Winterlight Labs announces data demonstrating the sensitivity of speech-based digital measures in detecting longitudinal change in Alzheimer’s disease in collaboration with Genentech

Winterlight Labs, a developer of digital biomarkers for the analysis of speech and language in neurological conditions, and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, recently announced new data showing the sensitivity of speech-based digital measures in detecting disease-related longitudinal change in Alzheimer’s disease.

Using data from Genentech’s Tauriel trial of semorinemab in early-stage Alzheimer’s disease (NCT03289143), these analyses provide new evidence that automated measures for assessing patient speech can characterize longitudinal decline with comparable sensitivity to clinician-administered neuropsychological assessments. Digital measures can allow for better characterization of speech and language patterns, improved insight into the effects of novel treatments, and could support a shift to more hybrid or remote trial designs.

VoxNeuro Announces Collaboration with the Canadian Armed Forces and Launch of Clinical Study Measuring Impact of Training-Related Sub-Concussive Exposure

VoxNeuro Inc., a commercial stage Software-as-a-Medical-Device (SaMD) brain health company that analyzes brain biomarkers to assess cognitive function, recently announced a new partnership with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). VoxNeuro and CAF have partnered to study the cognitive effects following intense military training regimens designed to reflect a combat environment and blast exposure. Despite the high prevalence of cognitive issues in veterans and active military personnel, there is relatively little understanding regarding these cognitive effects and reliable monitoring.

The study will assess the effects of repetitive, sub-concussive exposure (RSCE) on cognitive functioning and brain electrophysiology with CAF personnel undergoing cognitive testing in tandem with EEG recordings before and after military training. The study seeks to understand the relationship between RSCE and behavioural symptoms, vestibular dysfunction, neurophysiology, and cognition to aid in early detection, prevention, treatment, and prognosis.

VoxNeuro is an OBIO® member.

Immugenia Obtains Pre-Seed Funding from adMare BioInnovations, ACET Capital, and Sherbrooke Innopole to Develop a Cancer Treatment Which Would Prevent Relapses

Immugenia Inc., an early-stage immune-oncology company developing a novel approach to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy by engineering hematopoietic stem cells to treat cancer and prevent relapses, recently announced that adMare BioInnovations, ACET Capital 2, and Sherbrooke Innopole have joined forces to support the development of immunity therapy programs based on the work of Dr. Elie Haddad, clinical researcher at CHU Sainte-Justine and professor at the Université de Montréal's pediatrics department.  

Immugenia is developing a new generation of CAR therapy. Current CAR therapies involve taking immune cells from a cancer patient and modifying them to express a CAR, making it possible for them to recognize and kill cancer cells when injected back into the patient.

Immugenia is an OIS company.

Oncoustics AI and UHN Awarded OBIO® Early Adopter Health Network Grant to Trial Point of Care Liver Assessment Solutions in Clinic

Oncoustics, the world’s leader in AI-based analytics for processing raw ultrasound signal to do tissue

characterization, real-time diagnostics and non-invasive surveillance, recently announced that, in association with University Health Network (UHN), have been awarded an Early Adopter Health Network (EAHN™) Grant to trial the OnX Liver Assessment Solutions in UHN clinics. The grant, which is funded by the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®), enables Oncoustics and UHN to pilot and further develop the innovative technology.

Oncoustics is an OBIO® member, and past BDSP™, CAAP® and EAHN ™ participant.

Zucara Therapeutics' Positive Proof-of-Concept Data Secures Continued Funding Ahead of Planned Phase 2 Clinical Trial of ZT-01

Zucara Therapeutics, a diabetes life sciences company developing the first once-daily therapeutic to prevent hypoglycemia (low blood glucose levels) in people with diabetes, recently announced that its positive proof-of-concept data has enabled the company to secure continued funding for a Phase 2 clinical study of ZT-01, which is expected to begin in Q1 2023.

Zucara is an OBIO® member and presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit.

VoxNeuro Announces Collaboration with Boston University and Launch of Clinical Studies Focusing on Concussion and Alzheimer’s Disease

VoxNeuro, a Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) brain health company that analyzes brain-based biomarkers to assess cognitive function, recently announced a research partnership with Boston University and the launch of Clinical Studies Focusing on mild-Traumatic Brain Injury/Concussion and Alzheimer's disease.

VoxNeuro, in partnership with Boston University, has launched two studies that will evaluate its cognitive health assessment platform in an outpatient setting to assess diagnostic accuracy. The studies will focus on patients suffering from mild-Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)/Concussion and Alzheimer’s disease, respectively.

VoxNeuro is an OBIO® member.

