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4 LifeSciences/2010 BIV Magazines

Features11 B.C. and Canada nurture life sciences14 Province’s life sciences go global18 Pathways to clean energy20 Health care goes wireless22 Students into scientists25 Stars of B.C.’s life sciences30 Translational research points to profit

Departments6 President’s report34 Year in review37 List: Biggest biotech companies in B.C.38 LifeSciences British Columbia corporate members43 LifeSciences British Columbia Awards46 In memoriam: Don Rix

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About LifeSciences British ColumbiaGrowing Canada’s bioeconomy

LifeSciences British Columbia (LSBC)

represents B.C.’s life sciences through

leadership, promotion of B.C.’s world-

class science and industry, raising of the

industry’s international profile, facilitation

of investment and global partnering, ad-

vocacy and public-policy initiatives, and

nurturing of B.C.’s economic development.

Marketing and promotion

Among LSBC’s activities:

co-ordination of a strategic B.C. presence

at international life-science conferences;

annual LifeSciences BC Awards, given to

individuals and companies;

a robust website serving as a portal to all

things life-science in B.C.; and

“Biolinks,” a monthly electronic news-

letter going to more than 6,000 global

contacts.

Investment and partnering

LSBC’s efforts include:

online directory of companies, research

institutions and technologies;

regular targeted partnering days in-

volving top-tier multinationals;

annual co-production of BioPartnering

North America, the continent’s largest

stand-alone biopharma partnering event;

Life Sciences Ambassador Programme,

stationing a seasoned LSBC executive in

Europe to support international business

development and connect to fellow am-

bassadors world-wide;

hosting of additional international

conferences in B.C. such as the 2008

BIO Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial

Biotechnology & Bioenergy; and

regular hosting of incoming business

and research delegations from abroad.

Advocacy and public policy

LSBC ensures that life science is a priority

for every level of government. Activities:

development of position paper “Building

World-Class Biotech Businesses in BC”;

formal submissions to key consultations;

service on the PharmaCare Task Force;

work with the provincial government to

enhance federal intellectual property (IP)

and data protection; and

introduction of policy changes to pro-

vide tax savings to companies deriving

income from life-science patents.

Human capital

LSBC’s efforts:

LSBC’s “BC Excels” mentorship program,

helping executives from emerging com-

panies with professional development,

product plans and strategies for com-

mercialization and IP protection;

Breakfast Speaking Series, featuring in-

dustry leaders and local companies;

Medical Device and BioProducts and

BioEnergy Seminar Series;

delivery of “Biotech 101 – Biotechnology

and Beyond,” a course introducing non-

scientists to the life-science industry; and

delivery of the Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent

Challenge, a high-school competition.



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President’s reportKarimah Es Sabar

LifeSciences British Columbia

From biopharmaceuticals and medical

devices to bioproducts and bioenergy,

from forest biotech to agricultural

and marine, life sciences play a crucial role

in British Columbia. LifeSciences British

Columbia (LSBC) is here to catapult the

province into global leadership by ensuring

that no life-science sector works in isola-

tion – that all sectors come together in a

comprehensive, co-ordinated fashion.

Through challenging economic times,

B.C.’s life-science industry has continued

to witness successes, examples of which

you will encounter throughout this pub-

lication. And it is during tough times that

strong industry associations are perhaps

more important than ever. LSBC has

therefore focused foremost on business

development, actively helping members

reach their varying goals.

At LSBC, we support such goals through

our strategic initiatives, projects and activ-

ities. Be it raising the industry’s profile via

a co-ordinated presence at international

events, nurturing human capital through

our “BC Excels” mentorship program or the

Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge or facili-

tating investment and partnering through

our BioPartnering North America confer-

ence or our Life Sciences Ambassador

Programme, we turn the environment into

an enabling one.

We would not be able to do any of this

without sustained support from all our

generous members, sponsors and part-

ners. This year in particular, we thank all

members and sponsors who continue to

support LSBC financially despite turbulent

economic times. Such support allows us

to continue bringing everyone involved

in life sciences to the same table: our

universities and Centres of Excellence for

Commercialization and Research, our gov-

ernments and our companies and service

providers. This coming-together has given

B.C. a unique competitive advantage and

allowed us to leapfrog over other loca-

tions and bring the world’s attention here.

Local, national and even international

bodies now consult us on a variety of

issues related to science, technology, re-

search and innovation, because they see

B.C. as a model of success. These consul-

tations and international collaborations

help us ensure that B.C. life sciences have

a credible united voice at the most im-

portant tables. We are not only committed

to the development of our own local

industry; we’re also deeply interested in

the impact of science and technology on

human lives globally.

In this context, we work with many

of our research-support organizations –

the Centre for Drug Research and

Development, Genome British Columbia,

the Michael Smith Foundation for Health

Research, the National Research Council,

Western Economic Diversification Canada,

the Natural Sciences and Engineering

Research Council of Canada and others –

to align industry research more fully and

explore the expanded roles these organiz-

ations might play in supprting companies.

At a time of limited resources, it is critical

for us fully to leverage the collective

resources of industry, research and gov-

ernment, fostering commercialization at

every level and opportunity.

Commercialization cannot happen

without partners, and in biopharmaceut-

icals, partnerships are often global. At

LSBC, we spend much time and energy

working with partners to bring inter-

national investment to our province. These

efforts have borne fruit, with companies

like Merck, Pfizer and AstraZeneca making

new investments not only in our com-

panies but also in our public research

institutions, further fuelling the discovery

engine that powers our industry. I thank

these companies for being such great

partners for LSBC and our province. They

are critical and much-valued members of

our community.

Opportunities in life sciences far out-

stretch the area of human health alone.

By estimate, the current Canadian bio-

refinery plans will create 14,000 jobs and

generate 1.5–2.0 billion in new investment

in Canada and roughly 600 million in

annual economic activity. We are working

to bring a significant proportion of these

jobs and economic growth to B.C. as we

are naturally positioned to lead the world

in bioproducts and bioenergy. We cap-

italize on our large available supply of bio-

mass coupled with our leading research

expertise and our ability to translate

research into commercial opportunity.

We recognize the challenges that life

sciences have faced over the last year in

particular. We expect to encounter addi-

tional obstacles along the road ahead. I

remind you, though, that our mandate

is to do whatever we can to support our

members, the industry, the community

and our partners, be they across the street

or on the other side of the globe. Working

together, we will have the vision not only

to minimize the impact of an unpredict-

able economic climate, but moreover to

emerge a stronger, wiser and even more

successful industry that continues to bring

cutting-edge solutions to the challenges

of humankind.

Thank you all – our friends and partners.


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British Columbia’s magicProvincial and federal investment nurtures life sciences

Peter Mitham

Adecade ago, the flight of high tech

to the United States was a common

theme as acquisition-minded

American companies snapped up Canadian

firms or as more favourable tax regimes

made relocation necessary for growth.

Today the picture is different. Among

the 17 federally funded Centres of Excellence

for Commercialization of Research (CECRs),

five are headquartered in British Columbia,

representing a commitment of $66.4 million

in the province. Of these, three are affiliated

with the University of British Columbia: the

Centre for Drug Research and Development;

the Prostate Centre’s Translational Research

Initiative for Accelerated Discovery and

Development; and the Centre of Excellence

for the Prevention of Organ Failure. The

fourth, Advanced Applied Physics Solutions

Inc., is a spinoff of TRIUMF, the nuclear

physics research facility at UBC, while the

fifth is Oceans Network Canada Centre for

Enterprise and Engagement. Yet a sixth

CECR, the Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise,

operates in various locations nationwide,

with the BC Centre for Disease Control

acting as its Vancouver participant. (For

coverage of the CECRs, see page 30.)

With international deals such as the

recent US $430-million commercialization

agreement between B.C.’s OncoGenex

Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Israel’s Teva

Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the sector

is seeing robust activity.

At UBC, president Stephen Toope says

the change has come in part from the

university’s shift away from being a direct

financial beneficiary of innovation to

serving the community and developing

relationships through its research.

“We are simply part of an innovation

ecosystem, and we need simply to de-

velop partnerships and relationships that

are continuing,” he says.

The approach is fundamental to the

cash-driven world of life-sciences research,

where connections are as important to

success as are the creative applications

of discoveries. It has paid off, garnering

UBC more than $285 million in external

research funding for life sciences and

placing B.C. among the country’s top

areas for life-science research, with more

funding available here per researcher than

anywhere else.

According to Toope, the funding

supports “the whole gamut of research

related to every living organism,” covering

the poplar genome to treatments for

visceral leishmaniasis, the Dumdum fever

that’s the world’s deadliest parasitic dis-

ease after malaria.

This breadth of research is owing to a

network of strong institutions including

universities, hospitals, agencies such as the

BC Cancer Agency and Genome British

Columbia and a local quality of life

attractive to international researchers.

Toope notes that B.C. offers “a very

strong cluster of existing strengths both

in … people and in … investment made

by public sources through research grants

etc.,” combined with “a business structure

that’s overall friendly to investment” and

“a wonderful quality of life in Vancouver.”

He says, “You put that together, and I

think you’ve got the capacity here to

attract outstanding people to get great

work done, and you’ve got a vision on the

world through places like UBC.”

A network of University-Industry

Liaison Offices (UILOs) also plays a critical

role in the province’s dynamic life sciences,

according to Michael Stevenson, president

LEFT: University of British

Columbia president Stephen

Toope sees research in

life sciences as serving

the community, while the

university also benefits from

commercialization

BELOW: Research occurring at

the Life Sciences Centre and

elsewhere at UBC garners

more than $285 million in

external funding annually



of Simon Fraser University, whose main

campus is in Burnaby.

The UILOs were originally established by

Patrick McGeer, a UBC health scientist who

was a minister in B.C.’s Social Credit govern-

ment from 1975 to 1986 and spearheaded a

number of projects to foster innovation in

life sciences. The liaison offices in particular

were designed to link university faculty

with angel investors and facilitate commer-

cialization of university research.

Since then, a number of incentives

designed to boost B.C.’s life-science com-

panies have joined such early initiatives.

These include venture tax credits that

facilitate investment in local businesses

and the federal Scientific Research and

Economic Development tax credits, which

provide companies with rebates for invest-

ments in tech development.

Stevenson acknowledges that growing

companies sometimes come up against a

limited capacity in Canada for financing at

later stages. He doesn’t expect the search

for cash to become easier as the lingering

effects of the 2009 recession prompt

universities and other institutions to pare

budgets. (SFU alone will cut $9 million in

2010 and possibly more in 2011.)

“I think everybody hopes that we can

create incentives and a policy en-

vironment that will grow fairly sig-

nificant business enterprise in the life

sciences,” he says.

Where there’s space,

there’s action

Keen researchers and skilled lab

staff also drive innovation, and

the University of Victoria features

Western Canada’s largest co-op edu-

cation program.

“More than half the students in

our faculty of science are engaged in

the life sciences in some way,” says David

Turpin, UVic president. “Those students are

able to move out and transfer knowledge

to the private sector through their co-op

placements.”

Many of the students turn these

placements into full-time positions upon

graduation.

Victoria also offers space to tech

companies through the Vancouver Island

Technology Park (VITP), a 191,000-square-

foot facility through which the university

boasts more technology transfer space

than any other research institution in the

province, providing a focus for high-tech

business development in the region.

VITP’s intention: to increase the current

site with 235,000 square feet of new tech

space and 15,000 more for complementary

retail and amenities.

The expansion will strengthen the

park’s position as a hub for high-tech busi-

ness, already home to GenoLogics Life

Sciences Software Inc., Vifor Pharma (for-

merly Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corp.) and

the UVic Genome BC Proteomics Centre.

Creating space for companies is

likewise important at the University

of Northern British Columbia, where

president George Iwama is overseeing ef-

forts to revamp the industry liaison office

and tout UNBC’s ability to provide research

capacity and connections in northern

B.C., especially in forestry, to companies

seeking to locate in the province. A new

downtown campus in Prince George

promises to facilitate links with business.

“We’re expanding our campus into

the downtown area to engage with the

chamber of commerce and the business-

development agencies,” says Iwama. “We

are, front and centre, a very research-active

small university, whether you’re looking

at the medical and cancer frontier [or the]

outdoor. We’re quite active from the mo-

lecular to the population level.”

LEFT: Western Canada’s largest co-op

program for student placement is a

valuable link between university and

industry, says David Turpin, University

of Victoria president

BELOW, LEFT: Proteomics – the study of

proteins – is one of the bright lights of

Victoria’s life sciences, with a dedicated

UVic lab

ABOVE: George Iwama,

president and vice-

chancellor of the

University of Northern

British Columbia:

connecting research to

business

LEFT: UNBC’s Canfor Winter

Garden

Bottom photos: University of Northern British Columbia


EFMD


www.business.sfu.ca/mot


Reaching around the worldBritish Columbia’s life-science players find global partners

Andrew Topf

In life sciences, geographical borders

blur as researchers, institutions and

companies collaborate with international

partners pursuing common goals.

Karimah Es Sabar, president of

LifeSciences British Columbia (LSBC), says

facilitation of international linkages is a

critical mandate for the organization. LSBC

strives to make “the rest of the world”

aware “that B.C. is indeed a leading life-sci-

ence centre with truly world-class research

and companies and a proven track record

of commercial success. Secondly,” she says,

“we work directly with top-tier partners,

introducing them to the many specific op-

portunities that exist in B.C., and really make

certain that they connect with one another.”

One approach: Teams from global

companies visit British Columbia for one

to two dedicated “partnering days” of

meetings. “Through this kind of hands-on

facilitation, we have seen a number of

deals come about, and our companies

have been further enabled toward com-

mercial success,” says Es Sabar.

Another: With the Technology

Vision Group, LSBC co-produces the

BioPartnering North America (BPN) con-

ference, occurring in Vancouver each

February with approximately 1,000 dele-

gates representing about 500 companies

from more than 25 countries.

Now North America’s largest stand-

alone biotech-partnering event and one

of the world’s leading ones, BPN intro-

duces B.C. to leading partners and has

helped facilitate well over $100-million

worth of partnerships, asserts Es Sabar.

This year’s BPN, held January 24–26,

featured over 2,200 face-to-face meetings,

according to conference co-producer TVG.

According to Michael Barr, director of

business development at Critical Outcome

Technologies Inc. (COTI), BPN “fosters

meaningful collaboration discussions and

provides [an] opportunity to identify and

meet with a number of individuals or or-

ganizations” that may not arise otherwise.

Case in point: an initial meeting at BPN

2008 between Ontario-based COTI and

Arizona company TD2 led to COTI’s having

TD2 complete a series of experiments on

COTI-2, its lead oncology-drug candidate.

This relationship expanded into a formal

partnership in January 2010, when COTI

announced TD2 as its partner of choice for

drug development.

Scandinavian style

The Medicon Valley Alliance (MVA) com-

prises the Danish and Swedish life-science

cluster. It began in 2006 as a bridge to

counterpart clusters world-wide.

Says Morten Faester, the life-sciences

ambassador currently in Vancouver to

help cultivate relationships between B.C.

and Medicon Valley, “It’s about creating

collaborations in the life-sciences environ-

ment, whether business to business,” as

among biotechnological, pharmaceutical

or medical-technological companies; or

in academic institutions “such as hospitals,

Pierre Meulien, chief scientific officer of Genome BC: spearheading efforts to study

the genomics of yeast in fermentation and heading up a large project with Norway

and Chile to sequence the genome of Atlantic salmon (opposite)

Photo: Dominic Schaefer



universities or science parks.”

