If you’re looking for IP advice, LSBC member and bronze sponsor, Gowling WLG LLB, has an informative op-ed written by partner, Brian Kingwell in Business in Vancouver this week. This is also the subject of an upcoming LSBC webinar—From Discovery to Market: The Role of IP Strategy in Drug Development—on October 20th, sponsored by Gowling. Kingwell joins Isabelle Riedl, Senior Supervisor, Intellectual Property, at Medicago and Sonia Ziesche, who is a Principal, Patent Agent with Gowling WLG.  

After the Awards, our next big signature event is Invest in BC, presented by Lumira Ventures (tickets available here). Held over two days, November 3 and 4, the event is already attracting significant attention from companies keen to explore investment potential within the BC life sciences sector. Even before the list of companies pitching has been announced, we’ve had expressions of interest from more than 30 investors around the world and support from an impressive array of sponsors. BC is certainly open for business!

After giving my wish list to the new federal government via Business in Vancouver last week, I’m excited to note that support for businesses in BC is in the news this week. Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation Minister Ravi Kahlon and MLA Brenda Bailey, parliamentary secretary for Technology and Innovation, made an announcement about jobs in the technology sector. This followed an announcement earlier in the week from Invest Vancouver launched by Metro Vancouver, and described as laying the foundation for regional prosperity, Invest Vancouver is an economic development leadership service that seeks to amplify economic opportunity and prosperity in the region. 

Congratulations to AbCellera CEO, Carl Hansen, winner of the 2021 Bloom Burton Award!

I am also very pleased to send congratulations to LSBC member, Ondine Biomedical on receiving an Innovation Award of Excellence at the 2021 International Consortium for Prevention and Infection Control (ICPIC) conference in Geneva last week. Ondine presented two in vitro research studies on the effectiveness of its nasal photodisinfection technology, Steriwave™, against major SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the dominant Delta variant. These are backed up by in vivo uses in industrial settings reported by third parties, which demonstrate safety as well as efficacy.

Congratulations also to UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Drs. Teresa Liu-Ambrose, Gina Ogilvie and Anita Palepu, elected to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) for 2021. And also, a shoutout to LSBC member, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) Executive Director, Dr. David Granville who joins the Top 40 Advisory Board for Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

Congratulations also to incoming University of Victoria president, Kevin Hall. I attended his investiture and territory welcome this Tuesday, and conveyed our Life Sciences BC welcome to Dr. Hall, the eighth president and vice-chancellor at UVic.

And lastly, a shout out to our Manager of Events, Tim Hennessy who helped steer us through the complex world of virtual events this year. He’s now moving on to another position; we wish him well and thank him for his clear head and calmness as we navigated a new world. If you know our next Events Manager, please send them to the posting on our Job Board.

-Wendy Hurlburt

The IHE Life Sciences Market Access Program supports Alberta and British Columbia-based life sciences companies with promising, market-ready healthcare technology that are currently seeking market access in Canada or beyond. With funding support from the Federal Government, the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) is pleased to release a Call for Expressions of Interest from organizations that would like to participate in a project intended to strengthen their market access opportunity. READ MORE

Further information and submissions: innovation@ihe.ca 

What could your organization achieve with up to $7,500 in wage subsidies? The Student Work Placement Program (SWPP) is an initiative to increase the job-readiness of students registered in STEM, healthcare, business, and all other programs at Canadian post-secondary institutions. READ MORE

Acuitas Therapeutics received the Global Impact Award at the 23rd Annual Life Sciences BC Awards, presented by FARRIS on September 23. The award, which is new this year, recognizes the Acuitas team for the extraordinary leadership and efforts they made in the development of COVID-19 vaccines. READ MORE

Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd., together with its subsidiaries and SignalChem Lifesciences Corporation today announced that Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd subsidiary company Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and SignalChem Lifesciences Corporation have entered into an exclusive collaboration and licensing agreement for the clinical development and commercialization of SLC-391, a potent and selective AXL targeting inhibitor, in the Greater China region. READ MORE

If you need to work with experts in a new field or identify rising stars, Baehl Innovation can help. Our team has years of experience in identifying experts and will work closely with you to establish criteria specific to your new therapeutics. We have a vast network and are very well connected to several hundred clinicians and market experts across North America, Europe and the UK, including co-authors of last consensus, board members of Task Force groups and also those in key positions in International and European societies. READ MORE

Molecular Forecaster Inc. is excited to announce it has secured funding to further develop its structure-based drug-design software, offer its research services, and expand into new niche drug targets. The funding supports optimization of the company’s proprietary algorithms and will enable MFI and its partners to accelerate the design of small molecule hits against biological targets related to various diseases, including G Protein-Coupled Receptors, metalloenzymes, transcription factors, and nucleic acids. READ MORE

NervGen Pharma Corp., a clinical stage biotech company dedicated to developing innovative solutions for the treatment of nervous system damage today announced a partnership with Imeka Solutions Inc., currently the only neuroimaging company that combines artificial intelligence and diffusion imaging to obtain high resolution images of white matter in the brain. NervGen intends to utilize Imeka’s imaging technology as a sensitive pharmacodynamic biomarker for its lead compound, NVG-291, in its Phase 1b/2 clinical trials. READ MORE

Metro Vancouver is laying the foundation for regional prosperity with the launch of Invest Vancouver — an economic development leadership service with the goal of amplifying economic opportunity and prosperity for all the residents of the region. READ MORE

Find out more about the collaborative, funded research opportunity with Baxter, a Fortune 500 healthcare & medical device company that develops products to treat kidney disease, hemophilia, immune disorders, and other chronic & acute conditions – with headquarters in the Chicago region. Baxter is working with Halo, a platform that connects scientists directly with companies seeking specific research & technical collaborations. READ MORE