Linamar MedTech Achieves ISO 13485 Certification for Medical Device Manufacturing

Linamar Corporation (TSX: LNR), a leading global diversified manufacturing company, recently announced that its Innovation Hub (iHub) Production site received ISO 13485 certification for medical device production. The achievement is a critical milestone for the company’s recently launched MedTech group, making Linamar one of the leading suppliers to the global medical device markets. Linamar MedTech will focus on leveraging its expert capabilities in precision manufacturing to pursue opportunities in the Medical Device and Precision Medical Component markets.

The Linamar iHub, located in Guelph, Ontario, is the first of Linamar’s global facilities to obtain the medical device specific certification from the Internal Standards Organization (ISO). This facility led the initial response to the COVID-19 outbreak, urgently scaling up production efforts to support the manufacture of lifesaving ventilators and critical medical supplies.

Linamar Corporation supported the OBIO Investment Summit in the past.

Vena Medical Celebrates First Procedures with Category-Defining Balloon Distal Access Catheter™ (BDAC)

Vena Medical, a leading developer of cutting-edge neurovascular devices, recently announced the successful treatment of the first five patients in the world using the Vena BDAC™ at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) University Hospital and The Ottawa Hospital (TOH).

Canada is the first to benefit from the Vena BDAC™ technology developed right in the patient’s backyard for those requiring mechanical thrombectomy during ischemic stroke treatment.

Thrombectomy, a minimally invasive procedure to remove a blood clot, is now standard of care treatment for patients with an acute ischemic stroke (AIS) secondary to a Large Vessel Occlusion (LVO). There are several techniques available, all with the objective of restoring blood flow as quickly as possible. The Vena BDAC™ combines the balloon guide catheters and distal access catheters that are currently used in thrombectomy to remove clots from the brains of stroke victims. Combining these two devices allows the clinician to get the balloon much closer to the clot, which is shown to improve key metrics like First Pass Success Rate, allowing removal of the clot on the first try and leading to significantly better patient outcomes. This also reduces the number of devices to treat each patient and therefore the cost of the procedure.

Vena Medical is an OBIO® member, an Early Adopter Health Network (EAHN™) company and presented at the OBIO Investment Summit.

Oncoustics Secures $5.5 Million CAD to Help Spot Liver Disease Using AI

Oncoustics has raised about $5.5 million CAD ($4.3 million USD) in seed funding to disrupt liver care by facilitating easier early disease detection, diagnosis, and patient management.

The Toronto and San Francisco-based startup is developing a hardware-agnostic, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software platform designed to turn existing ultrasound devices into more powerful and efficient point-of-care diagnostic tools for liver disease and other diseases “with high unmet clinical need.”

Led by a team of AI, radiology, and digital health experts, Oncoustics applies machine learning (ML) to the raw sound signal produced by these ultrasound devices, to turn it into meaningful clinical data—specifically, tissue acoustic evaluations that enable the startup to do tissue characterization and spot disease.

By doing this, Oncoustics hopes to provide clinicians and patients with a less invasive, more cost-effective alternative to traditional biopsies that can be provided beyond just the hospital at point-of-care. A biopsy is a medical test that involves extracting sample cells or tissues from a patient for examination in order to determine the presence or extent of a disease.

Oncoustics is an OBIO® member, and past BDSP™, CAAP® and EAHN ™ participant.

Allarta Team behind breakthrough research that aims to cure diabetes

Dr. Harald Stover, a chemistry professor at McMaster University and co-founder of the Hamilton-based company, Allarta Life Science, is behind breakthrough research that aims to cure diabetes with a cell-based therapy, in which new curative cells transplanted into the body do the work to produce insulin — alleviating the need for injections and immune-suppressive drugs.

In a recent interview with The Hamilton Spectator, Allarta founders, Dr. Harald Stover and Maria Antonakos, talk about their work that has the potential to change the scenario of diabetes around the world.

Allarta is a past CAAP® participant and presented at the OBIO Investment Summit.

Spiderwort secures $13.2M USD in Series A Financing to Accelerate Clinical Trials of Revolutionary Biomaterials

Spiderwort Inc, a biotech company specializing in the development of transformative biomaterials for repairing and regenerating tissues within the human body, recently announced securing $13.2 million USD in Series A financing. The financing was led by Horizons Ventures and supported by K5 Global, BoxOne Ventures and Break Off Capital.

The funding will advance Spiderwort’s innovations in cellulose-based tissue scaffolding to treat acute spinal cord injuries. The investment will support the transition from pre-clinical studies to the clinical trials that are critical to bringing Spiderwort’s revolutionary biomaterial to market. As the company focuses on this next phase of trials, it is committed to delivering a transformative treatment option to the medical professionals and patients who need it most.