Only on the job since fall 2009, Faester

has already identified more than a dozen

leads that could result in partnerships in

biopharmaceuticals, medical devices and

bioproducts. Novo Ventures, a Danish

venture-capital fund, has invested in two

B.C. biotechs: Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

and Zymeworks Inc.

While the importance of B.C. as a region

for life science has sometimes been over-

looked as compared to that of American

hubs such as Silicon Valley and the Boston

area, Faester says this is starting to change

through the work of institutions like the BC

Cancer Agency and its spinoff company

OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc., which he

describes as a “gold mine.”

The MVA fosters academic partner-

ships too. Robert Sindelar, dean of the

faculty of pharmaceutical sciences at the

University of British Columbia, recognizes

the presence of Søren Harbel, B.C. life-

sciences ambassador in Medicon Valley,

as integral to the establishment of dia-

logue between UBC and the University

of Copenhagen.

Sindelar is excited about “synergies”

in “student learning, research” and the

possible prospect of sharing “faculty

members in … macromolecular drug

delivery.” The Medicon Valley Ambassador

Programme has allowed these inter-

changes to move “much more quickly”

than they would otherwise.

From AIDS testing to ayurvedics

B.C.’s demographic ties to India provide

fertile ground for collaboration. The BC

Premier’s Mission to India in 2008, which

included representation from prominent

Indo-Canadians such as former MP Herb

Dhaliwal, saw an important memorandum

of understanding signed between Simon

Fraser University and the International

Centre for Genetic Engineering and

Biotechnology in New Delhi.

Led by Fiona Brinkman, head of the

Brinkman Laboratory at SFU, this effort

has the goal of improving computational

methods of identifying new drug targets

and vaccines that play essential roles

during infections. (A drug target is what

the drug is trying to inhibit, for example

an enzyme.)

Other SFU-India projects: the develop-

ment of hand-held diagnostic units that

can determine the correct antibiotic

prescription for infantile diarrhea, which

kills 40 per cent of Indian

newborns; Canadian-Indian

partnerships for the prevention

and treatment of oral cancer;

and work on an ayurvedic

remedy for diabetes headed

by Mario Pinto, SFU’s vice-

president, research.

Richmond-based BioLytical

Laboratories has been working

with the AIDS Healthcare

Foundation in India on AIDS

testing and followup. BioLytical

manufactures an HIV test kit

that doctors’ offices and clinics

can use without needing to

send samples to labs.

BioLytical also recently

received $1.39 million to de-

velop new technology with

the University of Toronto and St. John’s

Research Institute in Bangalore. The

money will go to a multi-disease test for

HIV, syphilis and herpes whose results

can be determined in 60 seconds from a

single drop of blood.

On January 21–23, 2010, Vancouver

was the site of the Canada-India B2B

Partnership Summit on Life Sciences,

conducted in conjunction with BPN.

Participants from academia, industry,

government and life-sciences groups

from B.C. and India assembled to net-

work, discover synergies and create

relationships for the purposes of bilateral

R&D and collaboration. The summit fea-

tured information-sharing, roundtable

conversation, sector-specific discussions

and other sessions.

Also importantly for B.C., June 19–23,

2010, will see the first-ever organized con-

ference for invited leaders in various fields

from India and Canada: the Canada-India

Cardiovascular Health Conference (CVH).

Hosted by the Canada-India Networking

Initiative (CINI), CVH will focus on health

and education. According to CINI, the rate

of cardiovascular disease is three to four

times higher among South Asian residents

than among other general populations of

the world. As stated in the conference’s in-

formational package, the event will bring

together leaders from both countries in

academia, research, health, innovation,

industry and public policy to address “the

current state of knowledge and research”

in what is a growing epidemic for both na-

tions. Occurring principally at SFU, CVH will

also have events at Kwantlen Polytechnic

University and British Columbia Institute of

Technology.

In Bangalore, BioPartnering India

(June 2–4, 2010) will feature aspects of

partnering with Indian companies. It will

showcase presentations by Indian and for-

eign companies interested in succeeding

in the economy of that country.

Far eastern bridges

Pacific Rim connections put B.C. in a

strong position to work with East Asian

life-science companies.

In Japan, the contact organization

BioBridge Kansai promotes alliances

Richmond-based BioLytical Laboratories is

working with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to

develop a program for AIDS testing and followup

in India

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between the Kansai region and other

countries. Avi Salsberg, managing director,

Japan, of the BC Trade and Investment

Office says the Kansai unites universities,

life-sciences business parks and leading

Japanese pharmaceutical companies.

Among recent B.C. successes, Salsberg

points to the licensing by Takeda

Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to Xenon of the

right to commercialize pain product

XEN401 in Japan and other Asian coun-

tries; an agreement between Shionogi &

Co., Ltd. and Response Biomedical Corp.

to market a diagnostic test for congen-

ital heart failure (for further coverage of

Response Biomedical, see page 28); and a

landmark deal between Cardiome Pharma

Corp. and Astellas Pharma US, Inc., the U.S.

affiliate of the Japanese company. Back in

2008, Astellas also participated in a round

of venture-capital funding that raised $22

million for Burnaby-based Inimex Corp.

Salsberg says discussions are under

way among Osaka University, UBC and

the BC Cancer Agency (BCCA). He’s also

working with the technical licensing office

of the University of Tokyo to identify cross-

licensing opportunities and is introducing

the university to the Centre of Excellence

for the Prevention of Organ Failure (PROOF)

in Vancouver, which discovers biological

markers for the prevention and treatment

of diseases associated with organ failure.

(For coverage of PROOF and other Centres

of Excellence for Commercialization and

Research, see page 30.)

China holds promise for B.C.’s life sci-

ences, particularly in cancer research.

Motic China Group Co., Ltd. has developed

technology that enables screening for

cervical cancer, mostly by applying meth-

odologies developed at the BCCA, reports

Sam Abraham, the agency’s vice-president,

strategic relations. This technology has

been deployed successfully to a number

of Chinese provinces. It “allows a country

like China with a large and well-spread

population to approach early testing as a

means of effectively catching disease early

so you cure it,” explains Abraham.

China will showcase its life sciences to

the world when BioPartnering China – the

country’s first biopartnering event – takes

place in November 2010.

In Korea, LSBC has signed a memo-

randum of understanding with the

GyeongGi Bio-Center, a non-profit that

supports the biotech and pharmaceutical

industries in GyeongGi province. The MOU

will facilitate life-science partnerships be-

tween B.C. and GyeongGi.

Connections down under

The highest levels of government have

encouraged connections between B.C.

and Australia. Peter Beattie, former premier

of Queensland, led the way with his Smart

State vision, diversifying Queensland’s

resource-based economy to one that

showcased knowledge and innovation. In

the process, Beattie signed a statement of

intent with the B.C. government in 2008

pledging to capitalize on synergies be-

tween the two regions.

Beattie identifies a number of

collaborations that have taken place since

the time the statement was signed, in-

cluding a strategic partnership agreement

between Queensland company Clinical

Network Services Pty Ltd. and B.C.-based

ASKA Research; a drug-discovery alliance

between Queensland’s Eskitis Institute for

Cell and Molecular Therapies at Griffith

University, Queensland, and the Centre

for Drug Research and Development in

Vancouver; a whole-of-institution partner-

ship between SFU and Griffith University;


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and a spinal-cord-injury alliance involving

Queensland University of Technology, the

Queensland Clinical Trials Network Inc.,

the Rick Hansen Institute and the Michael

Smith Foundation for Health Research.

Other important connections include

the Australian-Canadian Prostate Cancer

Research Alliance and a joint research col-

laboration into heart and lung transplants.

The latter is between the James Hogg

iCAPTURE Centre at St. Paul’s Hospital in

Vancouver and the Princess Alexandra

Hospital in Queensland.

Genomics goes global

Genome British Columbia always fishes

for new international collaborative op-

portunities. It’s now heading up a large

endeavour by B.C., Norway and Chile to

produce a sequence that identifies and

maps all the genes in the genome of the

Atlantic salmon.

The aim: to give industry and aca-

demics a better understanding of the fish’s

migratory patterns and to facilitate the

development of stock more adaptable to

the environment. On completion, the se-

quence will be able to serve as a reference

for the genomes of other salmonid such

as the Pacific salmon and rainbow trout, as

well as those of more distantly related fish,

such as smelt and pike.

Researchers at UBC are working with

Danish bioenergy company Novozymes

to extract biofuel from the millions of hec-

tares of B.C. trees killed by the mountain

pine beetle. Novozymes also takes interest

in B.C.’s expertise in metagenomics (the

study of genetic material recovered from

organisms in their natural environments),

including work done through Canada’s

Michael Smith Genome Science Centre.

B.C.’s knowledge of such areas opens

the possibility of “collaborations with

Novozymes in industrial biotechnology in-

cluding and beyond the area of bioenergy,”

says Pierre Meulien, chief scientific officer,

Genome BC. Meulien considers the oil-

sands and aquatic environments as further

areas ripe for partnerships.

Winemaking is called an art, but it’s

the science of fermentation that’s behind

Genome BC’s foray into wine genomics.

The group is working with wineries in

B.C., the United States and New Zealand

to research the genomics of yeast in fer-

mentation. “Winemaking is a biological

process, and if you understand the under-

lying biology, you can control what you’re

doing in a much more scientific way,” says

Meulien. The findings could help wineries

make critical decisions about timing, grape

harvests and the kinds of yeast they use.

Meulien identifies “biobanking” as a

potential area of collaboration between

B.C. and Denmark, a world leader in the

banking of biological specimens used to

study human sub-populations: “There are

several biobanking initiatives in the pipeline

in B.C., and we could probably use some of

[the] know-how in Denmark in this area.”

Genome BC is working with wineries in

B.C., the U.S. and New Zealand on the

genomics of yeast in fermentation

Photo: Genome BC


www.truopen.ca


Clean-fuelling the futureBritish Columbia leads in bioproducts and bioenergy

Andrew Findlay

Solid governmental support is helping

British Columbia’s clean-energy

and biotechnology firms become

world leaders in converting biomass into

fuel and advancing the battle to reduce

carbon emissions.

In spring 2009, the provincial govern-

ment announced the allocation of $32.6

million in funding to follow upon the $25

million already set aside for the Innovative

Clean Energy (ICE) fund launched in 2008.

Times are thus exciting for the more than

200 B.C. companies in this rapidly evolving

sector, says Bob Ingratta, bioproducts

& bioenergy sector specialist with

LifeSciences British Columbia (LSBC).

“This additional funding for biofuels

and clean tech continues to demonstrate

the B.C. government’s commitment to ac-

celerating commercialization and creating

regional economic development across the

province,” Ingratta says. “This will benefit

critical areas [in] technology improvement.”

The BC Bioenergy Strategy of January

2008 set ambitious targets: to meet

50 per cent of the province’s renewable-


Ross MacLachlan, president and chief executive officer of Lignol Innovations, a pioneer in producing fuel from plant fibre



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fuel requirements

with biofuel by

2020; to develop

by 2020 at least

10 community

energy projects converting local

biomass into energy; to reduce green-

house gas emissions by 30 per cent by

2030; to increase the production and

use of biofuels such as biodiesel; and to

establish Canada’s most comprehensive

biomass inventory for turning waste into

energy. These aims spell big-time oppor-

tunities for innovative businesses.

Capacity is being built locally but with

enormous potential economic benefits.

Today’s global market for products derived

from renewable sources like agriculture,

forestry or municipal waste (bioproducts)

is estimated at $200 billion; the market for

bioenergy, which comes from biomass-

derived fuel, $175 billion. More than 1,100

experts from around the globe gathered

in Montreal for the BIO World Congress in

July 2009 to share knowledge of biotech-

nology and bioprocessing, with the aim of

growing the sector.

Ingratta says that governmental funding,

whether from provincial sources like the ICE

fund and the BC Bioenergy Network (BCBN)

or from federal programs like Sustainable

Development Technology Canada (SDTC), is

key to developing commercial-ready tech-

nologies, leveraging financing and meeting

the targets laid out in the bioenergy

strategy. January brought the news that

16 clean-tech projects, including six from

B.C., would receive $58 million in federal

funding through SDTC.

Among the projects are

technologies using

renewable energy

such as electricity

and hydrogen to power

vehicles, and

biomass tech-

nologies that

will add value

to Canadian

forestry and agriculture.

B.C. companies named for

this funding are Agrisoma

Biosciences Inc., Automotive

Fuel Cell Corp., Ballard Power Systems Inc.,

Exro Technologies Inc., HTEC Hydrogen

Technology & Energy Corp. and Pulse

Energy, Inc.

Capital ideas

Since its launch in 2008, the ICE fund has

leveraged $25 million into more than $80

million in investments in the B.C. economy.

The fund has been seeded with money

raised through an amendment to the

Social Service Tax Act that assesses a 0.4

per cent levy on sales of fuel oil (not used

for transportation), electricity, natural gas

and grid propane.

The levy will disappear when the

harmonized sales tax takes effect in July

2010, but Blair Lekstrom, minister of energy,

mines and petroleum resources, says

the fund will remain: “The province will

continue to support the ICE fund and will

review the fund’s budget annually.”

In June 2009, Lignol Innovations Corp.,

a pioneer in producing fuel from cel-

lulose (that is, plant fibre) completed the

first end-to-end production of cellulosic

ethanol at its plant in Burnaby.

A $3.4-million ICE grant will enable

Lignol to test its operations with a variety

of waste-wood products, optimizing

systems so that the firm can “finalize en-

gineering for large-scale plants,” says Ross

MacLachlan, president and chief executive

officer. At the same time, $1.18 million from

the BCBN will boost co-operative research

between Lignol and several B.C. universi-

ties delving into commercial applications

for cellulose-derived ethanol.

Meanwhile, Vancouver’s Canadian

Bioenergy Corp., which markets and dis-

tributes biodiesel, is in discussions with

Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland Co.

for a blockbuster deal to build a canola-

based biodiesel production facility in

Lloydminster, Alberta. Projected capacity:

265 million litres per year.

Ingratta believes that the Renewable

and Low Carbon Fuel Requirements

Regulation announced in December 2009

by the B.C. government will augment

demand. He says considerable challenges

still face clean energy, specifically the ef-

ficient availability of biomass feedstock for

energy conversion, the capacity to scale

up to commercial-size plants, incentives

for early adoption of clean energy and

access to capital for building plants. It’s in

addressing such challenges that funds like

ICE come into play, Ingratta says.

With continued funding in place and in-

creasing capacity to deliver bioproducts

and bioenergy systems domestically and

globally, B.C. is well on the way to capturing

a significant piece of this lucrative pie.

In a little more than a decade, LSBC

predicts that B.C. will be the “Silicon Valley

of renewable energy,” an epicentre of tech-

nical innovation, creativity and implementa-

tion as we find cleaner ways to heat homes,

fuel vehicles and drive industries.


www.bioenergyconference.org


Tech convergenceWireless brings new tools and efficiencies to health care

Peter Caulfield

During your next medical appoint-

ment, the doctor grabs her cell,

punches some keys, then reads the

screen. She’s checking not her messages

but rather the medical-practice guidelines

that have a bearing on your treatment,

as posted on a website of the British

Columbia Ministry of Health Services.

Called CliniPEARLS, this new offering

results from collaboration between the

ministry and the eHealth Strategy Office of

the Faculty of Medicine at the University of

British Columbia. Information that has trad-

itionally occupied fat binders is now access-

ible by personal digital assistants as well.

Available now, CliniPEARLS is an ex-

ample of wireless medicine: what hap-

pens when health care embraces wireless

communication. Benefits include better

decision-making tools for practitioners

and greater cost-effectiveness for hospitals

and health-care systems.

