Friday | July 15th 2022
CEO MESSAGE
Each week we look forward to sharing our sector’s updates with you, and each week we are impressed by the calibre of innovation and work taking place across our sector. This is why we are really excited to open applications for LSBC’s annual Investor Readiness Program (IRP). Beginning in October, we look forward to welcoming our next cohort of early stage small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) and pairing them with our entrepreneurs-in-residence (EIRs) to become investor ready. Applications are due by July 31st, apply today to be considered! 
  
A report released last month by Invest Vancouver shows that Metro Vancouver continues to be Canada’s top life sciences startup ecosystem. Anchored by home-grown and globally rising biotech stars like STEMCELL, AbCellera, Zymeworks and more, we are so proud to support the growing talent.  
  
Supporting the development of this talent within our sector are 25 public post-secondary institutions across BC that play crucial roles in developing the next generation of forward-thinking, life sciences professionals - everything from clinicians and technicians to medical and data scientists to biomedical engineers. UBC researchers, for instance, have recently engineered the world’s fastest drug screening technology, Deep Docking, an AI-enabled technology which could revolutionize COVID-19 treatments and more. 
  
News 
  
This past week, Pfizer Canada and Rethink Breast Cancer announced the recipients of nearly $280,000 in grants for the implementation of innovative strategies aimed at measurably improving the quality of care for people living with metastatic breast cancer. The FDA also approved Horizon Therapeutics’ KRYSTEXXA® (pegloticase) injection co-administered with methotrexate, to help more people with uncontrolled gout achieve a complete response to therapy.  
  
In industry news, this month marks the 10 year anniversary of the discovery of the CRISPR gene-editing system. Over the past decade, this discovery has played a critical role in helping to treat human disease, among other things, and we look forward to seeing where the future of CRISPR takes us. Also, Next Generation Manufacturing Canada announced $265K in co-funding for a project led by Axolotl Biosciences in partnership with StarFish Medical to scale-up the production of BrainPrint bioink, a tool for understanding neurodegenerative diseases and drug screening.  
  
If you are looking to learn more on how to propel your business towards global growth, The Creative Industries and Multisector Cohorts of the Trade Accelerator Program (TAP) is now accepting applications. TAP is designed to help SMEs tap into their full export potential and discover ways to extend a company's reach through international expansion of goods and services. 
  
People on the Move  
  
The Michael Smith Laboratories at UBC welcomed its new leadership team this past week: Director Dr. Martin Hirst, Deputy Director Dr. Freda Miller, and Associate Director Dr. David Ng. Congratulations all on your new roles! 
  
Kudos 
  
Congratulations also to the seven Pacific businesses who were recognized as EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2022 Pacific Regional winners, including Tom Madden from Acuitas Therapeutics, and Euan Ramsay and James Taylor from Precision NanoSystems. And, congratulations again to the winners of the 24th Annual Life Sciences BC Awards, presented by Farris. We look forward to celebrating and recognizing these achievements with you on September 22nd!  
  
