Ontario's leading advocate for the life sciences sector
Cubresa recently announced installing the first BrainPET Insert System at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, in partnership with the hospital’s research institute – Lawson Health Research Institute. The Cubresa BrainPET is a diagnostic imaging research tool that aids in the detection, localization, and diagnosis of diseases and disorders of the brain, and will enable evaluation of neurological diseases and brain cancers.
Cubresa presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit.
BenchSci, a world leader in AI solutions for preclinical life sciences research and development (R&D), recently announced a $95 million (US $70 million) Series D funding to expand their AI drug discovery platform ASCEND™, enabling scientists to discover biological connections, dramatically reduce trial-and-error experimentation and uncover risks early.
Swift Medical, a digital health technology company focused on improving clinical and economic outcomes in wound care, recently announced proven outcomes from more than 20 million wound assessments captured with Swift’s leading, AI-powered wound care platform. Deployed in nearly 4,000 healthcare facilities across North America, Swift’s technology has been shown to speed up wound healing by 37%, reduce wound prevalence and hospitalizations by 35% and 14%, respectively, and reduce hospital length of stay by 62%.
Swift Medical is a participant of BDSP™ and alumnus of CAAP® and WiHI.
Fluid Biomed Inc., a medical device company developing ReSolv™, the world's first hybrid polymer-metal flow-diverting stent to treat brain aneurysms, recently announced the international launch of REDIRECT, its first-in-human clinical trial. Phase 1 of this technical feasibility and safety study has begun with successful device implantation without adverse effect in human subjects at the pre-determined 30-day time point and recruitment is on-going.
FluidBiomed is an OBIO® member and presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit.
AtomVie Global Radiopharma Inc. (AtomVie), a global-leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) for the GMP manufacturing and worldwide distribution of radiopharmaceuticals, recently announced the closing of its Tranche 2 Series A financing, reaching over $90M total to complete building its new state-of-the-art GMP manufacturing facility.
Atomvie Global is an OBIO® member.
Able Innovations recently became a member of the Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange. Becoming a member offers an opportunity to collaborate with world-class subject matter experts, gaining top quality insights and connections to boost entry to the U.S. market. Able presented their ALTA Platform™ to numerous world-class clinicians, staff and key opinion leaders at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.
Able Innovations is an OBIO® member, presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit and has been part of all OBIO® programs.
Pfizer Canada ULC recently announced the launch of its Healthcare Hub, an initiative with Canadian tech and innovation startups to scale up health solutions, with the goal of enhancing outcomes and the patient experience in important areas of need in Canadian healthcare. In partnership with Communitech, the Pfizer Canada Healthcare Hub is designed to activate Canada's startup ecosystem and help accelerate the transformation of patient care.
Pfizer Canada and Communitech’s have issued an open call for tech startups and talent in tech to help meet challenges in the areas of vaccination tracking, drug shortage planning, patient drug coverage and access, women’s health and oncology diagnostics. The call for solutions to five key challenge areas is open from May 17 to 31, 2023. Adjudication and selection announcement will occur in July 2023, with winning entries receiving support from Pfizer to help bring their solution to market.
Satellos Bioscience Inc., a regenerative medicine company that spun out of Stem Cell Network, recently announced that it has closed $55 million financing to support the development of its lead drug candidate for Duchenne muscular dystrophy with the potential to significantly change the prospects for improved quality of life for patients.
Satellos presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit and is a CAAP® alumnus.
The Canadian Advanced Therapies Training Institute (CATTI) Inc. recently launched its first in-person training site at the University of Guelph through a partnership with OmniaBio Inc., CCRM and the university. The training program, to begin in summer 2023, will cater to recent post-secondary graduates, industry professionals and companies growing their roster of clean room manufacturing staff.
The fast growth of cell and gene therapies (CGTs) has made it a challenge for the global industry to keep up with talent requirements. This new CGT technical training site will begin to address the industry's critical training needs and represents the first stage of a larger, multi-site training strategy for CATTI.
The Health Check Bus, equipped with KA Imaging’s Reveal 35C, has imaged more than 8,000 patients as part of a collaboration between InnoCare Optoelectronics and the College of Medicine at National Cheng Kung University which focuses on mobile X-ray lung screening.
KA Imaging is an OBIO® member, an EAHN™ company, past participant of BDSP™, CAAP®, H2BB™ and presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit.
Cyclica, a neo-biotech headquartered in Toronto and Valence, headquartered in Montréal, recently announced entering into agreement to be acquired by Recursion, leading clinical stage TechBio company.
“Cyclica and Recursion both believe in the value of industrializing drug discovery,” said Naheed Kurji, CEO and Co-Founder of Cyclica. “Combining our proteome-wide prediction of small molecule-target interactions into Recursion’s data universe will create one of the largest fit-for-purpose biological and chemical datasets in the drug discovery space. Together, I believe Recursion will have an immense impact on human health in the years to come.”
Cyclica is an OBIO® member, participant of BDSP™ and presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit.