New tech, new relationships

LifeSciences British Columbia (LSBC)

president Karimah Es Sabar says B.C. is

“poised for global leadership” in wireless

health. “Much of what happens” in the

field, she thinks, will “happen in B.C.”

To that end, LSBC and the Digital Media

and Wireless Association of BC (DigiBC)

are working together to establish relation-

ships with leading organizations active in

wireless health, such as the West Wireless

Health Institute in San Diego.

DigiBC president Michael Bidu says that

more than 20 of its member companies

are in the business of developing wireless-

health technologies and services. “And

there are another 20 or so that have ex-

pressed interest in expanding into wireless

health,” he adds. “It’s a good start.”

Bidu says the North American market

for the technology is “worth between 14

billion and 20 billion per year” and that

DigiBC intends in 2010 to look at “the ad-

dressable market for B.C. companies.”

In July 2009, Bidu and Es Sabar co-hosted

the Wireless Health Forum in Vancouver

to discuss the challenges and opportun-

ities faced by technological convergence

in B.C. In October 2009, a B.C. delegation

took part in the Wireless Health Pavilion at

the 2009 CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment

Conference in San Diego. Four B.C. wireless

companies attended.

In November 2009, LSBC and WINBC

sponsored a second Wireless Health Forum.

One speaker there, Rizwan Kheraj from

the National Research Council Industrial

Research Assistance Program, discussed

the demand from the United States for e-

health expertise and technology and how

to access the billions of dollars in stimulus

funds available for e-health.

UBC’s eHealth Strategy Office

The success of tech convergence in B.C.

will depend much on research conducted

by such groups as UBC’s eHealth Strategy

Office. Kendall Ho, its director and an as-

sociate professor in the division of emer-

gency health, says the office’s staff of 20

includes representatives from a host of

disciplines, including health, technology,

psychology, behavioural science and

health management.

“E-health is interdisciplinary,” Ho says. “It

needs groups working together, including

private industry.” Collaboration “leads to

new approaches to doing things.”

The office has 20–25 ongoing research

projects. “We want to use information

technology to its maximum potential in

medicine,” Ho says. “We don’t want to get

distracted by every new technology that

comes along. We need to find and use the

right ones.”

Future e-health capital

Bidu says B.C. could become Canada’s cap-

ital of wireless health and life sciences: “We

have technical expertise, a world-class life-

sciences cluster, excellent university labs

and a committed government. But the dif-

ferent parts need to be linked together to

enable B.C. wireless-medicine companies

to grow and export the technologies de-

veloped here.”

Says Bidu, “In five to seven years, I hope

to see 100 wireless-health companies in

B.C.”

Karimah Es Sabar,

president,

LifeSciences

British Columbia

(left) with Michael

Bidu, president,

Digital Media

and Wireless

Association of BC

00.3_R2_2010_Life Sciences.indd 20 3/23/10 9:46:19 AM


www.amgen.ca


Youthful engagementWith exhibits and science fairs, British Columbia’s life

sciences send a strong educational message

Noa Glouberman

Using eyedroppers and Jell-O, stu-

dents visiting “Geee! in Genome”

learn how scientists extract DNA

samples and take steps toward discov-

ering what genomics mean to them.

Produced by the Canadian Museum of

Nature in Ottawa, this travelling exhibit is

presented nationally by Genome Canada.

Genomics is “a hot topic, with many

Canadians involved in research and in-

novations,” comments Deanna Wiebe,

program co-ordinator at Science World

in Vancouver, where the exhibit ran from

October 2, 2009, to January 4, 2010. “So

having the exhibit here was very timely. It

gave kids a chance to learn about genes,

DNA, [genomes] and stem cells in a fun,

interactive way.”

Science learning lead Sandy Eix, also

of Science World, adds that although the

show was “geared to older high-school

students … lots of little guys [came] in.”

This multi-age appeal underscored the

value of “lifelong learning” and “getting

even the youngest children comfortable

with science.”

The life-sciences community has sup-

ported the exhibit. Wiebe says, “We had

so many researchers, scientists [and] PhDs

wanting to volunteer and lend their exper-

tise to the program that we actually had

to turn some of them away.”

“It was great to see kids working along-

side these big, fancy researchers,” Eix

recalls. “The exhibit really pulled everyone

together toward the common cause of

“A science fair is one of the most amazing educational

and personal experiences you’ll ever have”

– Philip Edgcumbe, winner, B.C. region, 2006 Sanofi-Aventis Biotalent Challenge




spreading the message that science mat-

ters: that it’s for everyone, regardless of

age.”

One corporate advocate for this mes-

sage is Genome British Columbia, which

got involved with “Geee! in Genome”

during its first run in Vancouver in 2003.

“Besides our interest in and support of

research, we’re here to ensure [that] the

community’s involved with genomics and

life sciences,” says Alan Winter, president

and chief executive officer. “We’re always

looking for ways to make our knowledge

available and provide experiential learning

that’s hands-on and illustrates the value of

genomics to others.”

The Vancouver showing of the exhibit,

sponsored in part by LifeSciences British

Columbia (LSBC) and Sanofi-Aventis, was

unique in featuring Geneskool: educa-

tional workshops taught by graduate

and post-doctoral students trained and

recruited by Genome BC, which normally

runs the program as a week-long day

camp for Grade 10 to 12 students in the

summer and conducts outreach to class-

rooms throughout the province during

the school year.

The combination of the exhibit and

the workshops, Winter comments, en-

abled organizers “to drive the relevance of

genomics home to students. The demand

for [Geneskool] was extraordinary. … We

reached a substantial number of kids in

the Lower Mainland.”

In addition to its various interactive

learning stations and the Geneskool,

“Geee! in Genome” exposed students to

science-fair projects created by their peers,

plus a panel discussion about the impres-

sive scientific work being done by other

teens.

Fair game

Students Phillip Edgcumbe, Linda Liu and

Perri Tutelman agree: science fairs are one

of the best ways to foster interest in life

sciences.

Edgcumbe and Maxim Winther placed

first in B.C. in the 2006 Sanofi-Aventis

Biotalent Challenge (SABC) for their pro-

ject “Antioxidants to Reduce Free Radicals

in Cellular Environment” while they were

classmates at Kitsilano Secondary School.

“A science fair is one of the most

amazing educational and personal ex-

periences you’ll ever have in your life,”

Edgcumbe says. “It gives you a chance to

do far more than simply listen to a teacher

Top & centre photos: Canadian Museum of Nature; bottom photo: Science World British Columbia

Though geared to students in grades 9 to 12, “Geee! In Genome” offers fun,

interactive and hands-on learning for kids of all ages

The “Geee! in Genome” exhibit teaches students about genes, DNA, genomes and

stem cells interactively, encouraging reflection on the possibilities and ethics of

genomics. TOP: The section on genetic diseases and testing



system – that, when tangled, can cause

neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Her project revealed the ability of rhubarb

extract to preserve the structure of this tau

protein by inhibiting its tangling.

“Science fairs allow us to practise active

learning,” she says. ”Instead of [only]

reading about scientific phenomena in

textbooks, we can gain hands-on experi-

ence and create innovative solutions to

the world’s problems.” Liu plans a career in

medicine.

Tutelman of Richmond’s R.C. Palmer

Secondary School grabbed gold in the

health-sciences category of the Canada-

Wide Science Fair in 2009 with her pro-

ject on combination therapies for breast

cancer. Now in Grade 11, Tutelman says

that the prestigious fair helped give her a

solid grounding for scientific process and

thought, affording her a unique oppor-

tunity to do research through work place-

ment at the BC Cancer Agency.

“I love it; it’s so much a part of me,”

Tutelman says of science. “Learning labora-

tory techniques and protocols is fascin-

ating to me and something I’ll definitely

call on with my post-secondary education.”

“Kids today are being exposed to sci-

entific concepts like genetics, DNA and

fingerprinting at an earlier and earlier

stage, and it’s appropriate for them to be

given the opportunity to learn and under-

stand what’s happening in the world

around them,” says Sally Greenwood,

director, communications and education,

Genome BC. “Through partnerships like

the one we have with Science World, for

example, the life-sciences community can

really come together and embrace the

advancement and enhancement of life-

sciences education for B.C. students, who

are, after all, our scientists of tomorrow.”

“Science fairs allow us to practise

active learning. Instead of [only]

reading about scientific phenomena

in textbooks, we can gain hands-on

experience and create innovative

solutions to the world’s problems”

– Linda Liu, winner, B.C. region, 2009 Sanofi-Aventis Biotalent Challenge

and study for tests in science class. It lets

you experience what it’s like to be a real

scientist, developing real experiments to

test your hypothesis.”

Now working toward his first science

degree at the University of British Columbia,

Edgcumbe volunteers in organizations like

Let’s Talk Science, which brings science edu-

cation to elementary-school classrooms. He

says B.C. is particularly fortunate in having

science fairs province-wide sponsored by

groups ranging from the British Columbia

Innovation Council to local biotechnology

firms and LSBC, which acts as the local co-

ordinator of the SABC each year.

“I’m sure each of the thousands of

students who do science-fair projects

every year has a story of [his or her] own,”

Edgcumbe says. Even students who “don’t

end up doing science … gain an apprecia-

tion for it and for the scientific process.”

Liu would agree. While a Grade 11 stu-

dent at Sands Secondary School in Delta,

she nabbed first place in the 2009 SABC,

B.C. region, for studying a protein – abun-

dant in neurons in the central nervous


www.bcic.ca


Our life workFrom basic research to pharmaceuticals, from medical

devices to testing, British Columbia looks to the future

Noa Glouberman

With a financially challenging year

behind them, British Columbia’s

players in life sciences are for-

ging ahead, pursuing scientific advance-

ments and medical breakthroughs that

will create a brighter future for all.

AIDS adversary

Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre

for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, remains stead-

fast in fighting a worldwide epidemic that

he and other experts deem unnecessarily

devastating.

“We have the means to suppress the

ability of the HIV virus to multiply in pa-

tients, and we now have data showing

[that] sexual and needle transmission can

also be dramatically decreased with ap-

propriate treatment of HIV through highly

active antiretroviral therapy [HAART],” he

says. “It’s the right thing to do, the smart

thing to do and the most cost-effective

thing to do. It makes good business sense,

and it’s good for patients.”

After working in the mid-1990s on

the question of how to suppress the

virus and seeing a resultant drop of 80

per cent in mortality from AIDS in B.C.,

Montaner began appealing for universal

access to treatment: “We’ve seen the treat-

ment become simpler, better and more

powerful, and we’ve done our best to roll

out this knowledge in world settings. We

don’t want to look back years from now

and say we should have made treatment

of HIV a priority in the developing world.”

HIV/AIDS has been devastating in its

social and economic impact, destroying

families, generating poverty and deci-

mating the workforce. “Just imagine: If we

treated every infected pregnant woman

with antiretroviral drugs, we’d eliminate

prenatal HIV and transmission from

mother to unborn child altogether,” says

Montaner. “We’ve done it in B.C. It’s time

to go global.”

Concerned that the United Nations

won’t achieve its goal of introducing

universal access to antiretroviral therapy by

its 2010 deadline and that support from the

G8 remains suboptimal, Montaner holds

the world accountable. “People say there’s

a financial crisis going on, but HIV is not in

recession. In fact, it’s expanding, and put-

ting it on hold is a bad idea. By the time we

come back to it, it will have expanded so

much [that] our ability to control it will have

been compromised.”

First country on his list: Canada,

whose contribution to the cause he calls

“fractional.” With the next G8 summit

scheduled for Ontario this summer,

Montaner calls on Prime Minister Stephen

Harper to ensure discussion of HIV: “This is

his opportunity. We want to remind him

[that] it’s not just about doing the charit-

able thing; it’s a wise investment.”

On February 26, 2010, international

leaders in HIV/AIDS – including UNAIDS

executive director Michel Sidibé; Mark

Dybul, co-director of the O’Neill Institute

for National and Global Health Law,

Georgetown University; Merck Research

Laboratories vice-president of virus

and cell biology Daria Hazuda; Bill &

Melinda Gates Foundation HIV program

head Stefano Bertozzi; and NIH National


“We don’t want

to look back

years from

now and say

we should

have made

treatment

of HIV a

priority in the

developing

world”

– Julio Montaner, director, B.C. Centre

for Excellence in HIV/AIDS



Institute on Drug Abuse director Nora

Volkow – met in Vancouver for the Impact

of Science & Innovation in HIV and AIDS

conference, co-hosted by LifeSciences

British Columbia (LSBC). The conference

marked three decades of HAART work.

Irene Day, director of operations for the

B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, who

helped organize the event, says Montaner

was instrumental in gathering such an

impressive and powerful group: “These

are some of the biggest names in the field

of HIV/AIDS, and Julio certainly has the

international presence and the contacts

to bring them in to talk about this very

important cause, and how they can keep

working to push it forward world-wide.”

On February 4, 2010, the B.C. govern-

ment announced a 48-million pilot pro-

gram called Seek and Treat, the first of its

kind in Canada, to bring HIV/AIDS medica-

tions to hard-to-reach populations. Indeed,

Montaner sees 2010 as a pivotal point in

the disease’s history, declaring, “It’s time to

remind everyone [that] we need Canada

to put AIDS back on the agenda to en-

courage the G8 and eventually the G20 to

act, or future generations will be saddled

with an enormous mortgage.”

Heart helper

In April 2009, Vancouver-based Cardiome

Pharma Corp. inked a major licensing deal

with pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., Inc.:

the largest agreement of its kind in history

involving a Canadian life-science firm.

According to Cardiome’s president,

chief executive officer and director Doug

Janzen, multiple suitors expressed interest

in backing the company’s discovery

before Cardiome made a decision. The

development: a drug for atrial fibrilla-

tion (an abnormal heart rhythm) dubbed

“vernakalant.”

“We narrowed it down to Merck, the

number-1 cardiovascular company in the

world,” he explains. “It puts our discovery

in strong hands and our company in a

good financial position to commercialize

an oral version of the drug.” (For more on

the deal, see page 45.)

Cardiome has been named by LSBC as

its 2010 Company of the Year.

Cancer crusader

It’s been some year for Vancouver’s

OncoGeneX Pharmaceuticals Inc., which

is busy developing and commercializing

new therapies to address unmet needs in

cancer treatment.

OncoGeneX won the 2008 LSBC

Company of the Year Award, while its

president and chief executive officer, Scott

Cormack, was named Canada’s Pacific

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for

2009 in health sciences.

Accolades aside, 2009 saw OncoGeneX

complete a 9.5-million registered direct

offering of 475,000 shares of its common

stock to institutional investors; secure a key

United States patent on its method of using

its lead cancer-drug candidate, OGX-011, to

treat certain cancers; and announce posi-

tive preliminary results of a Phase 1 trial for

OGX-427, which is designed to treat solid

tumors including prostate, non-small-cell

lung, breast, ovarian and bladder cancers.

In December 2009, OncoGeneX en-

tered into a deal to license its OGX-11 to

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. of

Israel, while Teva made an equity invest-

ment in OncoGeneX as part of the deal.

“The awards put us on the radar screen,

and it’s nice to be recognized by our

peers,” Cormack comments, “but when

our work shows a significant improvement

in cancer survival, that’s the real reward.”

Power source

Users of battery-dependent medical

devices grapple daily with a hazard

potentially disastrous for patients: the

draining of power sources. Today, a B.C.

Scott Cormack, president and chief

executive officer of OncoGeneX and

Pacific Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of

the Year, 2009: “When our work shows

a significant improvement in cancer

survival, that’s the real reward”



www.cfenet.ubc.ca


business is advancing a tech-

nology that could prove crucial

in addressing this problem.

