Bringing precision to cancer treatment through functional drug testing
"Get the right therapy to the right patient the first time."
OncoForma was founded on the belief that cancer patients deserve better than trial-and-error treatment approaches. By combining cutting-edge organoid technology with comprehensive drug screening, we provide oncologists with functional data to make more informed treatment decisions.
OncoForma was born from a personal crisis that revealed a critical gap in modern medicine: doctors had treatment options, but no way to know which would work without testing them on the patient. That gap inspired a mission to bring functional drug testing to cancer care.
"We won't know until we try."
Roshan Thomas heard those words repeatedly as doctors struggled to find the right medications for his father. Thirty years after a life-saving kidney transplant, his father needed treatment—but doctors couldn't test which medications would work without trying them on him first.
The medical team wasn't being cavalier. They genuinely didn't know. There was no way to look at his father's specific biology and transplant history and say "this medication will work safely." They would have to try something, wait, and hope—knowing that testing medications on an immunocompromised transplant patient carried real risks.
His father passed away in July.
While his father's situation involved complications from immunosuppression following a kidney transplant, it wasn't Roshan's first encounter with the limitations of modern medicine. Over the years, he'd lost his aunt, his grandmother, and two of his wife's aunts to cancer. Each cancer loss reinforced a painful reality: oncologists often lack the data they need to choose the right treatment the first time.
Roshan had known Dr. Franco Vizeacoumar for several years. Franco's lab at the University of Saskatchewan specializes in cancer drug screening, and they'd chatted about his research many times.
But during a recent conversation—weeks after his father's passing—Franco mentioned his work with organoids. Growing miniature versions of patient tissue in a lab and testing drugs directly on those cells. It was exactly what his relatives' doctors had needed: a way to see which medications would work before administering them to the patient.
That conversation sparked a question: Why wasn't this technology publicly available? If research labs had been doing this research for over 10 years, why weren't patients and doctors able to access it?
Roshan started researching. The more he learned, the clearer it became: the science existed. The technology worked. What was missing was the bridge between research and clinical practice.
Roshan and Franco talked about the science. They talked about the gap between what's possible in research labs and what's available in clinics. They talked about the thousands of cancer patients facing "we won't know until we try" when the technology exists to test first.
And Roshan decided to build something. Something that can have a positive impact on thousands of Cancer patients and their families.
OncoForma exists because no family should face what Roshan's did. No patient should have to be the experiment. No doctor should have to say "we won't know until we try" when the science exists to test first.
"We couldn't use this technology to help my relatives—we found it too late. But we can help yours."
— Roshan Thomas, Founder
This isn't about disrupting an industry or chasing market share. This is about giving patients and their families what they deserve: answers before treatment begins, not months of hope followed by disappointment.
Every test OncoForma runs. Every report we deliver. Every patient whose treatment we help guide. That's why we exist.
Despite decades of research and billions in investment, cancer treatment remains imprecise. Current approaches rely heavily on population-based guidelines that don't account for individual tumor biology.
Genomic testing has advanced our understanding, but genes alone cannot predict drug response. We need functional validation — testing drugs on actual tumor cells to see what works.
OncoForma bridges the gap between genomic potential and clinical reality through three key innovations:
We culture 3D tumor organoids that maintain the cellular complexity, genetic mutations, and drug response characteristics of the original tumor — providing a living model for testing.
Testing against 1,800+ compounds provides unprecedented breadth, revealing effective therapies that might otherwise be missed and identifying novel treatment combinations.
We combine functional drug response data with genomic profiling to provide a complete picture of therapeutic vulnerabilities and resistance mechanisms.
OncoForma partners with the University of Saskatchewan's leading cancer research laboratory to conduct our organoid drug screening assays.
Access to cutting-edge research facilities and scientific expertise in cancer biology and drug screening
Rigorous academic standards and validation protocols ensure reliable, reproducible results
Direct connection to emerging research and novel therapeutic approaches
This fee-for-service partnership allows OncoForma to leverage world-class facilities while maintaining operational flexibility and clear intellectual property boundaries.
OncoForma is building toward a future where precision oncology is scalable, accessible, and driven by artificial intelligence.
Establish clinical utility through pilot studies with leading cancer centers. Build foundational dataset of drug response profiles.
Expand testing capacity and integrate with electronic health records. Establish reimbursement pathways with payers.
Train machine learning models on our proprietary drug response dataset to predict treatment efficacy from genomic and clinical data alone — making precision medicine instantly accessible.
OncoForma is proudly based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan — Canada's hub for agricultural biotechnology and life sciences research.
