March 31st, 2023

Life Sciences BC seeks to raise the profile of our members and supporters, highlight their achievements, and promote BC's dynamic life sciences ecosystem. If you have news or a story to share, let us know.

Gandeeva and Moderna Enter into Cryo-EM Research Collaboration to Explore Protein Surface Structure at Atomic Resolution

Gandeeva Therapeutics, Inc., a precision medicine company focused on designing and developing novel therapeutics guided by cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and machine learning, announced the initiation of a research collaboration with Moderna Inc. to explore applications of Gandeeva’s differentiated technology platform for a Moderna program...READ MORE

2023 Canada Gairdner Awards Recognize World-Renowned Scientists for Transformative Contributions to Research Impacting Human Health

The Gairdner Foundation is pleased to announce the 2023 Canada Gairdner Award laureates, recognizing some of the world’s most significant biomedical and global health research and discoveries...READ MORE

NervGen Pharma Reports 2022 Year End Results and Provides Operational Update Including Plans to Initiate Phase 1b/2a Clinical Trial of Proprietary NVG-291 in Q3 2023

NervGen Pharma Corp., a clinical stage biotech company dedicated to developing innovative solutions for the treatment of nervous system damage, reported its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022 and provided an operational update, including details related to the Company’s enhanced cash position, research funding, and the ongoing development of NervGen’s proprietary compound, NVG-291. In preclinical studies, NVG-291 has been demonstrated to promote repair mechanisms in the nervous system, including axonal regeneration, remyelination and enhanced plasticity...READ MORE

Sustained Therapeutics Announces Second Phase II Trial of New Drug Platform

A Vancouver-based therapeutics company has begun a second Phase II trial of its novel long lasting non-opioid pain medication, with a specific focus on treating Chronic Scrotal Pain (CSP), a debilitating condition estimated to affect 1% of the male population. Sustained Therapeutics’ first sustained release drug candidate, ST-01, is designed to slowly release over about 28 days from a single injection. The initial Phase I trial in CSP showed that the treatment was feasible with encouraging signals of activity. This Phase II trial will explore the possibility of repeated treatments, and will compare the reduction in pain to Standard of Care for this condition...READ MORE

Biotech and Healthcare Skills Funding Welcomed in Budget 2023

The $197.7 million in the budget that has been allocated to Canada’s Student Work Placement Program (SWPP) in fiscal year 2024-25 will help particularly to stem a shortfall of 65,000 workers that are needed to sustain this country’s biotechnology and healthcare sectors. While the successful federal program has not been made permanent, its continuation will be pivotal to getting Canada’s small and medium-sized biotech employers the talent they require...READ MORE

Notch Therapeutics Promotes Chris Bond to Chief Scientific Officer

Notch Therapeutics, Inc. announce Dr. Chris Bond has been promoted to Chief Scientific Officer. With more than two decades’ experience in cell therapies, gene editing, and cell engineering—working with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Kite, Celgene, Juno Therapeutics, OncoMed, and Genentech—Dr. Bond joined Notch in January 2021. Over the past two years, in his role as Senior Vice President, Research and Early Development, he has led the team accelerating development of Notch’s iPSC-derived T cells...READ MORE

InMed Announces Conclusion of Patient Enrollment in Phase 2 Clinical Trial Investigating INM-755 Cannabinol Cream for Epidermolysis Bullosa

InMed Pharmaceuticals Inc., a leader in the pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing of rare cannabinoids and cannabinoid analogs, announced it has concluded enrollment of its Phase 2 clinical trial using investigational drug INM-755 cannabinol (“CBN”) cream for the treatment of patients with epidermolysis bullosa (“EB”), a rare genetic skin disease...READ MORE

adMare BioInnovations Launches the BioInnovation Scientist (BIS) Program: Foundations and Invites Early-Career Science Professionals to Apply to be Part of the Inaugural Cohort

The adMare Academy is proud to launch the BioInnovation Scientist (BIS) Program: Foundations. This online, cohort-based program will provide early-career scientists with fundamental knowledge in therapeutics development while simultaneously building their professional skills to succeed in the Canadian life sciences industry. This national program will bring trainees together as a cohort, enhancing participant experience and facilitating peer network building...READ MORE

The IHE Announces New CEO, Dr. Kate Harback

After an extensive search the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) Board of Directors has appointed Dr. Katherine (Kate) Harback as the new CEO and Executive Director for the IHE. Dr. Harback brings to the position significant applied economic expertise, not only in health, but in transportation and other industries with a high degree of public and private interface and broad impact on the economy. She has been serving as Interim CEO for the IHE over the past year...READ MORE

Numinus Launches the Practitioner Certification Pathway – a Complete Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Training Program