Spiderwort Inc. is an OBIO® member and a previous CAAP®, HealthMINT™, BDSP™ and H2BB™ participant.

Quebec companies will evaluate their technologies in Ontario hospitals

A recent agreement between the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®) and the Centre Québécois d'Innovation en Biotechnologie (CQIB) will enable Quebec companies to evaluate their technologies in real-world healthcare situations as part of OBIO's Early Adopter Health Network (EAHN™).

EAHN™ brings together health technology companies and organizations in a collaborative healthcare system to evaluate, refine, adopt and procure Canadian-made technology solutions. By joining EAHN™, CQIB will become the first Quebec incubator of EAHN™ and will play a role in helping Canada's healthcare ecosystem improve patient care. As part of the partnership agreement, CQIB will identify companies in its network that are a potential fit for EAHN™ and exclusively evaluate and pre-qualify Quebec companies so they can access EAHN™.

"We are very pleased to welcome CQIB to OBIO's EAHN™ and to share our expertise in supporting Quebec and Canadian companies to improve the adoption of innovation in Ontario's healthcare facilities," says Maura Campbell, President and CEO of OBIO®.

"Thanks to EAHN™, Quebec companies supported by CQIB and its Medxlab program will gain easier access to funding for technical and commercial validation of their technologies. They will benefit from their collaboration with Ontario's healthcare institutions and OBIO's expertise. Also, we will facilitate Ontario companies' access to the Quebec healthcare network as well as the use of our co-working space", says Perry Niro, CEO of the CQIB. 

Grand River Hospital adopts Intellijoint HIP to study patient and health system benefits through $1 million provincial investment

The adoption of novel medical technologies in Canada, especially those not supported by available funding models, is extremely challenging. This provincial investment is the first of its kind and aims to create opportunities to support the adoption and explore funding for new and innovative technologies in health care.

The Ontario Ministry of Health recently announced, “to further support high-quality care in the region, the government is investing $1 million in a study at Grand River Hospital to evaluate the use of intraoperative surgical technology that could improve outcomes for patients who require hip replacement surgery. The study will inform the development of a new pathway to improve the adoption of new medical innovations that will innovate patient care in hospitals across the province.”

Intellijoint Surgical is proud that, as part of this announcement, Grand River Hospital will be adopting the use of Intellijoint’s intraoperative navigation solution for hip replacement, Intellijoint HIP, as part of a research study to understand the benefit of this new technology for patients, and identify any economic efficiencies that can be realized across the provincial health system as a result of its use.

Intellijoint HIP has been licensed by Health Canada since 2015 and provides real-time intraoperative measurements for accurate implant alignment, as well as leg length and offset restoration for total hip replacement surgery. Intellijoint HIP does not add any surgery time and has proven results with over 30,000 procedures performed around the world.

Cosm Medical Raises $4.7 Million CAD for its Custom Gynecological Prosthetics

Medtech startup Cosm Medical has secured $4.7 million CAD ($3.8 million USD) in an oversubscribed seed round to create custom medical devices for women suffering from pelvic floor disorders.

The new funds will enable Cosm to further develop and launch its digital gynecology platform and gynecological prosthetics, which it calls Gynethotics. The investment will also go toward expanding research and development, and operations. Cosm plans to double its team of 10 employees.

The startup combines novel physiological biomarkers, AI-driven cloud software, and 3D printing to create its custom prosthetics.

Fusion Fund led the round with participation from iGan Partners, MaRS IAF, Telus Pollinator Fund, Archangel Fund, and several physicians and angel investors. The round closed in late March and not all investors were disclosed.

Cosm Medical presented at the 2022 OBIO Investment Summit.

Ontario Stakes its Claim to Expand Province’s Innovation Ecosystem with New Life Sciences Strategy

Province invests in state-of-the-art cell and gene therapy facility in Hamilton to take life sciences sector to the next level.

A new cell and gene therapy manufacturing facility being built in Hamilton will anchor the future of life sciences jobs and innovation in Ontario while advancing pioneering medicine with the potential to cure many forms of cancer, cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.

Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, welcomed the $580 million investment in the OmniaBio Inc. facility as he unveiled the government’s new innovative life sciences strategy. Through Invest Ontario, the province’s investment attraction agency, subject to reaching a definitive agreement, the province will invest up to $40 million to help create the OmniaBio manufacturing facility, which will be spun out of Toronto’s Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM).

