Miikana: The magic path

The formation of Miikana Therapeutics Inc. is the outcome of two experienced orphans looking for a home. When Amgen Inc. stopped funding the Amgen Institute at the University of Toronto in 2002 in order to cut costs, the head of the institute, Tak Mak, talked to VCs about starting a company around his expertise in cancer targets and knockout mice.

Meanwhile, Dinesh Patel, who was senior vice president of drug discovery and licensing at Versicor Inc. (now Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc.) (MICU; NMerc:...