Able Innovations is among the winning technology startups at TiE Con recognized for their innovative solution in patient transfers to reduce staff burnouts and shortages. TiE Con is one of the largest technology conferences designed by TiE Silicon Valley leaders for entrepreneurs, corporate executives and investors. Now in the fourteenth year, the awards recognize the top technology and technology-enabled startups.
Able Innovations is an OBIO® member, presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit and has been part of all OBIO® programs.
Dr. Maura Campbell, President and CEO of OBIO® has graciously accepted an appointment to the Ontario Life Sciences Council by the Honourable Victor Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.
Dr. Jason Field (Chair) – President and CEO of Life Sciences Ontario, Dr. Dozie Amuzie – Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation for JLABS Canada, Dr. Maura Campbell – CEO of the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization, Nicole DeKort – President and CEO of Medtech Canada, Pamela Fralick – President of Innovative Medicines Canada, Elliot Fung – Executive Director of Medical Innovation Xchange, Jim Keon – President of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association, Cameron Love – President and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital, Dr. Michael May – President and CEO of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Derek Newton – Assistant Vice-President, Innovation, Partnerships and Entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto, Dr. David O’Neill – President of FACIT, Dr. Jane Philpott – Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Director of the School of Medicine at Queen’s University and CEO of the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization.
The forward-looking Life Sciences Council will focus on long-term growth and competitiveness in medical technology, pharma/biotech, digital health and personal protective equipment (PPE) sub-sectors.
The Council will be tasked to collaboratively work together on a plan to make Ontario a top hub for innovation growth and life sciences investments. It will also identify opportunities for Ontario to work with provincial and federal counterparts to improve regulatory processes and incentives to advance the pharmaceutical sector and improve patient access to innovative medicines.
As President and CEO of OBIO®, Dr. Campbell is dedicated to advancing health technology innovation and commercialization of early-stage companies, including OBIO® members, through ecosystem building, advocacy and programming. With over 30 years of experience in key sectors of biotech, and as CEO of OBIO®, Dr. Campbell understands the challenges that early-stage health science companies face when commercializing and driving adoption of their innovation in Ontario. Dr. Campbell and OBIO® are excited and thankful for the opportunity to bring our members’ perspectives to the Council and work with the Ministry on the support required for the industry to flourish.
To learn more about Ontario’s newly-established Life Sciences Council:
Enamine Ltd., a provider of drug discovery services empowered with the world’s largest collections of building blocks, fragments, and screening compounds, gave an update of its long-standing research collaboration with Endogena Therapeutics AG, a clinical-stage biotech company focused on the development of endogenous regenerative medicines.
Endogena Therapeutics was a participant of the H2BB™ program and presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit.
Canadian biotechnology company Virica Biotech has secured a grant from the Ontario provincial government to expand its domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity. The $790,000 funding has been provided through the government’s Ontario Together Fund (OTF), created to boost Ontario’s healthcare sector, Covid-19 response and pandemic preparedness.
Virica Biotech is a recipient of BDSP™ and the OBIO® Women in Health Initiative (WiHI) Leadership subsidy.
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, recently announced federal support through Genome Canada for three late-stage Ontario Genomics research and development projects tackling major challenges in health, environment and agriculture through genomics.
The Government of Canada, in collaboration with the provincial government, industry and healthcare organizations, as well as other partners, is investing a total of over $16.3 million into Ontario projects out of the $56.7 million funding announced for projects across Canada.
Aspect Biosystems and Novo Nordisk recently announced a collaboration, development, and licence agreement to develop bioprinted tissue therapeutics designed to replace, repair, or supplement biological functions inside the body with the aim of delivering a new class of truly disease-modifying treatments for diabetes and obesity. The collaboration will leverage Aspect’s proprietary bioprinting technology and Novo Nordisk’s expertise and technology in stem cell differentiation and cell therapy development and manufacturing.
Aspect Biosystems presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit and Novo Nordisk participated at the inaugural Pharma Licensing Forum at the 2023 OBIO® Investment Summit.
Montréal-based MY01, a medical technology company that uses microsensors to aid physicians in diagnosing acute compartment syndrome, has received $12.5 million CAD in Series A funding from a group of three Québec-based investors. The round was led by Investissement Québec, with participation from Desjardins Capital and Fondaction.
MY01 is an EAHN™ company and presented at past OBIO® Investment Summits.
Zucara Therapeutics, a diabetes-focused life sciences company developing the first once-daily use therapeutic to prevent hypoglycemia in people with diabetes, recently announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the Company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ZT-01 for the prevention of nocturnal hypoglycemia in patients with Type 1 Diabetes.
Zucara presented at the OBIO® Investment Summit and is part of Workforce Development.
The Government of Ontario is investing in Microbix by supporting its expansion at three adjacent sites in Mississauga with a grant of $840,000 from the Ontario Together Fund. A separate $840,000 of interest-free loan funding has also been provided by the Government of Canada through its FedDev Ontario program. The $1.68 Million in funding will be used for capabilities & capacity expansions for manufacturing specialized products relating to diagnostic testing for infectious diseases.
