Budget 2018 proposes an investment of nearly $4 billion in Canada’s research system. Robert Merson, Management Consultant, has prepared an analysis of this year's Budget 2018, focusing on research and innovation investment.

Hamilton Health Sciences & IBM's innovation exchange provides innovators – research scientists, industry & academic partners, start-ups and scale-ups – with technologies they otherwise would not have access to, to advance the pursuit of solutions to challenges in healthcare.

The Weston Brain Institute is launching three new funding programs:  

• Rapid Response: Canada  2018 (Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases)

• International Fellowships: Canada 2018

• International Outstanding Achievement Award 2018

Nanovista Inc., a start-up company co-founded by Drs. David Jaffray, Jinzi Zheng, and Christine Allen of UHN and the University of Toronto, recently received investments of $1.8M with the help of GreenSky Capital Inc. and its affiliated venture capital funds.

Nanovista also recently welcomed Steven Chackowicz as its new CEO. A serial entrepreneur, he has experience in leadership roles in companies that include Exact Imaging, Aspect Imaging and VisualSonics. 

AVROBIO, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing transformative, life-changing gene therapies for rare diseases, announced today that it has completed a $60 million Series B financing.

Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corporation (APC), a therapeutics discovery and development company, and ImmunoBiochem Corporation, today announced entering into a Collaboration and Option agreement to develop superior antibody-drug conjugates. The companies will evaluate the prospect of combining ImmunoBiochem’s proprietary antibody and APC’s site-selective conjugation technology to produce ADCs with superior properties, targeting triple-negative breast cancer.

Toronto – Biotagenics Inc., a microbiome-based platform company developing novel therapeutics and diagnostics is the industrial collaborator on a $9.1 million CAD ($7.4 million USD) project led by academic collaborators at University of Ottawa and Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) to study the clinical application of microbiome-based precision medicine in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Sudbury-based FloSonics Medical has raised $5 million in funding led by iGan Partners.Other investors include Genesys Capital, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF), Accel-RX, MaRS Catalyst, Angel One, and Northern Ontario Angels.

Mariner Endosurgery Inc., an innovative Canadian medical device company leading commercialization of computer-assisted medical devices for laparoscopic surgeries, announced today that it has received Investigational Testing Approval (ITA) from Health Canada.  Receipt of the ITA enables the company to initiate clinical testing of Mariner’s LaparoGuard computer-assisted surgery platform which is planned to begin February 2018 at Hamilton General Hospital.  Dr. Niv Sne, trauma surgeon proficient in advanced laparoscopic cases with Hamilton Health Sciences and Associate Professor of Surgery at McMaster University is the principal investigator for the initial studies.

International Data Corporation (IDC) Canada released an IDC Innovators report recognizing Canadian personal health record startups with revenue under C$100 million. CAAP Company Self Care Catalysts were 1 of 4  companies selected evaluated on their ability to offer an innovative new technology, a ground-breaking approach to an existing issue, and/or an interesting new business model in a specific market.

Proteocyte Diagnostics, a company that has designed a platform technology to predict your risk of developing cancer, announces the restructuring and expansion of the Board of Directors with the addition of James Appleyard, Laurence Hicks,  Peter G. Schulam and Carlo Sistilli. Proteocyte is also pleased to announce that Robert Lawrie, the Chair of the Canadian Cancer Society, has agreed to join the Board. 

Trillium Therapeutics Inc. announced the following key additions to its leadership team:

• Blythe Thomson, MD, Executive Medical Director
• Jane E. Cole, RN, Senior Director, Clinical Operations
• Brian E. Jahns, PharmD, Senior Vice President, Commercial and Business Development

OBIO Pre-CAAP Company MedStack announced an enterprise platform collaboration with Sinai Health System to better serve hospitals and digital health entrepreneurs who want to introduce their technology into hospital environments.

VBI Vaccines Inc., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation infectious disease and immuno-oncology vaccines, today announced that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase 1/2a clinical study of VBI-1901 for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (rGBM).

ImmunoBiochem, a CAAP company solving the problem of tumor heterogeneity won 2nd place at the highly competitive RESI San Francisco Innovation Challenge last week.

CAAP company ImmunoBiochem, which is solving the problem of tumor heterogeneity by targeting unique proteins enriched in the secretomes of cancer cells with Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) won 2nd place at the highly competitive RESI San Francisco Innovation Challenge

The Canadian Innovation Awards celebrate the best and brightest in the Canadian technology community. Now in its seventh year, the awards acknowledge outstanding startups, innovative businesses and influential individuals. Trexo Robotics advanced to the finals in the New Startup category.

HCell Inc. (Hcell), a biotechnology company focusing on Alopecia Areata in the Pediatric Population, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) to HC017AA for the treatment of pediatric patients with Alopecia Areata, a devastating hair loss disease.

Adapsyn Bioscience Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel medicines derived from evolved small molecule natural products, today announced that it has completed a round of financing that was co-funded by Pfizer R&D Innovate and Genesys Capital. In addition, the company has announced a research collaboration with Pfizer Inc.

Pre-CAAP company Steadiwear's Steadiglove was featured as a technology that stood out for Senior Care at the Aging 2.0 Conference this past November in San Francisco.