Lower operational costs compared to traditional biotech hubs, allowing us to offer competitive pricing while maintaining quality
Access to University of Saskatchewan's nationally recognized cancer research programs
Strong provincial support for life sciences innovation and commercialization
Deep expertise in biotechnology, bioinformatics, and agricultural genomics applicable to precision medicine
Every decision we make prioritizes patient outcomes and access to better treatment
We maintain the highest standards of scientific validation and quality control
We work closely with oncologists, researchers, and patients to advance precision medicine
We continuously push the boundaries of what's possible in cancer treatment selection
We communicate openly about our methods, limitations, and results
We're committed to making precision oncology available to more patients
OncoForma was born from a son's search for answers when traditional medicine ran out of options.
Roshan is a Computer Engineering graduate from the University of Saskatchewan and serial entrepreneur who built Biktrix from zero to over $50M in cumulative revenue, pioneering the North American e-bike market starting in 2013. But it was a personal crisis—not business opportunity—that led him to precision oncology.
Thirty years ago, Roshan's father received a life-saving kidney transplant. When his father needed medical treatment, doctors couldn't test medications beforehand—they had to try them and see what worked. For an immunocompromised transplant patient, this trial-and-error approach carried real risks.
"Doctors couldn't know which medications would work without trying them on my dad first. There was no way to test before treating. We were stuck in this cycle of 'we don't know until we try.'"
His father passed away in July this year.
Beyond his father's kidney transplant complications, Roshan had witnessed cancer's toll firsthand. Over the years, he'd lost his aunt, his grandmother, and two of his wife's aunts to cancer. Each cancer loss deepened his understanding of how desperately oncologists need better data to guide treatment decisions.
Roshan had known Dr. Franco Vizeacoumar for several years. Franco's lab at the University of Saskatchewan specializes in cancer drug screening, and they'd discussed his research many times over the years.
During a conversation weeks after his father's passing, Franco explained his work with organoids—culturing miniature versions of patient tissue and testing drugs directly on those cells. It was exactly what his father's doctors had needed.
Roshan asked the obvious question: Why wasn't this available to patients and doctors?
Franco's lab had been researching organoid drug screening for over 10 years. The science worked. The technology was proven. What was missing was the bridge between academic research and clinical practice.
That conversation crystallized the mission. The gap was real. The solution existed. Someone needed to build the bridge.
OncoForma was born.
"We couldn't use this technology to help my father—I discovered it too late. But I can help make sure other families have access to it when they need it. No patient should have to be the experiment. No family should face treatment decisions without data. We have the technology to do better."
Roshan brought his engineering mindset, his entrepreneurial execution skills, and his deep personal understanding of what's at stake. Franco brought world-class organoid expertise and drug screening infrastructure. Together, they're building a platform that makes functional drug testing practical, affordable, and accessible.
Unlike many healthcare entrepreneurs, Roshan has lived the patient family experience. He knows what it feels like to sit in hospital rooms, to parse medical jargon, to make impossible decisions with incomplete information, to watch someone you love run out of options.
That perspective shapes everything OncoForma does:
"At Biktrix, I learned how to scale technology and build sustainable businesses. But OncoForma is different. This isn't about disrupting an industry or capturing market share. This is about giving patients and doctors the information they deserve—before it's too late."
Based in Saskatoon, Roshan understands that breakthrough innovation doesn't require traditional biotech hubs. It requires great science, great execution, and an unwavering commitment to the mission.
"We're proving that world-class healthcare companies can be built anywhere. And we're proving that the best innovations sometimes come from people who've experienced the problem firsthand—not as a business opportunity, but as a family member desperate for a better answer."
OncoForma is that better answer.
Financial Disclosure: All advisory board members serve in an independent advisory capacity without financial interest in OncoForma. Advisors do not hold ownership of shares, stock options, or entitlement to profit. Their guidance reflects independent professional judgment provided without financial bias.
Associate Professor, University of Saskatchewan
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Franco Vizeacoumar is a leading researcher in functional genomics and high-throughput drug screening, with over 7,000 citations across cancer biology, cell and systems biology, and precision oncology research (see his full publication record on PubMed). His laboratory performs all organoid-based functional assays for OncoForma and pioneered many of the patient-derived organoid culture and screening protocols that form the foundation of the platform.
His research focuses on discovering synthetic-lethal interactions and drug vulnerabilities in cancer using CRISPR functional genomics, systems biology, and integrated multi-omics approaches. At the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Vizeacoumar leads a program that has established robust pipelines for generating and screening patient-derived organoids across multiple tumor types, demonstrating their predictive accuracy through numerous high-impact studies. He also communicates his work to broader audiences, including his recent TEDx University of Saskatchewan talk on advancing cancer research.
Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
University of Saskatchewan
Scientific Advisor
Professor Freywald is an internationally recognized cancer biologist whose research focuses on understanding and targeting molecular mechanisms that determine tumor aggressiveness and treatment resistance. He obtained his PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and completed postdoctoral training in Molecular Immunology and Cancer Research at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
His laboratory has made significant contributions to understanding receptor tyrosine kinase signaling in cancer, particularly the EphB6 receptor system in breast cancer invasion and metastasis. Dr. Freywald's work on synthetic lethality has identified novel therapeutic approaches for triple-negative breast cancer, leading to the development of new targeted therapies currently in preclinical testing.
With over 2,400 citations and collaborations spanning multiple continents, Dr. Freywald brings deep expertise in cancer cell biology, drug target identification, and translational research. He serves as a scientific advisor for the biotech industry and has been instrumental in bridging basic science discoveries with clinical applications.
His recent work includes developing combination cancer therapies that deliver a "one-two punch" to tumor cells, published in Clinical Cancer Research in 2023, and identifying vulnerabilities in PLK1-overexpressing cancers using cutting-edge CRISPR screening techniques.
Senior Director of Engineering, Siemens Digital Industries Software
Technical Advisor - AI/ML
Jeff Dyck is a software development executive and leading expert in verifiable AI for engineering applications, currently serving as Senior Director of Engineering at Siemens Digital Industries Software. He specializes in building exceptional teams, developing disruptive software products, and designing innovative machine learning solutions for complex technical problems.
As former VP of Engineering at Solido Design Automation (acquired by Siemens in 2017), Jeff co-invented Solido's groundbreaking machine learning technologies that pioneered the use of AI in Electronic Design Automation (EDA). Under his leadership, Solido grew revenue by 50-70% annually and was ranked among Deloitte's top 500 fastest-growing technology companies in North America.
Jeff's expertise centers on production-grade AI systems that are not only accurate but verifiable—a critical requirement for high-stakes applications. His work on adaptive machine learning algorithms has enabled systems that automatically verify their own accuracy, build models in real-time from streaming data, and prove correctness without exhaustive simulation. These innovations have accelerated chip verification by orders of magnitude while maintaining full accuracy.
Based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Jeff brings deep expertise in applying AI/ML to complex scientific and engineering challenges—exactly the skillset needed to scale OncoForma's drug response prediction from manual organoid testing to AI-enabled platforms.
His experience building trustworthy, production-grade machine learning systems that must be right every time directly translates to OncoForma's mission: predicting drug responses accurately enough to guide life-or-death treatment decisions. Jeff's guidance ensures OncoForma's AI development follows rigorous verification standards and builds systems that clinicians can trust.
"In EDA, if your AI model is wrong, a chip fails. In precision oncology, if your AI model is wrong, a patient gets the wrong treatment. Both require the same level of rigor, verifiability, and trust—and both are solvable problems with the right approach."
Gynecological Oncologist / Professor, Division of Oncology, University of Saskatchewan / Clinical Advisor
Dr. Hopkins is a pioneering gynecologic oncologist who is transforming precision medicine implementation in ovarian cancer care. After training at the University of Toronto, McMaster University, and completing subspecialty fellowship training in Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Toronto, she practiced at The Ottawa Hospital for 18 years in various leadership roles including Division Head of Gynecologic Oncology.
Since relocating to Saskatchewan in 2019, Dr. Hopkins has established the province's first tumor bank, launched Saskatchewan's first gynecologic oncology clinical trials program, and in 2023 opened Canada's first investigator-initiated pragmatic trial exploring patient preferences for precision medicine in ovarian cancer—the "4PDQ" trial.
Her groundbreaking work combines tumor molecular testing with patient decision aids, providing ovarian cancer patients with personalized, quantitative information about their likelihood of responding to PARP inhibitors and other targeted therapies. This approach has the potential to set a new standard of care for tumor testing across Canada.
Dr. Hopkins secured funding to acquire Saskatchewan's first next-generation sequencer for clinical use and developed in-house gene panel testing, eliminating the need for expensive US-based testing ($4,000 per sample). Her vision is to expand this precision medicine infrastructure to serve patients with all cancer types across Canada.
A member of the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, Dr. Hopkins contributes cases to the MOHCCN Gold Cohort and leads research focused on precision oncology, pragmatic trial design, informed patient decision-making, surgical quality and safety, and equity in access to care.
Her clinical philosophy aligns perfectly with OncoForma's mission: "We shouldn't be prescribing therapy and then waiting to see if it works. We are in the age of precision oncology and it is time for implementation at the point of care."
[To be expanded as additional advisors join]
OncoForma is actively building a clinical advisory board comprising:
Interested in joining our advisory team? Contact us →
Whether you're an oncologist interested in our pilot program, a patient seeking better treatment options, or a researcher exploring collaboration opportunities, we'd love to hear from you.