Friday | November 4 2022

CEO MESSAGE


It has been an exciting week at LSBC, having held our signature Invest in BC Presented by Lumira Ventures event. This dynamic two-day pitch event showcased the incredible healthcare innovation going on in our province, with 28 companies participating. As BC continues to secure its place on the global life sciences stage, watching our emerging companies take their next steps is like watching history in the making. Thank you to all our supporters for helping to make this event happen!

 

Keep an eye out early next week for the employer-focused survey we are sending to life sciences companies with employees in BC as part of our Labour Market Intelligence Study of BC's life sciences sector. Your company input is vital!

 

Member News

 

Applications for the Michael Smith Health Research BC 2023 Scholar Program and Research Trainee Program competitions open on November 9th. Join their webinars on November 15th and 16th to learn how to optimize your application. Learn more here.


The Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has released its Future of Healthtech 2022 report, finding that the healthcare sector remains ripe for innovation. Get the report here

 

Industry News

 

British Columbia’s Health Technology Assessment Committee (HTAC) has initiated its annual Call for Topics for 2023/2024 as part of the BC Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process.

 

HTAC’s mandate is to assess medical technologies, including procedures, devices, and/or equipment involved in the maintenance, restoration, and/or promotion of health that is expected to have a significant patient and/or health system impact. This includes technologies used at any stage of care, including risk detection and disease prevention, early detection of disease, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.

 

Examples of past topics include:



1.    Deep Brain Stimulation for Advanced Parkinson’s Disease

2.    Offloading Devices for Diabetic Foot Ulcers

3.    A stepped model of Care for Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder

 

LSBC members are invited to nominate topics that may be of interest for consideration in BC. Please keep in mind that nominated technologies must be: 1) mature technologies that have a robust evidence base (RCTs and systematic reviews preferable), and 2) licensed by Health Canada. 

 

If you are aware of any such health technologies that are not in widespread use in BC but should be, please complete the BC HTA Nomination Form and forward it to HTA.Office@gov.bc.ca by November 18th. HTAC’s prioritization criteria will help you tailor the information to provide in your nomination. For further information on the BC HTA process and HTAC, click here

 

In other industry news, The Canadian Venture Capital Association has released its Market Overview for H1 2022, which suggests that while the number of life sciences VC deals increased in Q2 of 2022, there was a drop in dollars invested. However, the sector is on track to exceed 2020 levels by the end of the year. See the full report.


Finally, the Ontario government has launched a $15 million Life Sciences Innovation Fund to help life sciences entrepreneurs and innovators bring their ideas and prototypes from the lab to the marketplace. Learn more.

 

Kudos

 

Congratulations to Acuitas Therapeutics, who recently received the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade‘s 2022 Business Distinction Award for Business Growth over $5M in revenue. See the full list of winners here.

 

Congratulations to our member companies recognized by the journal Science in their Top Twenty Employers 2022 list, celebrating the best life sciences companies from the employee’s perspective. Learn more about the survey and see the complete list of employers here.

 

It was wonderful to see so many of our members recognized for their excellent work by the Galien Foundation at their recent Prix Galien Awards Gala. See the list of winners here.

 

People on the Move

 

Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals has appointed Paul Brennan to the role of Chief Business Officer. After 30 years at Merck, Kenneth C. Frazier will retire on November 30th, and CEO and President Robert M. Davis will succeed him as Chairman, effective Dec. 1. Variational AI welcomes Jennifer Hamilton, Ph.D. as a company advisor. Lykke Hinsch Gylvin, MD, EMBA has been appointed Head of Medicine and Chief Medical Officer, at Boehringer Ingelheim. Nimbus Synergies welcomes Mathew Merritt as their new Director of Finance, taking over for Alfred Sequeira who will retire early next year. And Fiona Marshall joins the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research as President and new ECN member on November 1st.

 

A reminder to register for our upcoming events, including the Blakes Breakfast Speaking Series: Cell and Gene Therapy on November 16th and our next Showcase Series: Kelowna event featuring innovation in the Okanagan area on November 22nd. We hope to see you there!

 

Until next week,

Wendy and the LSBC team

 

PLATINUM SPONSORS

Sonic Incytes Announces Clinical Trial Data Comparing Velacur™️ and FibroScan®

Sonic Incytes Medical Corp. is pleased to announce clinical data from a prospective multi-center study comparing the effectiveness of Velacur™️ and FibroScan® in measuring liver fibrosis and fat in patients with suspected NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) and NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis)…READ MORE

Bausch Health Sign LOI with the Pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance for Acne Vulgaris Medication 

Bausch Health, Canada is pleased to announce that on August 29, 2022, it signed a letter of intent (LOI) with the Pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) for Arazlo (tazarotene) indicated for the topical treatment of acne vulgaris in patients 10 years of age and older...READ MORE

AbCellera’s First Program with Regeneron in Multi-Target Collaboration Advances in Preclinical Development  

AbCellera announced that Regeneron has elected to exercise its right to advance a therapeutic antibody candidate, discovered in partnership with AbCellera as part of a multi-target collaboration between the companies, into further preclinical development. The partnership, which commenced in March 2020 and allows for four discovery programs selected by Regeneron, leverages AbCellera’s antibody discovery engine and Regeneron’s VelocImmune® mice to identify novel therapeutic antibodies...READ MORE

Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Appoints Chief Business Officer  

Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Eupraxia” or the “Company”) (TSX: EPRX), a Phase 2 clinical-stage biotechnology company with an innovative drug delivery technology platform, announced that it has appointed Paul Brennan to the role of Chief Business Officer (“CBO”). Mr. Brennan will work closely with the executive management team to secure partnership opportunities to help advance the Company’s pipeline of drug candidates...READ MORE

AbbVie Announces Submissions of Regulatory Applications for Epcoritamab for the Treatment of Relapsed/Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma and Large B-Cell Lymphoma 

AbbVie announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has validated a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for epcoritamab (DuoBody®-CD3xCD20), an investigational subcutaneous bispecific antibody, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) after two or more lines of systemic therapy...READ MORE

Bioboost Synbio Secure Key Patent in the United States

Bioboost Synbio Inc. received their Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to secure their first patent in the USA. Bioboost is a synthetic biology company with a patented biosynthesis platform that is scalable, cost effective, and sustainable to produce high value biologics...READ MORE

Tezspire (tezepelumab injection) now Available in Canada for Severe Asthma

AstraZeneca and Amgen announced the Canadian availability of Tezspire™ (tezepelumab injection), indicated for the add-on maintenance treatment of adults and adolescents 12 years and older with severe asthma.Tezspire was approved based on results from the PATHWAY Phase llb trial and NAVIGATOR Phase III trial in which Tezspire demonstrated significant improvements across every primary and key secondary endpoint in patients with severe asthma...READ MORE

Positive Topline Phase III Results Show Roche’s Vabysmo Improved vision for People Living With Retinal Vein Occlusion (RVO)

Roche announced positive topline results from two global phase III studies, BALATON and COMINO, evaluating the first and only bispecific antibody for the eye, Vabysmo® (faricimab), in macular edema due to branch and central retinal vein occlusion (BRVO and CRVO).1,2,3 RVO is a vision-threatening condition that impacts 28 million people globally...READ MORE

Canadians Encouraged to Live “In Range” to Better Manage their Diabetes

Soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became increasingly evident that necessary infection control measures also had unintended consequences for Canadians living with diabetes.1 Despite the best efforts of healthcare providers, the resulting interruptions in access to comprehensive diabetes care – including regular appointments with their healthcare providers for education, medication review and renewals, prevention, and management of complications – are known to lead to morbidity and mortality...READ MORE

INDUSTRY NEWS

Ontario Launches $15 Million Life Sciences Innovation Fund

The Ontario government has launched a $15 million Life Sciences Innovation Fund to help life sciences entrepreneurs and innovators bring their ideas and prototypes from the lab to the marketplace. This new, early-stage fund is an important tool in the province’s Life Sciences Strategy, Taking Life Sciences to the Next Level, that will increase Ontario’s competitiveness and help companies advance made-in-Ontario solutions…READ MORE

The Galien Foundation Honors 2022 Prix Galien Award Recipients

The Prix Galien USA Committee honored excellence and innovation in life sciences during the Prix Galien USA Forum and 16th annual Prix Galien Awards Gala last night at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The USA Committee, composed of 10 renowned leaders from the biomedical industry and academia, including two Nobel Laureates, honored winners in six categories…READ MORE

GOLD SPONSORS

Sr Manager CMC Project Management



Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a publicly owned novel pharmaceutical company based in Victoria, British Columbia. A drug delivery company that focusses on delivering the right therapeutics to the right area in the right dose to improve patient lives.


The CMC Project Manager provides project management support to product development across CMC functions and departments enabling the project delivery in line with time, financial and quality requirements. The incumbent has diverse life-cycle project experience and good knowledge of concepts and procedures outside of project management.





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National Sales Manager




Response Biomedical Corp. has been transforming acute care diagnostic testing, with the central focus on improving patient outcomes and healthcare reform for over 20 years.


Response Biomedical is seeking a motivated, dynamic, solutions-focused, and creative individual to join our Sales & Marketing team. This position is responsible for growing sales in different provinces of Canada. Working collaboratively with the Sales team, the position is accountable for building relationship with the Health Services Authorities, for the acquisition of new customers and increasing sales to their current customer base.






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Research Scientist, Chemistry




Xenon Pharmaceuticals are seeking a Research Scientist, Chemistry (16 month contract) to join our Chemistry team. The Research Scientist/Research Associate, Chemistry will contribute to Xenon’s drug discovery programs by applying synthetic and medicinal chemistry skills. This individual possesses the ability to plan and execute challenging targets and is familiar with novel discovery technologies. This individual has a keen interest in hypothesis driven drug discovery, has strong problem-solving skills, and is able to work in a team environment by engaging with cross-functional Scientists.







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SILVER SPONSORS
New Member Welcome

PharmAla Biotech is North America’s only manufacturer of GMP MDMA, in service to the scientific research community, and a leading researcher of novel MDXX molecules.

















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Member Spotlight

Zymeworks Inc. is a publicly listed (NYSE: ZYME), clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of next-generation multifunctional biotherapeutics, initially focused on the treatment of cancer.















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BRONZE SPONSORS
Post a Job on the LSBC Website!

LSBC Membership Discounts on Job Postings

 

As an LSBC member, your first five job postings EARN 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.

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