Burnaby’s Bionic Power is de-

veloping a device for military

use that, when strapped to the

knee of a foot soldier, harvests

the energy generated by his

stride to reduce the battery

load he needs for powering

GPS devices, radios, etc.

This technology, says chief

executive officer Yad Garcha,

could easily transfer into health

care for use with “things like

artificial limbs. … Our device

could be integrated into the

prosthetic or worn on a healthy

leg to extend the life of the

battery without taxing the in-

dividual or requiring any meta-

bolic work.”

Expecting to deliver the

Energy Harvester to buyers in

late 2010 or early 2011, Bionic

Power will fill the military

demand first, then turn its

attention to the medical

industry.

Infection fighter

Acting under the leadership of Neil Reiner,

head of the division of infectious diseases

at the faculty of medicine at the University

of British Columbia, a team discovered that

important structural differences existed

among certain proteins common to both

humans and parasites. Scientists can thus

identify parasites within the body by the

differences between their proteins and

our own.

Enter Indel Therapeutics Inc. Says chief

executive officer Malcolm Kendall, who

founded the company in 2008, “[Reiner]

opened the door, we were put together,

and it just made sense. It was a chance

to return to my entrepreneurial roots and

make a difference in people’s lives.”

With dangerous bacteria increasingly

plaguing hospitals, Indel targets the differ-

ences and deletions among the common

proteins as a means of generating new

antibiotics for combating hard-to-treat

and hospital-acquired infections.

“A critical protein in the pathogen

that causes MRSA [methicillin-resistant

Staphylococcus aureus], for example, is

missing a hairpin-loop sequence that’s

present in the same essential human

protein, creating a pocket we can target

with a small-molecule drug,” Kendall ex-

plains. “So the technology lets us attack

the bug-version of a protein without af-

fecting the human counterpart protein,

and that’s really going to help deliver

unique, novel antibacterial drugs to a

market that desperately needs [them].”

Life-saver

Sirius Genomics Inc. develops DNA-based

pharmacogenomic (PGx) diagnostics that

improve the safety and effectiveness of

drugs.

“By correlating patient genetics with clin-

ical outcomes, we’re able to develop prod-

ucts that enable better drug treatment,”

explains president and chief executive of-

ficer Chris Wagner, who took the company

reins from Brad Popovich in December

2009. “Basically, the goal is to be able to

give the right drug to the right person.”

One such PGx test developed by Sirius

aims to improve critical care

for patients with sepsis, a

severe blood infection. The

test acts as a genetic predictor

of response to recombinant

human-activated Protein C, a

controversial sepsis treatment

sold by pharmaceutical giant

Eli Lilly and Co. under the

trademark Xigris.

The test started making

headlines in January 2009,

when Sirius agreed to col-

laborate on its continued de-

velopment with the UK Critical

Care Genomics Group. Eight

months later, the Vancouver

firm celebrated yet another

gain, receiving funding for the

same cause from the National

Research Council of Canada

Industrial Research Assistance

Program.

“This financial support demonstrates

the willingness of the Canadian govern-

ment to sustain innovation in critical areas

of growth such as genomics and person-

alized medicine,” Popovich said at the

time. “The program provides an important

service for small, rapidly growing Canadian

companies such as ours.”

Yad Garcha, chief executive

officer of Bionic Power,

whose Energy Harvester

uses energy generated by

the human stride to power

portable devices

Malcolm Kendall, chief executive

officer of Indel Therapeutics, maker

of antibiotics that fight bacterial

infections spread at hospitals

Photos: Dominic Schaefer



Research and Training opportunities in Life Sciences, including:

LSI …… A Place of Discovery

Blood and Blood ProductsCardiovascular Disease and StrokeCell, Developmental & Cancer BiologyDiabetes and Obesity

Chemical Biology of DiseaseInfection, Immunity, InflammationTuberculosisMolecular Epigenetics

L I F E S C I E N C E S I N S T I T U T E

www.lsi.ubc.ca

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Testing titan

Response Biomedical Corp. has enjoyed a

period of accomplishment: the formation

of major partnerships and recognition as

LSBC’s Medical Device Company of the

Year in 2009.

“I’m very pleased to be leading

Response Biomedical at this exciting time

in the evolution of the company,” says

Wayne Kay, chief executive officer. “With

partnerships in place with 3M Company,

Roche Diagnostics and Shionogi & Co.,

Ltd., we are poised for strong growth.”

In June 2008, this developer and

manufacturer of rapid point-of-care (POC)

diagnostic tests signed an agreement with

Roche to market Response’s line of cardio-

vascular POC tests globally. The Vancouver

firm also formed a strategic alliance with

3M to co-develop Response’s line of prod-

ucts relating to infectious diseases.

“Medical diagnostics is a small part of

the biotech sphere, and receiving rec-

ognition for our work brings welcome

visibility to the company and the industry

in Vancouver,” Kay says. “We’re looking

forward; we’ve got many exciting plans for

the year ahead.”

Picture provider

In 2002, McKesson Corporation purchased

Richmond’s ALi Corporation for 530

million. McKesson, a US 50-billion-a

year company headquartered in Atlanta

that produces diagnostic information

for health care, wanted ALi’s top-notch

digital medical-imaging and information

software but knew that simply swallowing

the company would probably destroy its

favourable market position.

Instead, McKesson turned ALi into

a division called the Medical Imaging

Group. It remained in B.C., with McKesson

injecting financial and business support

and retaining ALi experts like Rod O’Reilly,

who today is senior vice-president and

general manager of the much-expanded

division, one of McKesson’s fastest-

growing. For three consecutive years

(2004–06), the division captured the com-

pany’s coveted President’s Cup, awarded

to the unit that achieves high scores in

customer and employee satisfaction,

retention, operation income, sales growth

and other performance metrics.

“The key thing is that, while we now are

owned, we’ve been allowed to keep our

group together and in Vancouver,” O’Reilly

said in an interview. “There has been

some shifting of thinking, but it’s a good

one: we went from thinking how we can

build a company to how we can make an

impact on health care.”

Matchmaker

Through next-generation technology,

the bioinformatics group at Canada’s

Chris Wagner, president and chief

executive officer, Sirius Genomics:

relating patients’ genetics and clinical

outcomes to “give the right drug to the

right person”


www.lsi.ubc.ca


Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre

is developing computational approaches

to analyze DNA-sequence information:

ongoing research that will provide in-

sights to the mutations and other DNA

rearrangements that occur within the

oncogenic processes that give rise to

cancer.

“New sequencing technology and ma-

chinery allow us to do work we couldn’t

have done five years ago, at least not

inexpensively,” explains Steven Jones,

head of bioinformatics and the centre’s

associate director. “The result will essen-

tially allow to be put into place the kind

of medicine that could be personalized,

so [that] a certain kind of tumour could

be matched up with the most effective

treatment for the patient.”

With grants in hand, Jones says the

facility will expand in 2010 to include

more of the hardware and software

that researchers need for doing this life-

saving work. “We’ve been charged with a

very challenging timeline, bodies of work

that need to be done and milestones

that must be met. We’re very excited to

have the challenge of meeting those

milestones.”

Spinal cord injuryA fluid approach

Prognoses for patients recovering from

spinal cord injuries (SCI) arise from the

fluid in their spines. Brian Kwon, a surgeon

with the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre,

Vancouver General Hospital, leads a team

of researchers doing clinical trials.

Says Kwon, “My focus is on very acutely

injured patients and what we can do to

improve neurological outcomes or mini-

mize the extent of paralysis.”

His team inserts a small catheter into a patient’s spine to remove samples of fluid

around the cord. The catheter also helps measure the pressure around the cord.

By “measuring the pressures, we can monitor how much blood is being supplied to

[the] injured spinal cord, because we think that’s an important determinant of outcome,”

says Kwon, explaining that the cord suffers from a lack of blood supply after injury.

The goals: to define the seriousness of injury, to prognosticate how much recovery

will occur and to identify targets for therapeutic agents.

“For example, if we find a protein that is highly expressed and we have a way to

block it, we’d further investigate that as a potential strategy for improving outcome,”

says Kwon.

Much of what’s known about SCI comes from research on animals like rats or mice,

with quite a bit less known about humans: “Taking this fluid gives us the next-best

description [of] what is really going on.”

By Andrew Topf

Brian Kwon (right) and graduate

student Jae Lee assess an injured

spinal cord for damage and the

effects of a new treatment

Photo: Kent Kallberg, Blusson Spinal Cord Centre


www.canadapharma.org


In translationTuned to excellence, British Columbia’s scientists go commercial

Under Martin Gleave, executive director of the Prostate Centre, the Transitional Research

Initiative for Accelerated Discovery and Development relies upon “team science” to translate

research into practical applications




Wael Elazab

Whether focused on the human

genome, the ozone layer or

natural disasters, scientific collab-

oration involves the sharing of data, tech-

nique and expertise, giving researchers

the power to work at the limits of their

capabilities.

In 2007, the Government of Canada

established the Centres of Excellence for

Commercialization and Research (CECR)

program to foster collaboration-based

research and development. The goal: to

strengthen Canada’s economy and social

well-being.

The program provides grants to en-

courage the creation of organizations that

connect people and services for the pur-

poses of scientific innovation and break-

throughs. The year the program started,

the Canadian government invested

close to 300 million to be spent over

five years. Recipients get support for the

operating expenses of their centres and the commercialization of

their discoveries. The CECRs are known as translational research

centres; that is, places that conduct research from discovery to

commercialization.

British Columbia boasts a total of six CECRs to date. The first

four are Advanced Applied Physics Solutions Inc. (AAPS), the

Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD), the Centre

of Excellence for the Prevention of Organ Failure (PROOF) and the

Prostate Centre’s Transitional Research Initiative for Accelerated

Discovery and Development (PC-TRIADD), each receiving nearly

15 million. In 2009, a fifth B.C. winner, Oceans Network Canada

Centre for Enterprise and Engagement (ONCCEE), received more

than 6.5 million. Still another CECR, the Pan-Provincial Vaccine

Enterprise (PREVENT), uses B.C. talent in reaching its cross-country

goals.

As laid out by the Networks of Centres of Excellence

Secretariat, the model for the CECRs is to increase business

through research-and-development partnerships; to engage ex-

perts within industrial sectors; to encourage academics and pro-

fessionals from various disciplines to collaborate on innovations

that ensure a bright and stable future for Canada; and to accel-

erate commercialization of technologies, products and services.

Physics TRIUMFant

One of the world’s leading laboratories in subatomic physics,

TRIUMF brings together interdisciplinary talent, sophisticated

resources and commercial partners in AAPS, its CECR offshoot.

With industry partners, AAPS is developing desktop cyclo-

trons with which hospitals will be able themselves to create

medical isotopes for diagnostics and therapeutics. Philip Gardner,

president and chief executive officer of AAPS, states, “The ap-

proach we take with AAPS and with TRIUMF is that [we] have a

scientific skill-set available [that we] build on.” After all, he believes,

there’s “no point doing things that you don’t have a great deal of

expertise in.”

PROOF against failure

PROOF diagnoses, prevents and treats heart, lung and kidney

failure by developing and commercializing biological markers.

These characteristic biomarkers, which can be measured, help

ensure that the right person gets the best treatment at the right

time.

Centre director Bruce McManus notes that B.C.’s scientific com-

munity was early in establishing an interdisciplinarity foundation

for itself. PROOF includes people from medicine, pathology, sur-

gery, pharmacology, computer science, statistics and engineering,

with exciting synergies unfolding. McManus observes that “trans-

lational research, to be effective, requires people to [work] outside

of their comfort zones, at the edges.”

Scott Tebbutt, chief scientific officer, explains that PROOF is

trying to personalize medicine, for prompter identification of

individual needs: “Right now, [people are] already well into organ

failure when they’re picked up in the health system, and there’s

often not much you can do.”

Ocean of knowledge

ONCCEE was founded on the vision of making Canada a global

leader in the science and technology of ocean-observation

systems. The intent: to maximize associated economic and social

benefits.

“What we’re trying to do is give a leg-up to Canadian industry

to prosper,” says Martin Taylor, president and chief executive of-

ficer of Ocean Networks Canada, the parent organization. Local

and international partnerships have always been key, he says, and

have furthered the research. “Pushing the envelope of science

pushes the envelope of technology.”

Navigating the long and winding road

PC-TRIADD steers anti-cancer therapeutics along the complex

path from discovery to use in patient care.

Since opening in the early 1990s, the Prostate Centre has

Philip Gardner, president and chief executive officer of TRIUMF offshoot Advanced

Applied Physics Solutions, beside a test stand during the initial stages of AAPS’s

innovative, patented approach to producing medical isotope Moly-99



been moving genetic mechanisms from

discovery to manipulation for the creation

of new biomarkers and therapeutics. Says

Martin Gleave, executive director of the

Prostate Centre, PC-TRIADD takes discov-

eries from “the bench to the bedside” in

translating research into practical applica-

tions. Scientists “drown in data,” he says,

“but the end game isn’t about creating

data; it’s about creating knowledge,” spe-

cifically that which applies to useful ends.

“That’s where ‘team science’ is important:

you keep your eye on the goal and ultim-

ately help humankind.”

A PREVENTion better than a cure

Collaborating with the Vaccine and

Infectious Disease Organization at the

University of Saskatchewan and the

Canadian Centre for Vaccinology in

Halifax, the British Columbia Centre for

Disease Control created PREVENT.

As it helps identify Canada’s priorities

in public health, PREVENT focuses on

several promising vaccines, including

those for the prevention of human

respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), E. coli

and salmonella. New compositions

to improve existing vaccines, reduce

side effects, ease delivery and stream-

line production costs are also under

development.

In promoting the expansion of

Canada’s vaccine industry, PREVENT has

pledged to license out vaccine candi-

dates, facilitate creation of four or more

products and develop a vaccinology

training program, all within five years.

Among vaccines currently fast-tracked

for commercialization are those for influ-

enza, pertussis (whooping cough) and

bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE,

mad-cow disease).

Nurturing small into large

Christopher Ryan, executive director,

Pacific region, National Research Council

Industrial Research Assistance Program

The National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research

Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) is committed to helping small and

medium-sized companies “research and develop innovative …

products and services through a network of 240 industrial

technology advisers (ITAs) across the county,” according to

Christopher Ryan, executive director for the Pacific region.

ITAs are engineers, scientists and business advisers. An

ITA working in life sciences in British Columbia, Lesley Esford

provides a unique kind of support: “If you’re part of a small, two-

person company just out of university, what could be better

than having ITAs who might be two PhDs

and an engineer sitting round a table with you?”

Says Ryan, an ITA and a company develop a close working

relationship. Ultimately, “NRC-IRAP program is an investment

by the Government of Canada in small and medium-sized

Canadian firms.”

It’s your career.Get it right.


www.bcit.ca/health

www.pbr.ca


Cycling faster

The CDRD is expert at project manage-

ment. According to Natalie Dakers, co-

founder and chief executive officer, it

excels in assembling the complex frame-

work needed to put life scientists’ discov-

eries on track toward commercialization.

The CDRD comprises “experts in drug

screening, formulation, delivery, pharma-

cology and toxicology, as well as clinicians

that provide insight into what the real

From injury to possibilityThe Rick Hansen Institute (RHI), based

at the new Blusson Spinal Cord Centre

at Vancouver General Hospital, is

a national network committed to

minimizing disability and maximizing

quality of life for Canadians with spinal

cord injuries (SCI). A major part of RHI’s

work is SCI translational research, in-

volving the application of discoveries

generated during laboratory research

and pre-clinical studies to the develop-

ment of trials and studies in humans

and, following success, preparation of

such knowledge for implementation

into practice. Minimizing paralysis after

SCI and reducing the impact of the

many serious secondary complications

are central themes of RHI’s translational

research program.

unmet medical [needs are] for their patients.”