Until next week, 
  
Wendy and the LSBC team 
PLATINUM SPONSORS
Merck and Orion Announce Global Collaboration for the Development and Commercialization of ODM-208, an Investigational Steroid Synthesis Inhibitor for the Treatment of Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and Orion Corporation announced a global development and commercialization agreement for Orion’s investigational candidate ODM-208 and other drugs targeting cytochrome P450 11A1 (CYP11A1), an enzyme important in steroid production. ODM-208 is an oral, non-steroidal inhibitor of CYP11A1 currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer...READ MORE
Algernon Pharmaceuticals Provides Update on its Planned Phase 1 Repirinast Chronic Kidney Disease Study
Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical stage Canadian pharmaceutical development company, is pleased to provide an update on its chronic kidney disease (“CKD”) research program with NP-251 (“Repirinast”). In Q1 2022, the Company announced that it had initiated a new CKD research program to investigate Repirinast as part of its drug repurposing program...READ MORE
Electromate Powered Medical Solutions
In the medical device industry, scientific disciplines and engineering merge in the creation of innovations that benefit the health care system as well as society at large. Firms in this industry approach the diagnosis and treatment of ailments by providing a wide range of quality products suited to increasingly specialized needs...READ MORE
Pfizer Canada and Rethink Breast Cancer Announce Recipients of 2022 Quality Improvement Grants Focused on Metastatic Breast Cancer
Pfizer Canada and Rethink Breast Cancer are excited to announce the recipients of the nearly $280,000 in grants for the implementation of innovative strategies aimed at measurably improving the quality of care for people living with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). In its second year, the collaboration between Pfizer Canada and Rethink is grounded in a commitment to prioritizing the voices and values of people living with MBC...READ MORE
FDA Approves KRYSTEXXA® (pegloticase) Injection Co-Administered With Methotrexate, Expanding the Labeling to Help More People with Uncontrolled Gout Achieve a Complete Response to Therapy
Horizon Therapeutics plc announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) expanding the labeling to include KRYSTEXXA® (pegloticase) injection co-administered with methotrexate, which will help more people with uncontrolled gout achieve a complete response to therapy. “Today’s approval for KRYSTEXXA with methotrexate is the culmination of more than five years of effort and demonstrates Horizon’s commitment to working together with the gout community to improve...READ MORE
Algernon Pharmaceuticals Provides Update on Its Phase 1 DMT Stroke Study
Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical stage Canadian pharmaceutical development company, is pleased to provide an update on its planned Phase 1 clinical human study of AP-188 (“N,N-dimethyltryptamine” or “DMT”). DMT is a known psychedelic compound that is part of the tryptamine family. The Company is currently working to complete the intravenous formulation that will be used in the Phase 1 DMT study and has retained the Centre for Human Drug Research...READ MORE
Clairvoyant Therapeutics: Clairvoyant Initiates First Site for Phase 2 Psilocybin Therapy Clinical Trial for Alcohol Use Disorder
Clairvoyant Therapeutics, a Canadian biotech company, is pleased to announce it has initiated the first of 15 planned sites for CLARITY, the company’s Phase 2 clinical trial investigating psilocybin in the treatment of alcohol use disorder (formerly called alcoholism). CLARITY is a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of 25 mg synthetic psilocybin in conjunction with Motivational Enhancement Therapy...READ MORE
BCIT INSPIRE Campaign Celebrates the Soft Opening of the Health Sciences Centre
BCIT is excited to celebrate the soft opening of the new Health Sciences Centre on the Burnaby Campus. With generous support from industry leaders and the philanthropic community, the INSPIRE Campaign raised $11.7 million towards the development of the state-of-the-art facility. The Province also provided an investment of $66.6-million into the project. The Health Sciences Centre, standing at four-storeys and 111,460 square-feet, is a critical hub for providing transformative, applied education to current and future generations of healthcare students in BC...READ MORE
INDUSTRY NEWS
NGen Funds Development of Novel Bioink for Generating Human Brain Tissue
Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) has announced $265k in co-funding, for a project led by Canadian biotechnology company Axolotl Biosciences in partnership with StarFish Medical to scale-up the production of BrainPrint bioink. BrainPrint can be used to print human brain tissue models as a tool for understanding neurodegenerative diseases and as a tool for drug screening...READ MORE
LSBC IN THE NEWS
Life Sciences BC Announces 24th Annual Award Winners
Life Sciences BC is pleased to announce the recipients of the 24th Annual Life Sciences BC Awards, presented by Farris. These awards recognize the achievements of individuals, companies, and organizations that have had success in advancing successful health innovations and contribute to BC’s life sciences ecosystem...READ MORE
GOLD SPONSORS
Lead Scientist, Protein Engineering

Reporting directly to the R&D Manager, the Lead Scientist, Protein Engineering is an important member within the department and the company as a whole. The role is responsible to lead the development, optimization, and production scale up of proteins needed for IVD products on-time and on-budget:
You have rich experience of upstream and downstream protein engineering processes and experience with protein production under GMP requirement. You have strong planning skill to prioritize tasks and to adapt the changes when necessary. You have effective problem-solving skill to remove roadblocks and provide technical advice for the team members.





Research Associate, Quality Control, CMC

Our employees are smart, passionate, dedicated, and driven by their incredibly important work to discover, develop, and deliver new medicines for patients in need. Building and maintaining a respectful, collaborative, inclusive, and productive culture is a priority for us. We are looking for great people who thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment to join our team during this transformative time for Xenon.
We are seeking a Research Associate, Quality Control, CMC to join our team. The Research Associate will work flexibly across a number of small molecule drug development programs with an emphasis on managing outsourced analytical data and stability programs for the cGMP API and drug product (DP) manufacturing campaigns.

Senior Director, Radiochemistry and Radiopharmaceutical Development

At Abdera Therapeutics, we are looking for curious and committed individuals who are ready for the opportunity to transform the way people living with cancer can be treated. We are relentless in our focus to offer new hope to families facing devastating diagnoses. We are in search of team members who work collaboratively with a diverse group of colleagues, respectfully engaging one another while collectively and inclusively tackling any challenges we may face. We are building an exciting and fast paced company passionate about discovering and developing tomorrow’s most innovative cancer therapies.




SILVER SPONSORS
Chinook Contract Research (CCR) is a small Canadian Contract Research Organization specializing in providing antimicrobial claims support to medical device developers and providing large animal field trial services for pharmaceutical manufacturers in the food animal production chain. Recently, much of this work has been focused on the development of several leading pain control products.



Apricell is a biotech startup with a world-class team of specialists to put individualized cancer care into practice. Apricell delivers the potential of hybrid 3D cell-cultured and in-silico models in individualized cancer therapy and opens multiplex opportunities for biologists all the way from basic research to pre-clinical applications. The hybrid solution of Apricell for a precise and faster decision on individualized cancer therapy is a revolutionary approach in the market of cancer treatment.

BRONZE SPONSORS
Post a Job on the LSBC Website!
LSBC Membership Discounts on Job Postings
 
As an LSBC member, your first five job postings EARNS a free repost on BioTalent Canada's The Petri Dish. After your first five posts, you will also receive 25% off all job postings on The Petri Dish. Want more info? Contact talent@lifesciencesbc.ca