May 22, 2025 - Hello BioLinks Readers!

This week:

• Acuitas Therapeutics and Partners Make Medical History
• Wendy Hurlburt is in Hong Kong
• China’s DeepSeek Biotech moment
• Submit your LSBC Awards Nominations by Tomorrow - In Earnest.
• Let’s Show Up at Web Summit Next Week Team BC!

The promise of personalized medicine and CRISPR gene-editing technology was realized when KJ, a baby born with genetic mutations in his liver received life-saving treatment. In a world-first, Acuitas Therapeutics with researchers and clinicians at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania made medical history by delivering the treatment to KJ, who responded well. 

Dr. Musunuru and Dr. Ahrens-Nicklas holding KJ post infusion Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Photo from TIME.

The rare disorder impairs the liver’s ability to eliminate ammonia from the blood, leading to severe consequences including brain damage, cognitive delays, and high infant mortality rates, with only about 50% surviving in early infancy. The life-saving gene therapy was developed, manufactured, and delivered in just six months — an unprecedented timeline in the field of gene-editing therapeutics.

This milestone underscores the transformative potential of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for precise, safe, and effective gene editing and exemplifies how focused, collaborative innovation can lead to breakthroughs with immediate, life-saving impact. Congratulations to Acuitas and its partners on this historic advancement in genetic medicine. Read more about Acuitas’ latest findings here.

“I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that this is the future of medicine,” says Dr. Kiran Musunuru, Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

LSBC’s President & CEO Wendy Hurlburt is in Hong Kong this week, joining a Canadian delegation organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council to explore regional opportunities. Wendy will attend and speak at the Asia Summit on Global Health, on a panel moderated by David Lau, Head of Healthcare Asia Pacific, Investment Banking, J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd.

Recently, China has been making headlines with its AI startup DeepSeek, which gained global popularity as a rival to ChatGPT. A combination of performance and lower cost helped DeepSeek's AI assistant become the most-downloaded free app on Apple's App Store when it was released in the US.

Not only has China become a contender in the AI space, but Chinese companies have been quietly making headway in pharmaceuticals as well. In September, a new lung cancer treatment developed by a small Chinese biotech Akeso is going head-to-head with one of the best-selling drugs in the world, Merck’s blockbuster Keytruda. Other notable deals in the region last year include AstraZeneca’s $1.92B licencing deal with HK-listed CSPC, and Merck’s deal for an oral weight-loss drug with China's Hansoh, valued up to $2B.

Tomorrow is the day. Last chance to get your nominations in for our 2025 LSBC Awards. The nomination portal will close at midnight on Friday, May 23 and no nominations will be accepted after! Nominate here.

Web Summit is next week! We’re excited to show the world what our life sciences sector is all about at the BC Pavillion on Thursday. Kicking off the week, we’ve partnered to bring an investor bus tour to learn about some of our most innovative companies including AbCellera, Gandeeva Therapeutics, and Kardium. Good luck to all participating and presenting companies, let’s show up. 

Member Highlights 

Zymeworks will present new preclinical data for ZW1528, a novel bispecific molecule designed to address respiratory inflammation, diversifying its pipeline of novel, multifunctional biotherapeutics to improve the standard of care for difficult-to-treat diseases. Read more.

The Terry Fox Research Institute highlights new research that could offer insights into why some prostate cancers are more aggressive and difficult to treat. Unlike traditional methods, which require an invasive tissue or bone biopsy of a cancerous region to study a tumour, a new method offers a non-invasive way to examine small fragments of tumour DNA from a standard blood draw. Read more.

ME Therapeutics Inc. will receive advisory services and up to $140,000 in funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP). Government programs such as IRAP are important for early-stage companies. ME Therapeutics will use the funding to advance preclinical studies for its mRNA therapeutic candidates that target key immune cell pathways. Read more.

Industry Highlights

Funded by Pacific Economic Development Canada and the Province of BC, the Integrated Marketplace program, delivered by Innovate BC, is investing $3.38 million in eight innovation projects. This initiative serves as a platform for BC tech companies to showcase and scale their innovations, one of the recipients being Simon Fraser University’s Big Data Hub. Read more.

Kudos

Congratulations to University of Northern British Columbia graduate student Jake Ostberg for receiving a scholarship award at the Keystone Symposia on Obesity and Adipose Tissue. Read more.

People on the Move

Digital welcomes Serena Nguyen as its new Chief Development Officer. Read more.