The centre’s commercialization arm, Drug

Development Inc. (DDI), interacts with industry. It de-

velops and licenses technologies from academic part-

ners. Dakers emphasizes that the CDRD’s relationship

with Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc., the B.C.-based com-

pany specializing in discovery and development of gen-

etically based drugs, exemplifies the DDI’s ability to work

with local life-science and biotechnology industries. The

partnership is expected to help Xenon move its pro-

gram forward by reaching early-stage research goals and

project milestones.

Natalie Dakers, co-founder and chief

executive officer of the Centre for Drug

Research and Development, which

navigates therapeutics along the

complex road to production

Expert at project management, the Centre for Drug

Research and Development assembles the complex

framework needed to put life scientists’ discoveries

on track to commercialization

Knowledge to action.

From our home at Vancouver’s Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, the Rick

Hansen Institute is leading a Canada-wide effort to minimize disability

and maximize the quality of life of Canadians with spinal cord injuries –

through focused translational research, identification and implementation

of best practices, and development of community partnerships. Visit

www.rickhanseninstitute.org to learn more and get involved.


www.rickhanseninstitute.org


YEAR IN REVIEWCompiled by Andrew Topf

March 9, 2009: LifeSciences British

Columbia Awards 2009 announced

Recipients: Ben Koop, Centre for Biomedical

Research, University of Victoria, and

William Davidson, professor, department

of molecular biology and biochemistry,

Simon Fraser University, won the Genome

BC Award for Scientifi c Excellence; John

Babcook, principal scientist, won the Amgen

British Columbia Innovation & Achievement

Award; Jack Saddler, dean, faculty of forestry,

University of British Columbia, and Julio

Montaner, director, B.C. Centre for Excellence

in HIV/AIDS, received Leadership Awards;

Response Biomedical Corp. was named

Medical Device Company of the Year;

and OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and

Nexterra Systems Corp. were each named

Life Science Company of the Year.

April 3, 2009: British Columbia supports

bioenergy with $32.6 million

The provincial government invested $32.6

million to help commercialize B.C.’s bio-

fuel and clean-energy technologies and

reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Lignol

Innovations Corp. received a grant of

$3.4 million to produce cellulosic ethanol

and other products from under-used

forest resources, especially material from

lodgepole pines killed by the pine-beetle

epidemic. (For more on Lignol and other

companies in bioproducts and bioenergy,

see page 18.)

April 9, 2009: Surrey student wins prize

with research into Alzheimer’s disease

Research that could lead to an improved

treatment for Alzheimer’s placed fi rst

in the 2009 Sanofi -Aventis BioTalent

Challenge. Surrey student Linda Liu won

with her study into the tangling of a pro-

tein that can cause this and other neuro-

logical diseases (see page 23).

June 11, 2009: Xenon, Merck to

collaborate on cardiovascular disease

Burnaby-based Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Inc. announced a strategic alliance with

Merck & Co., Inc., through an affi liate, to

discover and develop small molecules for

the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

The agreement gives Merck the exclusive

option to license drug targets from Xenon

for development and commercialization.

In return, Xenon receives research funding

and is eligible for up to US $94.5 million for

the fi rst target and up to US $89.5 million

for each subsequent target.

July 7, 2009: Life-science companies

among Ernst & Young Entrepreneur

of the Year Awards

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the

Year Awards added a life-science category.

Recipients: Ross MacLachlan, president

and chief executive offi cer, Lignol;

Jonathan Rhone, chief executive offi cer,

Nexterra; Scott Cormack, president and

chief executive offi cer, OncoGenex; Brad

Miller, president, IMW Industries Ltd.;

Andrew Rae, president and chief executive

offi cer, iCo Therapeutics Inc.; and Simon

Pimstone, president and chief executive

offi cer, Xenon.

July 19–22, 2009: B.C. profi led at 2009

BIO World Congress, Montreal

The World Congress on Industrial

Biotechnology & Bioprocessing brought

delegates from around the world to

Montreal to share information and

business-partnering opportunities. Life

Sciences British Columbia (LSBC) par-

ticipated in the Queensland, Australia,

leadership luncheon and co-hosted the

Team BC Dinner with the British Columbia

Innovation Council (BCIC). LSBC and BCIC

shared an exhibition booth. They co-

hosted the BC Showcase & Networking

event, which, attended by more than 60

guests, featured BC Hydro, Genome British

Columbia, Lignol, Canadian Bioenergy

Corp. and international partnerships

with Queensland. (For B.C.’s role in bio-

energy, see page 18; for more on the B.C.-

Queensland connection, see page 16).

July 28, 2009: Companies collaborate

on heart-drug commercialization

Merck and Cardiome Pharma Corp.

of Vancouver announced a major

collaboration and licensing agreement for

the commercialization of vernakalant, a

candidate for the treatment of atrial fi bril-

lation (see pages 26 and 45).

September 18, 2009: Life Science

Ambassador Programme launched

LSBC launched a partnership with the

Medicon Valley Alliance (MVA), based in

Copenhagen, Denmark. The Life Science

Ambassador Programme facilitates the

exchange of representatives between the

MVA and leading life-sciences clusters

around the world. B.C. is one of 12 clusters

chosen to participate. LSBC’s ambassador,

Søren Harbel, is working in Copenhagen

for three years, promoting connections

among participating clusters. Meanwhile,

Morten Faester, MVA’s ambassador to B.C.,

is working with LSBC and the regional

local life-science community during this

same period. (See story on international

partnerships, page 14.)

September 22, 2009: Industry leaders

elected to LSBC board of directors

Two new board members were elected,

having demonstrated leadership in B.C.’s

life sciences: Jack Saddler, dean and pro-

fessor, faculty of forestry, UBC, and Ali

Tehrani, president and chief executive of-

fi cer, Zymeworks Inc. Outgoing directors

are Don Avison, past president, Research

Universities’ Council of British Columbia,

and Robert Butchofsky, president and

chief executive offi cer, QLT Inc.

October 2, 2009: Genomics exhibition

opens at Science World

A hands-on, 2500-square-foot exhibition

on genome sciences that ran at Science

World from October 2, 2009, to January 4,

2010, gave local high-school students the

opportunity to explore DNA, genes and

genomics (see page 22).

October 7, 2009: BC Bioenergy Network

signs MOU with Terasen Gas

The BC Bioenergy Network (BCBN) and

Terasen Gas entered into a strategic



agreement to further the commer-

cialization of bioenergy technolo-

gies in B.C. The parties agreed to

co-operate on increasing the under-

standing of bioenergy opportunities

in B.C., on increasing the number and

success of investment opportunities

for common projects and potentially

on leveraging funding for projects that

advance the bioenergy objectives of

Terasen and BCBN.

October 16, 2009: Federal grant

to support B.C.’s life sciences

The federal government expressed its sup-

port of the province’s life sciences with

the announcement of a $754,000 grant

through Western Economic Diversifi cation

Canada under the Western Diversifi cation

Program. This funding allows LSBC to

implement a multi-year strategic plan for

strengthening the workforce and the sec-

tor’s economic capabilities. Activities will

include marketing, public education and

outreach programs to increase research

collaboration and investment capital.

October 29, 2009: Conference

partnership explores wireless health

LSBC participated in the Wireless Health

Pavilion at the 2009 CTIA Wireless I.T. &

Entertainment Conference in San Diego.

November 2009: UBC professors elected

Royal Society of Canada fellows

Alan Mackworth, professor of computer

science, and Adele Diamond, professor in

the department of psychiatry, both at UBC,

were elected fellows of the Royal Society

of Canada. Mackworth, a world leader in

robotics, founded the robot soccer chal-

lenge, RoboCup. Diamond’s contributions

have signifi cantly improved the treatment

of phenylketonuria, autism and attention-

defi cit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Her

expertise in cognitive psychology and

neuroscience led to the creation of a new

subfi eld of psychology called develop-

mental cognitive neuroscience.

November 4, 2009: Genomic research

will enable greener clean-up of

military explosive test-sites

Lindsay Eltis, professor of microbiology

and immunology at UBC, is leading

a project funded by Genome BC

called Genomic Studies of Explosives

Biodegradation. This $3.45-million project

will study how bacteria degrade cyclotri-

methylenetrinitramine (RDX), a powerful

compound used to propel tank shells, and

determine how to maximize its potential

for bioremediation. The research, which is

also funded by the United States military,

presents a welcome alternative to the cur-

rent option for clean-up at these sites: a

costly, invasive process involving removal

of the top layer of soil by dump truck and

disposal by incineration.

November 16, 2009: Genomics to

provide more eff ective treatment

options for mining wastewater

Companies facing the challenge of

cleaning up toxic wastewater from

mining operations will soon have more

reliable bioremediation options. New

research from Genome BC will harness

the potential of microbes naturally

present in mine bioremediation to help

improve strategies for cleaning up con-

taminated mine sites. This method will

provide a valuable alternative to some

current mine effl uent-treatment methods

that require large-scale employment

of chemicals to treat water contamin-

ated by metal-leaching and acid rock

drainage. Susan Baldwin, professor in the

department of chemical and biological

engineering, UBC, is leading a $1.5-million

project titled Development of Genomic

Tools for Monitoring and Improving

Passive Mitigation of Mine Drainage.

November 30, 2009: MaRS Innovation and

CDRD announce strategic collaboration

MaRS Innovation (MI) and the Centre for

Drug Research and Development (CDRD)

entered into an agreement to collaborate

on projects of mutual interest, with the

goal of advancing and commercializing

early-stage health discoveries. The fi rst

joint project will involve technology

developed by Paul Fraser, professor in the

department of medical biophysics at the

University of Toronto, and Bruce Verchere,

associate professor in the department of

pathology and laboratory medicine

at UBC. The pair is investigating amyloid

aggregation inhibitors as a novel

approach to treating diabetes.

December 1, 2009: Es Sabar

announces decision to pursue

new opportunity at CDRD

President Karimah Es Sabar will leave

LSBC in April 2010 to become senior vice-

president, business and strategic aff airs,

CDRD. Es Sabar was appointed president

of LSBC in April 2005.

December 7, 2009: Genome BC

collaborates with Chile and Norway

to sequence salmon genome

A collaboration involving researchers,

funding agencies and industry from

Canada, Chile and Norway will sequence

the genome of the Atlantic salmon

(see story on international partnerships,

page 14).

January 12, 2010: Sunfl ower genome holds

promise for sustainable agriculture

A new research project funded by

Genome Canada, Genome BC, the U.S.

departments of Energy and Agriculture,

and France’s National Institute for

Agricultural Research will create a refer-

ence genome for the sunfl ower family,

currently the world’s largest plant family.

This US $10.5-million research project,

titled Genomics of Sunfl ower, will use

genotyping and sequencing technolo-

gies to sequence, assemble and annotate

the sunfl ower genome and locate the

genes responsible for agriculturally im-

portant traits such as seed-oil content,

fl owering, seed-dormancy and wood-

producing capacity.

January 15, 2010: Partnership

agreement accelerates BC Cancer

Agency Centre for the North

The BC Cancer Agency Centre for the

North project took a major step forward

with the signing of the fi nal partnership

agreement with Plenary Health. The

54,000-square-foot Centre for the North

will include two linear accelerators, which

are used in the delivery of radiation

therapy; one CT simulator; a chemo-

therapy-treatment unit; a pharmacy; gen-

eral outpatient clinics; professional staff

offi ces; and a parkade.

January 18, 2010: Scientists

unlock clues to lymphoma

Scientists from the BC Cancer Agency

have discovered a never-before-seen

“DNA spelling mistake,” or mutation,

in a gene called EZH2 in large B-cell

lymphoma and follicular lymphoma, the

two most common types of non-Hodg-

kins lymphoma. The groundbreaking dis-

covery was published in the international

science journal Nature Genetics.

January 19, 2010: Zymeworks

appoints David Tucker vice-

president of operations

Zymeworks, a privately held compu-

tational biotechnology company, has



appointed David Tucker to the position

of vice-president, operations. Tucker

brings more than 20 years of experi-

ence in technology development. Before

joining Zymeworks, Tucker was director

of product development at PMC-Sierra,

where he managed major projects in-

volving more than 100 employees.

January 19, 2010: Tekmira

improves potency of its leading

RNAi delivery platform

Burnaby-based Tekmira Pharmaceuticals

Corp. announced that new research

published in Nature Biotechnology discloses the

development of a new lipid

component that provides a ten-

fold improvement in the potency

of the company’s SNALP delivery plat-

form. The research was led by Tekmira sci-

entists and conducted in collaboration with

UBC and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

January 21, 2010: Genome-sequencing

project to track origins of H1N1

The BC Centre for Disease Control

has launched an infl uenza genome-

sequencing project to create better

understanding of how the H1N1 virus has

evolved, and may continue to evolve, in

B.C. The project will capitalize on B.C.’s

expertise in genome sequencing to gen-

erate hundreds of complete genomes

from circulating infl uenza viruses collected

in B.C. during the H1N1 pandemic, as

well as during and after the 2010 Winter

Olympics. By comparing the evolution of

B.C.’s H1N1 to that of viruses sequenced

in other regions, researchers hope to

learn how a mass gathering such as

the Olympics can impact H1N1’s genetic

sequence. The project will also allow re-

searchers to track the geographic origins

of the H1N1 virus that entered B.C. in 2009.

January 27, 2010: Fast Track Referral

System for mammography

results expanded

The BC Cancer Agency’s Screening

Mammography Program (SMP) expanded

the Fast Track Referral System to provide

all physicians in the province with access

to the program, which is designed to

reduce the time between an abnormal

screening mammography and further

diagnostic investigation. Earlier, general

practitioners had to enrol actively in the

system, or women needed to choose a

Fast Track clinic to benefi t from referrals

to diagnostic imaging following abnormal

mammographies. Now all doctors and

SMP participants will automatically have

access to Fast Track.

February 15, 2010: Lignol and Novozymes

to collaborate on biofuel from wood

Lignol has signed a Memorandum of

Understanding with Novozymes, the

world’s leading producer of industrial

enzymes. The multi-year agreement will

optimize Novozymes’ enzymes for use in

Lignol’s cellulosic biofuel process. Lignol

plans to construct large-scale biorefi n-

eries for production of cellulosic biofuel

from wood chips and forestry residues.

Novozymes supplies enzymes that con-

vert cellulosic biomass into sugars that can

be fermented into ethanol. The parties

plan to use Lignol’s pilot plant in Burnaby

to optimize enzyme performance across

a range of cellulosic feedstocks in Lignol’s

process.

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Biggest life sciences companies in B.C.

Business in Vancouver makes every attempt to publish accurate information in the List, but accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Researched by Richard Chu and Noa Glouberman, 604-608-5114.