Numinus Wellness Inc., a mental health care company advancing innovative treatments and safe, evidence-based psychedelic-assisted therapies, announced that it has launched the Numinus Certification Pathway – a collection of psychedelic-assisted therapy (“PAT”) training courses uniquely selected to provide practitioners with complete PAT training, including an experiential component and practicum...READ MORE

COLUMVI (Glofitamab for Injection) Receives Health Canada Authorization with Conditions for Adult Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

Hoffmann-La Roche Limited (Roche Canada) announced that on March 24, 2023 Health Canada authorized COLUMVI (glofitamab for injection) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) not otherwise specified, DLBCL arising from follicular lymphoma (trFL), or primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL), who have received two or more lines of systemic therapy and are ineligible to receive or cannot receive CAR-T cell therapy or have previously received CAR-T cell therapy. COLUMVI has been issued marketing authorization with conditions, pending the results of trials to verify its clinical benefit...READ MORE

Health Canada Approves First Treatment Option for Generalized Pustular Psoriasis Flares in Adults

Health Canada has granted marketing authorization for SPEVIGO® (spesolimab for injection) for the treatment of flares in adult patients with generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP), Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. has announced. Spesolimab is a novel, selective antibody that blocks the activation of the interleukin-36 receptor (IL-36R), a signaling pathway within the immune system shown to be involved in the pathogenesis of GPP...READ MORE

Health Canada Authorizes IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) in a Fixed-Duration Combination with Venetoclax for Adult Patients with Previously Untreated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)

The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson announced that Health Canada has issued a Notice of Compliance authorizing the expanded use of IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) in a first all-oral, fixed-duration (FD) treatment combination with venetoclax (I+V) for adults with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia, including those with 17p deletion. This authorization is based on the pivotal Phase 3 GLOW study that demonstrated statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival in patients treated with I+V versus chlorambucil and obinutuzumab, and the FD cohort of the Phase 2 CAPTIVATE study, which showed deep and durable responses in patients treated with I+V...READ MORE

Internship Program Empowers Canada’s Next Generation of Bio-Economy Workers

BioTalent Canada celebrates the National Day of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL), by releasing the impacts of their student work experiences – through the Student Work Placement Program (SWPP). The Program continues to empower the next generation of bio-economy workers. Since 2017, BioTalent Canada’s project under the SWPP has successfully placed more than 11,000 students with work placements at leading biotechnology organizations across Canada, including more than 3,000 students since April 2022...READ MORE

Scientist, Preclinical Pharmacology

Abdera Therapeutics is seeking a Scientist, Preclinical Pharmacology to work full-time on site. PhD in Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Oncology, Toxicology or a related discipline with a minimum of 2 to 5 years relevant experience or an equivalent combination of industry experience in preclinical drug discovery and development.



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Director/VP Manufacturing

Qu Biologics is seeking a Director/VP of Manufacturing to work full-time at the Burnaby site. The successful candidate will play an essential role in creating documentation and maintaining compliance consistent with GLP and cGMP standards for pre-clinical, early and late-stage clinical development, including pre-IND/CTA meetings from early stage through Phase 3 clinical development and support regulatory submissions.

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Research Associate II, Analytics (Mass Spectrometry)

Zymeworks is seeking a Research Associate II with expertise in analytical chromatography and mass spectrometry to join the Analytics group within the ADC Therapeutic Development department. The Analytics group is responsible for biophysical characterization of antibodies, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) and/or other therapeutic proteins.





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Based in Burnaby, UniQ focuses on providing innovative immunoassay solutions for various challenges in rapid testing. With their Flow technology, UniQ is working to bring the next-generation rapid tests to life.

Using their unique technology platform, UniQ's testing products are designed to incorporate their four design goals of Innovation, Accuracy, Speed, and Affordability.

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Incisive Genetics Inc. (IG) is a Canadian biotech firm that is focused on developing its innovative Incisive Delivery System™ lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery platform for genetic therapies. We believe the proprietary Incisive Delivery System™ provides a solution to the most critical challenge to effective CRISPR-based gene therapy - the effective and safe delivery of active gene editing machinery into in vivo target tissues.

Incisive Genetics has secured the exclusive worldwide license from the University of British Columbia to the foundational Incisive Delivery System™ technology and continues to build out its intellectual property and patent portfolio through additional research and development. Currently, Incisive Genetics is focused on continued development of the Incisive Delivery System™, a platform for the delivery of therapeutic gene editing cargos.

Incisive Genetics has undertaken key research activities to support the pre-clinical development of the Incisive Delivery System™, achieving significant proof of concept data for effective in vivo gene editing. We are actively using our platform to develop strategies for multiple disease indications, as well as creating new product modifications.

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