 1 by 2028 to treat the first patient with a brain tumor and offer a truly effective therapy that prolongs the survival of these patients." The young researcher from Montpellier is not giving up: "This is a real life project." 

Keywords: Deep tech, Entrepreneurship, Incubator, Initium, Innovation, Research