Source: Business in Vancouver, March 2010



Academic & Research InstitutionsBC Cancer Agency675 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1L3

604-877-2000 www.bccancer.bc.ca BC Preclinical Research ConsortiumUBC Centre for Disease Modeling 2350 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

604-827-4325 www.bcprc.caBCIT3700 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby, BC V5G 3H2

604-432-8920 www.bcit.ca BCIT – UBC Biotechnology ProgramSW9-208 3700 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby, BC V5G 3H2

604-432-8324 www.health.bcit.ca/biotech/Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD)Suite 364-2259 Lower Mall, UBC, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

604-221-7750 www.cdrd.ca Child and Family Research Institute (CFRI)950 West 28th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4H4

604-875-2404 www.cfri.ca The iCAPTURE Centre#166-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

604-806-8346 www.icapture.ca ICORD6270 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

604-219-6871 www.icord.org PROOF Centre of ExcellenceRoom 166 Burrard Building, 1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

604-806-8934 www.proofcentre.ca Providence Health Care Research InstituteSt. Paul’s Hospital, 1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6

604-806-9608www.providencehealthcare.org

Research Universities’ Council of British ColumbiaSuite 400 – 880 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC V8W 2B7

250-480-4859 www.rucbc.ca SFU Joint Major in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Business AdministrationRoom SSB 8166, 888 University Drive SFU, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6

778-782-4152 www.sfu.ca SFU Management of Technology Program515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3

604-291-3925 www.sfu.ca Simon Fraser University – UILO888 University Drive, UILO Office, Mulit-Tenant Facility, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6

604-782-4292 www.sfu.ca/uilo Thompson Rivers UniversityBox 3010, 900 McGill Road, Kamloops, BC V2C 5N3

250-828-5740 www.tru.caTrinity Western University, Department of Biology7600 Glover Road, Langley, BC V2Y 1Y1

604-888-7511 www.twu.ca

TRIUMF4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 2A3

604-222-1047 www.triumf.caUniversity of British Columbia – Faculty of Medicine317-2194 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

604-822-2421 www.med.ubc.ca University of British Columbia – Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science2146 East Mall, Cunningham Bldg., Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

604-822-2343 www.ubcpharmacy.orgUniversity of British Columbia – MRI Research InstituteM10 Purdy Pavilion – 2221 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 2B5

604-822-6938 www.mriresearch.ubc.ca University of British Columbia – Sauder School of Business2053 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2

604-822-8555 www.sauder.ubc.ca/ University of British Columbia – UILO#103 – 6190 Agronomy Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

604-875-4111 www.uilo.ubc.caUniversity of British Columbia, Life Sciences Institute2350 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

604-827-3935 www.lsi.ubc.ca/ University of Northern BC3333 University Way, Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9

250-960-5555 www.unbc.ca University of VictoriaP.O. Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2

250-721-7002 www.uvic.ca Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI)Willow Chest Centre, Room 100, 2647 Willow Street, Vancouver, BC V5Z 3P1

604-875-5641 www.vchri.ca

AssociationsAceTech900-1188 W Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 4A2

604-683-5852 www.acetech.org Ag-West Bio Inc.101-111 Research Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 3R2

306-975-1939 www.agwest.sk.ca BC Cancer Foundation600 – 686 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1G1

604-877-6098www.bccancerfoundation.com

BC Technology Industries Association (BCTIA)900 – 1188 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 4A2

604-683-6159 www.bctia.org/

BioTalent Canada1710-130 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4

613-235-1402 www.biotalent.ca

BIOTECanada130 Albert Street, Suite 420, Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4

613-230-5585 www.biotech.ca/

Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D)55 Metcalfe Street, Suite 1220, Ottawa, ON K1P 6L5

250-478-6221 www.canadapharma.org

Genome BC500-555 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1C6

604-738-8072 www.genomebc.ca

IFC British ColumbiaSuite 1170 – Park Place666 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 2X8

604-683-6626 www.ifcbc.com

MITACSSuite 301 – Technology Enterprise Facility, University of British Columbia, 6190 Agronomy Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

604-822-9189 www.mitacs.ca

Student Biotechnology Network (SBN)The Accelerator Centre at UBC – Suite 200, 2386 East Mall, Gerald McGavin Building, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

604-767-4712 www.sbn.ubc.ca

Vancouver Board of TradeWorld Trade Centre, Suite 400, 999 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC V6C 3E1

604-681-2111www.vancouverboardoftrade.com

Vancouver Economic Development Commission#1620 – 1075 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 3C9

604-632-9668www.vancouvereconomic.com

Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association200 First Avenue West, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98119

206-624-1967 www.wabio.org

WINBC (merged to form DigiBC now)900-1188 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 4A2

604-604-5237 www.winbc.org

BioinformaticsGenomeDx Biosciences Inc.#201 – 1595 West 3rd Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6J 1J8

604-760-0160 www.genomedx.com/GenomeDx is a new genomics company developing clinical support tools for the management of chronic disease.

Kinexus Bioinformatics Corp.Suite 1 – 8755 Ash Street, Vancouver, BC V6P 6T3

604-323-2547 www.kinexus.caKinexus Bioinformatics Corporation maps the cell signalling networks of protein kinase enzymes for the treatment, diagnosis and prognosis of human diseases. Protein kinases are the key proteins for communication and control inside cells.

BiopharmaceuticalsAlectos Therapeutics8999 Nelson Way, Burnaby, BC V5A 4B5

604-628-7129 www.alectos.comAlectos Therapeutics is a chemistry-focusedbiotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of small-moleculedrugs.

Allon Therapeutics IncSuite 506, 1168 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2S2

604-736-0634 www.allontherapeutics.comAllon Therapeutics Inc. (TSX:NPC) is a Vancouver-based biotechnology company developing drugs that protect against neurogenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis and neuropathy.

Amgen British Columbia7990 Enterprise Street, Burnaby, BC V5A 1V7

604-676-8300 www.amgen.comAmgen British Columbia Inc., one of several research facilities operated by Amgen Inc., specializes in the discovery and development of human therapeutic antibodies. The research center, located in Burnaby, became part of Amgen with Amgen’s acquisition of Abgenix, Inc. in April 2006. It employs approximately 65 people, including research scientists and a small support staff. Amgen is headquartered in the United States and has more than 17,000 staff members worldwide.

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc.1618 Station Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 1B6

604-221-7676 www.angiotech.com/Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANPI; TSX:ANP) is a Canadian pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of medical device coatings and treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases through reformulation of paclitaxel. Several pharmaceutical therapies are in clinical development and the paclitaxel-coated coronary stent program is currently in multiple international clinical studies. Other medical device programs include paclitaxel-loaded surgical implants.



Aquinox Pharmaceuticals Inc.Suite 600 – 555 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 3X7

888-279-2782 www.aquinox.comAquinox Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company committed to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel and targeted small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory disease. ARC Pharmaceuticals102-2386 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

604-222-9577 www.arcpharma.comARC Pharmaceuticals Inc. is developing innovative medical products for the treatment of surgical adhesions, a major complication in a high proportion of common surgical procedures.

Augurex Life Sciences Corp1423 Dempsey Road, North Vancouver, BC V7K 1S7

778-839-3319 www.augurex.com Augurex Life Sciences Corp. develops biomarker technologies to screen people for diseases that when identified can be promptly treated, thereby delivering the benefit of earlier detection and greater treatment success.

Cardiome Pharma Corp.6190 Agronomy Road 6th Floor, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

604-677-6905 www.cardiome.comCardiome Pharma Corp. is a product-focusedcardiovascular drug development company with two clinical drug programs focused on atrial arrhythmia (intravenous and oral dosing), and a pre-clinical program directed at improving cardiovascular function.

Celator Pharmaceuticals1779 W 75th Ave, Vancouver, BC V6P 6P2

604-708-5858 www.celator.caCelator Technologies Inc. is a private biopharmaceutical company developing new carrier technology for targeting combinations of rationally selected chemotherapeutic agents to sites of disease.

Clera Inc.3428 West 26th Ave., Vancouver, BC V6S 1N5

604-684 2338 www.clera.comClera develops central nervous system drugs to treat psychosis and depression without significant side effects.

enGene Inc.2386 East Mall, Suite 100, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

604-221-4362 www.engeneinc.comenGene, Inc. is a private biotechnology company based in Vancouver, Canada. The Company’s novel approach to manufacturing and delivering therapeutic proteins either into the bloodstream or to specific diseased gut tissues offers significant advances over existing technologies. enGene is devoted to finding a cure for diabetes and its complications.

iCo Therapeutics Inc.Suite 760 – 777 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1S4

604-602-9414 www.icotherapeutics.com/iCo Therapeutics Inc. is a Vancouver-basedreprofiling company focused on redosing or reformulating drugs with clinical history for new or expanded indications. iCo has exclusive worldwide rights to three products, iCo-007,in Phase I for the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema, iCo-008, a product with Phase II clinical history to be developed for severe ocular allergies, and iCo-009, an oral reformulation of Amphotericin B for sight and life threatening diseases.

Inimex Pharmaceuticals Inc.8540 Baxter Place, Burnaby, BC V5A 4T8

604-225-2251 www.inimexpharma.comInimex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a Vancouver B.C. based private biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of new medicines based on the up-regulation and control of the innate immune response.

Kalgene Pharma Inc.P.O.BOX 78536, University Postal Outlet, Vancouver, BC V6T 2E7

604-375-4519 www.kalgene.com/KalGene Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Kalgene”) is a privately-held Canadian company focused on the development of oncology therapeutics and companion diagnostics.

MSI Methylation Sciences Inc.Unit 108 4475 Wayburne Drive, Burnaby, BC V5G 4X4

604-926-5657www.methylationsciences.com

Methylation Sciences, Inc.(MSI) has patented a new formulation of a naturally occurring human molecule called S-Adenosyl Methionine (SAMe). SAMe has been produced and sold as a prescription drug in parts of Europe and as a dietary supplement (natural or food based treatment) in the US for more than 10 years. In physician trials, it is equally as effective as current antidepressant drug therapy (i.e. Prozac) but is free of some of the most intolerable side effects.

Network Immunology3311 Quesnel Drive, Vancouver, BC V6S 1Z7

778-846-7521www.networkimmunologyinc.com

Network Immunology is a Vancouver based biotech company that is developing an HIV vaccine. This vaccine is fundamentally different from all the previous failed attempts to develop an HIV vaccine. The underlying theory that led to this vaccine concept is the network theory of adaptive immunity.

Neurodyn Inc.1260 – 1188 West Georgia Street550 University Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6E 4A2

604-619-0990 www.neurodyn.caNeurodyn Inc, a Canadian biotechnology company, is developing and marketing early stage, pre-clinical, diagnostic and theraputic products to treat neurodegeneration.

Neuromed Pharmaceuticals301-2389 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

604-909-2530 www.neuromed.comNeuromed is a biopharmaceutical company developing new and improved pain therapies. Neuromed’s goal is to develop safer and more effective pain drugs. We are combining our pharmaceutical expertise in research, development and commercialization to improve existing and develop new pain therapies.

OncoGenex Technologies Inc.#400 – 1001 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6H 4B1

604-736-3678 www.oncogenex.caOncoGenex Technologies Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing targeted therapeutics for Cancer. OncoGenex has built a solid product portfolio, recruited a highly skilled and experienced management team and Board of Directors, and has established strategic alliances that enable rapid drug development and access to state-of-the-art technology.

Ondine Biopharma Corporation910 – 1100 Melville Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 4A6

604-669-0555 www.ondinebiopharma.comOndine Biopharma Corporation is developing non-antibiotic therapies for the treatment of bacterial, fungal and viral infections. The Company is focused on developing and commercializing innovative products using its patented light-activated technology.

Pacgen Biopharmaceuticals CorpSuite 1730, 1 Bentall Center, 505 Burrard St, PO Box 96, Vancouver, BC V7X 1M6

604-436-4388 www.pacgenbiopharm.comPacgen Biopharmaceuticals Corporation is an international biotechnology company specializing in the development of innovative peptide therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and immune system regulations where current therapeutics are inadequate or ineffective.

Phyton Biotech1527 Cliveden Avenue, Delta, BC V3M 6P7

604-777-2340www.naturalpharmacanada.com

Phyton Biotech GmbH is the world leader in the application of plant cell culture technology for the commercial production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients.

Protox Therapeutics1210-885 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 3E8

604-688-4369www.protoxtherapeutics.com

Protox Therapeutics uses genetic engineering to transform naturally occurring proteins into novel targeted therapeutics for the treatment of prostate diseases and various cancers. Protox is advancing a pipeline of clinical-stageproduct candidates derived from its PORxin™ and INxin™ technology platforms.

QLT Inc.887 Great Northern Way, Suite 101, Vancouver, BC V5T 4T5

604-707-7000 www.qltinc.comQLT Inc. is a global biopharmaceutical company specializing in developing treatments for cancer, eye diseases and dermatological and urological conditions. The brightest minds in science and business combined with a corporate culture that values teamwork, creativity and innovation, have brought us to the leading edge in the field of world health.

Qu Biologics Inc.1116 Ironwork Passage, Vancouver, BC V6H 3P1

604-734-1450 www.qubiologics.comBased on more than 25 years of clinical experience in the use of Site Specific Immunotherapy (SSIs) to stimulate the innate immune response to cancer, with compelling clinical and animal study data, Qu Biologics is poised to become a leader at the cutting edge of an innovative revolution in cancer treatment.

Sirius Genomics Inc603 1125 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2K8

604-484-7195 www.siriusgenomics.comSirius Genomics Inc. (SGI) strategically discovers and patents important variations of the genes which are involved with drugs used in treating critically ill patients having severe infections or other critical illness. This information can be used to select the right drug for each individual patient. SGI’s discoveries will make possible dramatic improvement in the results of clinical care and clinical trials through the better selection of appropriate patient populations.

Sirona Biochem Corp950-789 West Pender Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1H2

604-641-4466 www.sironabiochem.comSirona Biochem Corp. has intentions of becoming a biotech company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative biochemical molecules. We are committed to improving the quality of life through innovative research and therapeutics. Our current focus is on treatments for Type II Diabetes and Obesity.

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation200 – 8900 Glenlyon Parkway, Burnaby, BC V5J 5J8

604-419-3200 www.tekmirapharm.com/Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation is a Burnaby, BC-based biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing proprietary drugs and drug delivery systems to improve the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

TrichoScience Innovations Inc.200 – 455 Granville St, Vancouver, BC V7G 2L3

604-248-8732 www.trichoscience.comTrichoScience Innovations Inc. is a privately-held corporation based in Vancouver BC, Canada. The company is engaged in the ongoing development of its patent-pending hair cell replication procedure and the management and administration of human clinical trials.

Twinstrand Therapeutics Inc.Suite 309 – 267 West Esplanade, North Vancouver, BC V7M 1A5

604-415-7180 www.twinstrand.comTwinstrand Therapeutics Inc. is a privately owned biopharmaceutical company with modern laboratories and offices in Burnaby, British Columbia. Twinstrand specializes in the development of recombinant therapeutics for the treatment of human diseases.

Upstream Biosciences Inc.200-1892 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6J 1Y9

604-638-1674 www.upstreambio.comUpstream Biosciences Inc. is a biotechnology company, founded in 2004. We discover, develop, and license genetic based diagnostics for cancer susceptibility and drug response. Our proprietary data mining pipeline enables us to locate and analyze genetic variations in the regions of DNA ‘upstream’ of the gene, the ‘gene switches,’ which control the quantities and timing of expression of the genes and proteins important to disease and drug response.

Valocor Therapeutics Inc.1300 – 777 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC V7Y 1K2

604-295-0729 www.valocor.comValocor Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage private biotech company dedicated to developing new therapies to treat dermatological conditions with unmet medical needs

Welichem Biotech Inc.316-4475 Wayburne Drive, Burnaby, BC V5G 3L1

604-432-1703 www.welichem.com/Welichem Biotech Inc. (“Welichem”, TSX-V: WBI) is engaged in the discovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutics. Using its Symbiochem technology platform, the Company has developed a robust pipeline of patent-protected compounds that target autoimmune/inflammatory diseases and cancers.

Wex Pharmaceuticals Inc.1601-700 West Pender Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1G8

604-683-8880 www.wextech.caWex Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery of new therapeutic agents for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, symptom relief associated with addiction withdrawal from opioid abuse, and medicines designed for local and regional anaesthesia.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.3650 Gilmore Way, Burnaby, BC V5G 4W8

604-484-3300 www.xenon-pharma.com/Xenon Pharmaceuticals is a privately owned, clinical genetics-based drug discovery and development company engaged in developing small molecule therapies based on the genetic causes of select metabolic, neurological and cardiovascular diseases.