David Llewellyn joins Trailhead Biosystems as its new CEO and member of Board of Directors. After 14 years at STEMCELL Technologies, David is excited for his next chapter. Read more. 

Applications Open

Apply to Life Sciences BC's 2025-2026 Investor Readiness Program (IRP)! The program pairs early-stage SMEs with our entrepreneurs-in-residence, leading professionals with years of sector knowledge, for 6 months of mentorship and education. Submit your application by June 15, 2025. Learn more.

The deadline is extended for Lab2Market Validate, a 16-week program where researchers can critically test and refine their ideas in a real-world entrepreneurial setting. Gain hands-on experience, build valuable connections, and receive $10,000 in funding. The deadline for the Fall 2025 cohort is May 28, 2025. Learn more.

Applications open for CIHR’s Health System Impact (HSI) Fellowship, designed for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in health services and policy research or related fields. Conduct applied research within health system organizations to address real-world health system challenges. The deadline is July 3, 2025. Learn more.

Apply to Invention to Innovation (i2I) Program for its 2025 Fall Cohort. This program helps researchers and academics turn their scientific discoveries into real-world innovations. It provides entrepreneurship training for people in the science and research fields. Learn more.

Spain’s National Research Council, CSIC, seeks Canadian partners for Horizon Europe’s health project calls. Focus areas include genomics, environmental health, medical devices, AI for pandemics, infectious diseases, and mental health. Email programas.europeos@csic.es to present your pitch by June 11, 2025. Learn more and reach out to Canada’s National Contact Points (NCP).

Canadian companies are encouraged to apply to the Canadian bioproduction technologies R&D partnering delegation to France. This delegation gives opportunities for Canadian SMEs to develop co-innovation projects in bioproduction technologies with potential French partners. The deadline is June 15, 2025. Learn more.

See our expanded list of current life sciences opportunities on our website.

Until next week!

LSBC Team

May 26 - Join us for Innovation & Investment Insider Tours

The Innovation & Investment Insider Tours is a curated investor experience showcasing groundbreaking innovation in cleantech, life sciences, and creative tech. Connect with high-growth companies, industry leaders, and investors in a dynamic setting designed for meaningful conversation. The event will begin with transportation from downtown Vancouver to Surrey, the fastest-growing city in the Metro Vancouver region, for a networking lunch, followed by three sector-specific investment tours.

May 27-30 - Join us for Web Summit Vancouver

Web Summit Vancouver is one of the most anticipated global technology conferences, bringing together industry leaders, startups, investors, innovators. Attending this event offers companies unparalleled networking opportunities, access to cutting-edge insights, and exposure to potential business growth avenues.

NervGen Pharma to Present Topline Data for NVG-291 Phase 1b/2a Chronic Cohort Study at the American Spinal Injury Association Annual Scientific Meeting

NervGen Pharma Corp. announced that results from the chronic cohort of the ongoing Phase 1b/2a study of NVG-291 will be presented at the 52nd American Spinal Injury Association Annual Scientific Meeting...Read more.

ME Therapeutics Receives Support to Advance mRNA Therapeutic Candidates for Cancer and Inflammatory Disease

​ME Therapeutics Holdings Inc. announced ME Therapeutics Inc. is receiving advisory services and up to $140,000 in funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program...Read more.

Aon Launches New Health Price Transparency Analysis Offering Data-Driven Clarity for Optimizing Health Plan Spend

Aon plc announced the launch of the Health Price Transparency Analysis, a new analytics solution that enables U.S. employers to unlock actionable insights from publicly available healthcare pricing data...Read more.

Zymeworks Presents Preclinical Data on ZW1528 at the American Thoracic Society International Conference

Zymeworks Inc. announced new preclinical data for ZW1528, a novel IL-4Rα x IL-33 bispecific molecule designed to address respiratory inflammation presented at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference...Read more.

Acuitas Therapeutics Showcases Collaboration with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for Personalized CRISPR Therapy and New LNP Research at ASGCT 2025

Acuitas Therapeutics recently showcased its latest development work in next-generation LNP delivery vehicles at the 2025 American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT)...Read more.

IQVIA and SCRI Collaborate to Accelerate Global Oncology Trials

IQVIA has announced a strategic collaboration with the contract research organization arm of Sarah Cannon Research Institute aimed at transforming oncology trials for biopharma partners worldwide...Read more.

Discovery Offers New Insights to Understand and Treat Prostate Cancer

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientists have used a sequencing technique on blood samples from patients with advanced disease, revealing biological factors that may drive disease progression...Read more.

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