The facility builds on almost $2 billion in recent transformational investments in Ontario by leading pharmaceutical companies, including Sanofi, Resilience and Roche. It will increase the province’s biomanufacturing capacity, strengthen domestic supply chains and boost Ontario-made innovation. It is scheduled to begin operations in early 2024.

Provincial support for the OmniaBio project is part of Taking Life Sciences to the Next Level, the province’s plan to grow Ontario’s life sciences sector and secure new investments in next-generation health technologies, medicines and vaccine manufacturing.

The strategy sets out ambitious goals over the next decade. One major objective is to grow Ontario’s biomanufacturing and life sciences sector to employ 85,000 Ontarians in high-value jobs by 2030, a 25 per cent increase from 2020.

Triumvira Immunologics Completes Extension of Series A Financing, for Total Round of Approximately $100 Million

Triumvira Immunologics, a clinical-stage company developing novel, targeted autologous and allogeneic
T cell therapeutics that co-opt the natural biology of T cells to treat patients with solid tumors, recently announced the completion of an extension of its Series A financing, bringing the total round to approximately $100 million. The Series A extension featured new investors, including significant participation from B Capital Group, along with ATEM Capital, the Myeloma Investment Fund, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation’s venture philanthropy subsidiary, and others, joined by significant participation from existing investors, Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment unit of Bayer AG, and Northpond Ventures.

The proceeds of the financing will support the continued preclinical and clinical development of Triumvira’s T cell Antigen Coupler (TAC)-T cell therapy programs. Triumvira’s proprietary TAC receptor, a multi-domain chimeric molecule, interacts directly with the natural T cell receptor to uniquely help T cells recognize and eliminate tumor cells.

Triumvira Immunologies presented at past OBIO Investment Summits.

OPTT, a presenting company at the 2022 OBIO Investment Summit, selected for Morgan Stanley's Multicultural Innovation Lab

Morgan Stanley recently announced the seventh cohort of the Multicultural Innovation Lab, an accelerator program for technology and technology-enabled startups in the post‐seed to Series B funding rounds. The program targets startups with a multicultural or woman founder, co‐founder, CTO or other C-suite member that is developing innovative solutions across sectors. The companies that have been selected for the Winter 2022 cohort include OPTT, a company that presented at the 2022 OBIO Investment Summit.

OPTT is a provider of comprehensive hybrid digital care plans augmented by AI for proactive triage and monitoring of patients to simplify the digital-first delivery of mental health services for care teams.

Predicting Brain Amyloid Accumulation Using RetiSpec

RetiSpec is excited to share its latest clinical study findings including a video and insights from lead author Sharon Cohen, MD, FRCPC, neurologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Cohen discussed data presented in November 2021 at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease Conference (CTAD) on RetiSpec, a retinal imaging tool that predicts brain amyloid status.

RetiSpec, a noninvasive retinal imaging tool, uses hyperspectral technology combined with artificial intelligence to look for distinctive signs of Alzheimer disease (AD), as well as Parkinson disease, vascular dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

RetiSpec is an OBIO® BDSP™ company and presented at a past OBIO Investment Summit.

Cyclica Spins Out Startup, Perturba Therapeutics, From University Of Toronto

Biotech startup Cyclica has spun out a company from the University of Toronto’s Stagljar Lab. Called Perturba Therapeutics Inc., the spin-out fuses together Cyclica’s AI-augmented chemistry technology and the Staljar Lab’s biological science.

“We created Perturba to combine our two approaches to drug discovery for many types of cancers that are really recalcitrant to other techniques,” said Naheed Kurji, co-founder, CEO and president of Cyclica.

Founded in 2020, but just newly announced, Perturba builds on previous work Cyclica and the Stagljar Lab carried out in 2019, designing chemistry for a specific biological target linked to non-small cell lung cancer, a highly prevalent and resistant form of lung cancer.

Cyclica presented at the 2022 OBIO Investment Summit.

iGan Partners, Faisal Belhoul Launch Arabia Medtech Fund With $250 Million USD Target

OBIO® Toronto-based venture capital firm iGan Partners has teamed up with Dubai-based investment professional and entrepreneur Faisal Belhoul to launch iGan Arabia, a new regional fund targeting the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Through iGan Arabia, iGan and Belhoul will pursue investment opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-enhanced medical devices and digital health solutions, towards the goal of driving medtech innovation across the MENA region. The group aims to raise $250 million USD for iGan Arabia from limited partners, and also hopes to facilitate an additional $250 million in co-investments.

The fund brings together iGan and Belhoul, who have combined experience investing in medtech and supporting healthcare entrepreneurs in Canada, the United States, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—a regional, intergovernmental political and economic union that consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).