Zymeworks Inc.540-1385 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6H 3V9

604-678-1388 www.zymeworks.comZymeworks Inc. is a privately held computational biotechnology company focused on optimizing therapeutic antibodies and other protein-based therapeutics. Zymeworks is entering into strategic collaborations to optimize existing therapeutics, and is committed to building a pipeline of antibody-based therapeutics through improving failed or abandoned assets

Bioproducts & BioenergyBC Hydro333 Dunsmuir Street, 9th Floor, Vancouver, BC V6B 5R3

604-623-3514 www.bchydro.comAs the third largest electric utility in Canada, BC Hydro serves customers in an area containing over 94% of British Columbia’s population. BC Hydro endeavours to provide energy solutions to its customers in an environmentally and socially responsible way by balancing British Columbians’ energy needs with the concerns of the environment.



BC Milk Producers Association3236 Beta Avenue, Burnaby, BC V5G 4K4

604-294-3737 www.bcmilkproducers.ca British Columbia Milk Producers Association (BCMPA) is the voice of all dairy farmers in British Columbia, since it was founded in 1936 under the name of BC Federation of Agriculture.Brinkman Forest Ltd.520 Sharpe St., New Westminster, BC V3M 4R2

604-521-5771 www.brinkman.caBrinkman & Associates Reforestation Ltd is Canada’s oldest and foremost reforestation company. Since 1970, the company has planted over 900 million trees and currently manages approximately 1 million hectares of forest land. Although its roots are in reforestation, the company has grown into a broader forestry services management company, remaining a leader and innovator in Canadian forestry. Canadian BioenergySuite #310 – 221 West Esplanade, North Vancouver, BC V7M 3J3

604-960-0354 www.canadianbioenergy.comCanadian Bioenergy Corporation is Western Canada’s leading supplier of biodiesel, a cleaner-burning diesel fuel made from natural, renewable resources. Biodiesel can significantly reduce emissions without sacrificing performance and reliability and it works in regular diesel-powered vehicles, so no engine modifications are necessary. Canadian Pacific Algae3145 Headland Road, Nanaimo, BC V9X 1N8

604-538-6650 www.pacificplankton.comCanadian Pacific Phytoplankton Ltd. is located in Nanaimo, BC, with partners located in nine countries. The company has the ability to grow phytoplankton using its patent pending technology. Carbon Credit Corp.Suite 1910, 777 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC V7Y 1K4

604-628 2494 www.carboncreditcorp.bizCarbon Credit Corp (CCC) is a BC incorporated technology and ecosystem services company, providing comprehensive technology solutions, consultancy and services related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate protection to organizations worldwide.

Lignol InnovationsUnit 101 – 4705 Wayburne Drive, Burnaby, BC V5G 3L1

604-222-9800 www.lignol.caLignol is a Canadian company based in BC which is undertaking to construct biorefineries for the production of fuel-grade ethanol and biochemicals from Canadian forests and vast supplies of biomass feedstocks. Linnaeus Plant Sciences244 – 4438 West 10th Ave., Vancouver, BC V6R 4R8

604-224-5700 www.linnaeus.netAt Linnaeus Plant Sciences we are engineering specialized plants to provide oils that can be used to replace entire families of petroleum-based industrial feedstocks. Terasen Gas16705 Fraser Highway, Surrey, BC V4N 0E8

604-576-7000 www.terasengas.comTerasen Gas delivers natural gas and piped propane to homes and businesses throughout BC. They’re focused on connecting our customers safely, efficiently and reliably to the energy and services they need.

Business ConsultantsBioPharma Solutions1277 Nelson Street, Suite 1502, Vancouver, BC V6E 4M8

604-408-4310www.BioPharmaSolutions.com

BroadReach BioSystems Inc.206-420-0306 www.broadreachbio.com

Gigha Consulting800 – 15355 24th Avenue, White Rock, BC V4A 2H9

604-531-7363 www.gighaconsulting.com h2h Clinical Research Services3728 West 22nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6S 1J6

778-235-2528 www.h2hclinical.ca

Malachite Management Inc.375 West 5th Avenue, Suite 201, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1B3

604-874-4004 www.malachite-mgmt.com

McCarthy Consultant Services Inc.8 – 1151 Gorham Street, Newmarket, ON L3Y 8Y1

905-836-0033 www.mccarthyconsultant.com PharmEng Technology210 – 10691 Shellbridge Way, Richmond, BC V6X 2W8

604-303-0445 www.pharmeng.comPrime Strategies475-425 Carrall Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 6E3

604-689-3446 www.pr1me.ca/ Rocket Builders300 – 1275 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6H 1A6

604-839-5388 www.rocketbuilders.comSnowdon & Associates3074 Spencer Place, West Vancouver, BC V7V 3C9

604-926-9111Technology Vision Group LLC5200 Soquel Ave., Suite 202, Santa Cruz, CA 95062

831-464-4230 www.techvision.com Tees Consulting Corp2880 Trimble Street, Vancouver, BC V6R 4L4

604-839-4284 www.teesconsulting.com True North Synergy5371 Kew Cliff Road, West Vancouver, BC V7W 1M3Wisdahl Consulting Group14988 82A Avenue, Surrey, BC V3S 7R9

604-916-4452

CommunicationsBusiness in Vancouver102 East 4th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5T 1G2

604-608-5160 www.biv.comCanister Creative Inc.2440 East Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V5K 2J5

604-803-6853 www.canistercreative.com

Contract Research & Scientific ServicesAcclivity Enzymes2275 132A Street, Surrey, BC V4A 9W5

604-612-1418 www.acclivityenzymes.com Alberta Research Council – ToxTestPO Bag 4000, Vegreville, AB T9C 1T4

780-632-8354 www.arc.ab.ca/toxtest Alphalyse Inc.Ste 375 101-1001 W. Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6H 4H9

604-566-3554 www.alphalyse.com ASKA Research#300 – 601 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4C2

604-736-3166 www.askaresearch.comAurora Biomed Inc.1001 E. Pender Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 1W2

604-215-8700 www.aurorabiomed.com/ BRI Biopharmaceutical Research Inc.#101-8898 Heather Street, Vancouver, BC V6P 3S8

604-432-9237 www.bripharm.comCanadian External Quality Assessment Laboratory (CEQAL)307 – 2083 Alma Street, Vancouver, BC V6R 4N6

604-222-1355 www.eqa.com. CANTEST Ltd.4606 Canada Way, Burnaby, BC V5G 1K5

604-734-7276 www.cantest.com

Fulcrum Regulatory ServicesPO Box 20035 Mission Hills RPOMission Hills RPO, Mission, BC V2V 7P8

604-820-9336 www.fulcrumpharma.comGE Healthcare500 Morgan Blvd., Baie d’Urfe, PQ H9X 3V1

514-457-7000www.gehealthcare.com/lifesciences

Globe Laboratories Inc.1-8755 Ash Street, Vancouver, BC V6P 6T3

604-325-9643 www.globelaboratories.comI.G. MicroMed Environmental Inc.190-12860 Clarke Place, Richmond, BC V6V 2H1

604-279-0666 www.igmicromed.com/

i3 CanReg4 Innovation Drive, Dundas, ON L9H 7P3

905-689-3980 www.canreginc.com

ImmunoPrecise3204-4464 Markham Street, Victoria, BC V8Z 7X8

250-812-8514 www.immuno-precise.comLifebank Cryogenics Corp.Suite 200 – 4475 Wayburne Drive, Burnaby, BC V5G 4X4

604-738-2722 www.lifebank.com Northern Lipids Inc.8855 Northbrook Court, Burnaby, BC V5J 5J1

604-222-2548 www.northernlipids.comPacific Rim Laboratories#103, 19575 – 55A Avenue, Surrey, BC V3S 8P8

604-532-8711 pacificrimlabs.com

PBR Laboratories Inc.9960 – 67 Avenue NW, Edmonton, AB T6E 0P5

780-450-3957 www.pbr.caPenn Pharmaceutical Services1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801

925-787-6886 www.pennpharm.com SignalChem Pharmaceuticals Inc.Suite 550 – 5600 Parkwood Way, Richmond, BC V6V 2M2

604-232 www.signalchem.com

Syreon Corp.450 – 1385 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6H 3V9

604-676-5900 www.syreon.com

Wax-it Histology Services202 – 2386 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

604-822-1595 www.waxitinc.comWorld Courier of Canada Ltd.91 Skyway Avenue Unit 104, Toronto, ON M9W 6R5

800-387-3381 www.worldcourier.com

Facilities and Real EstateChernoff Thompson Architects110 – 1281 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 3J5

604-669-9460 www.cta.bc.ca/

Canada’s National Laboratoryfor Particle and Nuclear Physics

For the past 40 years, TRIUMF has been a leader in subatomic physics and nuclear medicine.

Applications of TRIUMF accelerator technology in thelife sciences includePET imaging,proton therapy,and medical research.

radiochemistry, nuclear medicine, andsuperconducting radio-frequency cavities for the next generation of particle accelerators.

For the next decade, TRIUMFis focusing on the

development of


www.triumf.ca


Colliers InternationalSuite 1910, 200 Granville Street, Surrey, BC V3T 5T3

604-661-0893 www.colliers.comDiscovery Parks Trust100-887 Great Northern Way, Vancouver, BC V5T 4T5

604-734-7275 www.discoveryparks.comVancouver Island Technology Park Trust2201 – 4464 Markham Street, Victoria, BC V8Z 7X8

250-483-3203 www.vitp.ca

Financial Services & InsuranceAbnousi Financial Consultants

604-218-4594 www.abnousi.comAON900 Howe Street, PO Box 3228, Vancouver, BC V6B 3X8

604-688-8591 www.aon.com ARCH Venture Partners1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3700, Seattle, WA 98104

206-674-3278 www.archventure.com/BDC-Venture Capital505 Burrard Street, Suite 200, PO Box 6, Vancouver, BC V7X 1V3

604-666-7815 www.bdc.ca

Deloitte & Touche LLP2800-1055 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC V7X 1P4

604-669-4466 www.deloitte.ca Ernst & Young LLPPO Box 10101, 2300-700 West Georgia St, Vancouver, BC V7Y 1C7

604-891-8449 www.eycan.com Growth Works Capital Ltd.PO Box 11170 2600 -1055 W. Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 3R5

604-633-1418 www.growthworks.caLions Capital Corp.Suite 1280 – 885 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 3E8

604-688-6877www.bcadvantagefunds.com/

PricewaterhouseCoopersSuite 2000 – 250 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 3S7

604-806-7000 www.pwc.comRBC Knowledge Based Industries1055 West Georgia St., 36th Floor, Vancouver, BC V6E 3S5

604-665-3135www.rbcroyalbank.com/kbi/

Ventures West Management Inc.Suite 2500-1066 West Hastings Street, P.O. Box 12539, Vancouver, BC V6E 3X1

604-688-9495 www.ventureswest.com

Government

BC Innovation Council900 – 1188 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 4A2

604-602-5204 www.bcic.ca British Consulate-General Vancouver800-1111 Melville Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 3V6

604-683-4421 www.britaincanada.org Michael Smith Foundation For Health ResearchSuite 200, 1285 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6H 3X8

604-714-6336 www.msfrg.org New Zealand Consulate/New Zealand Trade and Enterprise1200-888 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 3K4

604-684 7388 www.nzte.govt.nz/ NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP)650-1185 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V5G 3H2

604-602-5254 irap-pari.nrc-cnrc.gc.caNSERC PacificSuite 407 – 138 Melville Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 4S3

604-666-8818 www.nserc.caState of Illinois Canada Office1 Eva Road, Suite 301, Toronto, ON M9C 4Z5

416-695-9888 www.commerce.state.il.us

Human ResourcesATP Scientific Recruiters Inc.100 King Street, 37th Floor, Toronto, ON M5X 1C9

877-556-0344www.atpscientificrecruiters.com

Goldbeck Recruiting510-475 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 4M9

604-684-1428 www.goldbeck.com

International Pharmaceutical CorporationsAstraZeneca Canada Inc.1004 Middlegate Rd., Mississauga, ON L4Y 1M4

800-565-5877 www.astrazeneca.ca

Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada4590 Windsor Street, Vancouver, BC V6V 4P7

604-675-9091 www.bms.com COVIDIEN7300 Trans-Canada Hwy, Pointe-Claire, PQ H9R IC7

1877-664-8926 www.covidien.comEli Lilly Canada Inc.5120 Wilson Drive, Delta, BC V4M 1P4

604-948-1297 www.lilly.ca GlaxoSmithKline7333 Mississauga Rd, Mississauga, ON L5N 6L7

905-819-3000 www.gsk.com/ Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.2455 Meadowpine Boulevard, Mississauga, ON L5N 6L7

905-542-5718 www.rochecanada.com/Merck16711 Trans Canada Highway, Kirkland, QC H9H 3L1

514-428-8599 www.merckfrosst.ca Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc.385 Bouchard Blvd, Dorval, QC H9S 1A9

514-631-6775 www.novartis.ca Pfizer Canada Inc.17300 Trans-Canada Highway, Kirkland, QC H9J 2M5

514-695-0500 www.pfizer.ca sanofi pasteur1755 Steeles Avenue West, Bldg. 83, Room 214J, North York, ON M2R 3T4

416-667-2439 www.sanofipasteur.com sanofi-aventis2150 St. Elzear Blvd. West, Laval, PQ H7L 4A8

514-331-9220 www.sanofi-aventis.caVifor Pharma1203-4464 Markham Street, Victoria, BC V8Z 7X8

250-744-2488 www.aspreva.comWyeth Canada50 Minthorn Blvd., Markham, ON L3T 7Y2

905-470-3960 www.wyeth.com/

Legal ServicesBlake, Cassels & Graydon LLP595 Burrard Street, P.O. Box 49314, Suite 2600, Three Bentall Centre, Vancouver, BC V7X 1L3

604-631-3362 www.blakes.ca Borden Ladner Gervais LLP1200 – 200 Burrard Street, PO Box 48600, Vancouver, BC V7X 1T2

604-687-5744 www.blgcanada.comBull, Housser & Tupper LLP3000 Royal Centre, PO Box 11130, 1055 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 3R3

604-687-4936 www.bht.com/DuMoulin Black LLP595 Howe Street, 10th Floor, Vancouver, BC V6C 2T5

604-687-1224 www.dumoulinblack.com Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP25th Floor, 700 W Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V7Y 1B3

604-684-9151 www.farris.com

Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLPBentall 5 2900 – 550 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 0A3

604-631-3131 www.fasken.com Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP1055 Dunsmuir Street, Suite 2300, PO Box 49122 Bentall IV, Vancouver, BC V7X 1J1

604-683-6498 www.gowlings.comKPMGSuite 900 – 777 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC V7Y 1K3

604-691-3000 www.kpmg.ca McCarthy Tétrault LLPPO Box 10424, Pacific Centre, 1300-777Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC V7Y 1K2

604-643-7100 www.mccarthy.ca

Oyen Wiggs Green & Mutala LLP480 – 601 West Cordova Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 1G1

604-669-3432 www.patentable.comSeed Intellectual Property Law Group PLLC701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5400, Seattle, WA 98104

206-622-4900 www.SeedIP.com

Smart & Biggar/FetherstonhaughBox 11560, 2200 – 650 W. Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 4N8

604-682-7780 www.smart-biggar.ca

Medical DevicesBalbo Medical Systems#216 – 1311 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2P3

604-691-1782www.balbomedicalsystems.com

Balbo Medical Systems provides consultation service to medical equipment firms that are planning to develop new products, for the installment and organization of new manufacturing companies, and for the reorganization of existing activities. Biolux Research Ltd.220-825 Powell Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 1H7

604-669-0674 www.bioluxresearch.comBiolux Research is a world leader in the development of light activated bone regeneration systems for dentistry and implantology. BioMers Products, LLC3425 Radio Road, Unit 204, Naples, FL 34104

604-727-4145 www.biomersbraces.com


www.patentable.com


Bruker Daltronics Inc.7700 Barrymore Drive, Delta, BC V4C 8G5

604-591-7299 www.bruker.caBruker Daltonics is a leading manufacturer of mass spectrometry (MS) instruments and accessories for life science, pharmaceutical, biochemical and chemical research as well as for more routine analytical tasks in forensics and food safety. Daan Diagnostics200 – 5050 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 4H2

604-451 7588 www.daandiagnostics.comDaan Diagnostics Inc is a leader in the development and commercialization of innovative technology-based products and services for clinical laboratory, veterinary, and food applications.

evasc – a division of evYsio Medical Devices ULC107 – 1099 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6H 1C3

604-742-3811 www.evysio.comEvasc Medical Systems is a medical device company focused on developing technologies for the treatment of vascular disease. With a strong background in interventional cardiology, Evasc’s mandate is to refine early stage intellectual property and take new endovascular products from concept to pilot production. Farabloc Development Corp.#211 – 3030 Lincoln Avenue, Coquitlam, BC V3B 6B4

604-941-8201 www.farabloc.comFarabloc’s mission is to develop their product, Farabloc, as a mainstream international fitness and rehabilitation product that can be used to reduce pain and to assist in healing. As an electromagnetic shielding fabric, Farabloc contains extremely fine stainless steel fibres and nylon, with an appearance similar to linen. This drug-free product has a significant shielding effect on high frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) while permitting low frequency EMF through which stabilize the cell by polarization. Guardian Engineering#8-21579-88B Ave, Langley, BC V1M 2X4

604-614-5561 www.guardian-eng.comGuardian Engineering provides versatile and energetic mechanical design expertise to support your company’s product development efforts. Heart Force Medical Inc.Suite 305 – 1818 Cornwall Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6J 1C7

604-566-8200 www.heartforcemedical.comHeartForce Medical Inc. is an early stage medical devices company dedicated to researching and development of products and services in the field of Ballistocardiography. This field of study has been in existence for over thirty years and now through innovations in technology greater capabilities can be achieved in the early detection of heart disease.

iData Research200-5455 West Boulevard, Vancouver, BC V6M 3W5

604-266-6933 www.idataresearch.netiData Research is an incorporated international market research and consulting group focused on providing market intelligence, monitoring and competitive insight for the medical device and pharmaceutical companies around the world. Innovatek Medical Inc.#3 – 1600 Derwent Way, Delta, BC V3M 6M5

604-522-8303 innovatekmed.comInnovatek Medical Inc. is a Canadian company selling rapid diagnostic kits in the areas of women’s health, drugs of abuse and infectious diseases.KardiumSuite 100 – 12851 Rowan Place, Richmond, BC V6V 2K5

604-248-8891 www.kardium.comKardium is a technology pioneer developing new medical devices to address cardiovascular diseases. The company was founded in 2007 by a team that has a track record of excellence in medicine, business, and engineering. A highly skilled development team and sophisticated rapid prototyping facility have been assembled in order to commercialize several patent pending concepts. LED Medical Diagnostics#201-15047 Marine Drive, White Rock, BC V4B 1C5

604-541-4614 www.velscope.com Lifescan Canada Ltd.#300 – 4170 Still Creek Drive, Burnaby, BC V5C 6C6

604-320-2904www.onetouch.ca/english/index.asp

LifeScan Canada Ltd. is committed to improving the quality of life for people with diabetes and have created a unique system of products and services tailored to meet the needs of people with diabetes and health care professionals. As a leader in blood glucose monitoring and customer care, LifeScan is working to bring important advances in diabetes care. LightIntegra Technology4401 West 9th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6R 2C9

604-827-5993 www.lightintegra.comLightIntegra Technology Inc. is an emerging medical device company. LightIntegra’s ThromboLUX technology measures the entire spectrum of particles in blood plasma that tells the story of the donor s health or the quality of a platelet or plasma product for transfusion. Particle types such as platelets, microparticles and bacteria each have a characteristic profile. Fast, simultaneous access to platelet and microparticle profiles through LightIntegra’s ThromboLUX technology provides clinical information that can save lives. Neovasc#2135-13700 Mayfield Place, Richmond, BC V6V 2E4

604-270-4344 www.neovasc.comNeovasc provides innovative medical device solutions for vascular intervention. We develop and market a suite of products to advance the treatment of heart and vascular disease.

NeuroKinetics Health Services (B.C.) Inc.3195 Granville Street, Suite 60, Vancouver, BC V6H 3K2

604-736-3963 www.neurokinetics.comNeuroKinetics integrates Western medical neuroscience with traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and acupuncture, along with the principles of neuroplasticity (changes that occur in the organization of the brain as a result of experience) to provide an innovative new method of treatment. Perceptronix555 West 8th Avenue, Ste. 400, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1C6

604-629-8785 www.perceptronix.comPerceptronix is a diagnostic and medical device company specializing in products designed to detect cancer at early stages of the disease, thereby improving patient outcomes. The laboratory services of Perceptronix are targeted towards smoking-induced cancers in high-risk lung and oral cancer groups. Progressive Health Innovations Inc.293 Harvard Drive, Port Moody, BC V3H 1S9

604-644-9971 www.progressivehealth.caProgressive Health Innovations Incorporated (PHI) is a health technology company that develops user-friendly and affordable products for the rehabilitation, sports medicine and fitness markets. Response Biomedical Corp.1781 – 75th Avenue W, Vancouver, BC V6P 6P2

604-456-6010 www.responsebio.comResponse Biomedical is commercializing a new class of diagnostic with the world’s only immunoassay platform that provides lab quality information in a matter of minutes, anywhere, every time. RAMP® tests are commercially available for three cardiac markers used in the early detection of heart attack, environmental detection of West Nile virus, and biodefense applications including the detection of anthrax, ricin, smallpox, and botulinum toxin. Romich Medical15157 Roper Avenue, White Rock, BC V4B 5C9

604-531-8707 www.romichmedical.comRomich Medical Inc. is dedicated to providing precision equipment for medical professionals.

Sorin Group Canada Inc., Mitroflow Division5005 North Fraser Way, Burnaby, BC V5J 5M1

604-412-5650 www.mitroflow.comThe Mitroflow Division of Sorin Group Canada Inc. is part of the Sorin Group, a leader in medical technology focused on the development of products used to treat cardiovascular diseases. The Mitroflow Aortic Pericardial Heart Valve is made from biological material derived from bovine tissue and normally requires no long-term anticoagulant therapy, making it preferable for many patients. Mitroflow provides quality-of-lifesolutions in line with patients’ needs.

StarFish Medical#5 – 555 Ardersier Road, Victoria, BC V8Z 1C8

250-388-3537 www.starfishmedical.comStarFish provides medical device development services, from business, market, and product planning to proof of concept to manufactured devices. Our focus is on great design. Successful development projects include high frequency ultrasound eye imaging devices, specialty ophthalmic instruments, a knee brace, a lumbar traction system, an electrosurgical device, a radiotherapy calibration system, and lab automation equipment.

Urodynamix Technologies Ltd.Suite 1485 Bentall Centre Two, 555 Burrard Street, Box 213, Vancouver, BC V7X 1M9

604-694-7770 www.urodynamix.comUrodynamix Technologies is a Canadian medical device company that develops and commercializes non-invasive medical devices based on proprietary applications of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for the diagnosis of urological diseases and condition.

Scientific SuppliersCanadian Life Science Inc.365 Lansdowne Street East, Peterborough, ON K9J 6X9

888-226-2775 www.lifescience.ca/

EnWave CorporationSuite 2000 – 1066 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 3X2

604-806-6110 www.enwave.net/

StemCell Technologies Inc.400 – 570 West 7th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1B3

604-877-0713 www.stemcell.com

VWR International Ltd.2360 Argentia Road,Mississauga, ON V6L 1E6

800-765-3316 www.vwrcanlab.com

Systems & SoftwareHealthmetrx2083 Alma Street, Suite 307, Vancouver, BC V6R 4N6

604-222-3912 www.healthmetrx.com

SageKey Software1531 Fairview Road, Penticton, BC V2A 4S6

250-770-8878 www.sagekey.com

OtherArbutus Dental Centre#203 – 4255 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 4R1

604-731-4188

Biotechnology at Trinity Western University: A co-op program that meets entry requirements for medical school and other professional schools while providing work experience in life science.

BSc in biotechnology with honours option

Multidisciplinary BSc in biotechnology and chemistry

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Intern and paid co-op placements that provide hands-on, super-vised work experience in medicine, business, and industry

Find out more at twu.ca/biotechnology


www.twu.ca/biotechnology


2010 LIFESCIENCES

BRITISH COLUMBIA AWARDSRecognizing the best in research and business

Each year, LifeSciences British Columbia

(LSBC) presents the LifeSciences British

Columbia Awards to individuals and

organizations that have made outstanding

contributions to the development of B.C.’s

life sciences. The awards are presented at an

annual gala that has become the premier

event of the year for B.C.’s life-science com-

munity, and 2010 is no exception. This year’s

theme is “Bridges to the Future” as B.C.’s

foremost innovators lead the way to a bright

future, bringing innovative technologies to

people world-wide and new impetus to the

provincial and national economies.

The 2010 LifeSciences British Columbia

Award recipients are:

GENOME BC AWARD FOR

SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE

Robert Holt, Steven Jones and Marco

Marra – Canada’s Michael Smith Genome

Sciences Centre

INNOVATION & ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Andy Hoffer – Lungpacer Medical Inc.

LEADERSHIP AWARD

Don Avison

MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANY

OF THE YEAR

Neoteric Technology Ltd.,

a Haemonetics Company

LIFE SCIENCES COMPANY OF THE YEAR

Cardiome Pharma Corp.

Karimah Es Sabar, president of LSBC,

commented, “The theme of our 2010

LifeSciences BC Awards is ‘Bridges to the

Future,’ and each of these recipients has

brought us knowledge, leadership, innova-

tion and technologies to create a better

future for humankind. We thank and

applaud each of them for their tremen-

dous efforts, insight, and commitment to

a better future and for proving that great

science and the commercialization and

adoption of that science continue to be

achieved right here in British Columbia.”

ABOUT THE RECIPIENTS

Robert Holt, Steven Jones and

Marco Marra – Genome BC Award

for Scientific Excellence

Robert Holt, Steven Jones and Marco

Marra hold key leadership roles at

Canada’s Michael Smith Genome

Sciences Centre (GSC) at the BC Cancer

Agency (BCCA), which they have collect-

ively helped transform into one of the

world’s most advanced and productive

centres for development and applica-

tion of genomics, bioinformatics and

related technologies. Their combined

efforts, along with collaborations with

the BCCA and other local, national and

international researchers and organiza-

tions, have led to several major scientific

breakthroughs over the past decade.

By becoming the world’s best at early

adoption of genomics technologies in a

rapidly emerging field and by including

all scientific disciplines, they have estab-

lished a unique resource that has been

and will continue to be the foundation

upon which B.C. scientists and com-

panies can build their achievements in

the ongoing genomics revolution.

Holt, Jones and Marra gained inter-

national attention when they became the

world’s first team to sequence the SARS

coronavirus genome. Since then, they

have played pivotal roles in international

consortia to sequence a variety of organ-

isms, including the mouse, rat, poplar and

bovine genomes, as well as pioneering

the use of indispensable genomic tools

for experimental medicine and drug

development. In partnership with clin-

icians at the BCCA, the team played a key

role in the first discovery ever of a gene

mutation occurring in a prevalent type

of ovarian cancer: findings published in

the New England Journal of Medicine. The

team also led the first sequencing of a

breast cancer genome: a breakthrough

featured on the cover of Nature. Most

recently, it was

first to identify

a mutation in

a specific gene

linked to B-cell lymph-

omas: a significant finding subse-

quently published in Nature Genetics.

Apart from cancer research, the GSC

team has supported or overseen key

advances in genomics affecting a broad

range of areas. Such advances have in-

cluded the deciphering of the genome

of the Atlantic salmon for better under-

standing of reproduction, growth and

disease resistance; the uncovering of

the biological processes that regulate

wood formation and pest resistance in

forest trees (the team has done seminal

work with the vector responsible for

the devastating mountain pine beetle

outbreak); and the identification of traits

underlying the quality of grapes.

All these efforts have enabled them,

along with researchers in B.C. and world-

wide, to tackle scientific questions for-

merly untouchable and to ensure that

B.C. has the capabilities to lead in the

translation of genomics technologies to

end-users, both in the public and in the

private sector.

Andy Hoffer – Innovation

& Achievement Award

During the period of his doctoral work

at Johns Hopkins University in the 1970s,

Simon Fraser University biomedical

physiologist Andy Hoffer developed the

first implantable device that recorded

peripheral nerve activity and used it to

study how muscles are controlled during

normal movements. Hoffer devoted the

next 30 years to perfecting nerve activity

sensing methods and developing clinical

applications to help people with motor

disabilities. He pioneered ways to make

safe, stable, permanent connections with

nerves, to re-animate paralyzed muscles



by delivering small electrical currents, and

to control movements by extracting feed-

back information from signals in sensory

nerves. Hoffer subsequently developed

advanced multi-channel nerve cuff elec-

trodes that both pick up signals from, and

selectively activate, targets within a nerve

bundle. These breakthroughs led to the

formation of the SFU spinoff Neurostream

Technologies Inc. and the development of

the Neurostep assistive system for people

with hemiplegia and foot drop.

Neurostep is the first and only medical

device that activates the paralyzed foot

to enable walking, and it is implanted

inside the thigh. Another unique feature

is that Neurostep automatically stimulates

the nerves that activate the paralyzed

leg muscles when weight is taken off the

foot, causing them to flex the ankle and

lift the foot.

Following the first patient trial in 2003,

Neurostream was bought in 2004 by

Victhom Human Bionics Inc., a publicly

traded Canadian company. Victhom car-

ried out Neurostep trials in three sites and

obtained the first CE mark approval of its

kind for a closed-loop system that uses

signals sensed directly from peripheral

nerves. Otto Bock HealthCare, the world’s

largest prosthetics company, acquired 55.6

per cent ownership of Neurostream in

2009 and is marketing the Neurostep, with

first sales in Europe expected in 2010.

Neurostream is now working with

the United States Food and Drug

Administration to begin clinical trials in

the U.S. And by the technology’s exten-

sion to applications for people affected

by loss of control functions such as

urinary incontinence, spinal cord injury,

epilepsy, cerebral palsy and multiple

sclerosis, more than 2.5 million patients

world-wide could potentially benefit.

Meanwhile, in 2007, Hoffer conceived

a new therapeutic approach to preserve

the strength of the diaphragm in mech-

anically ventilated patients. Ventilation

can be life-saving but can also cause

rapid, profound disuse atrophy of the

diaphragm muscle. Of 1.8 million ICU

patients in the U.S. and Canada who

were mechanically ventilated in 2008,

about 30 per cent failed to wean and

became ventilator-dependent.

Hoffer’s goal is to keep the

diaphragm muscle strong by

rhythmically “pacing” the

phrenic nerves connected to

it with a proprietary minimally invasive,

disposable, intravenous electrode in order

to facilitate weaning from ventilation.

With initial proof of concept, safety and

stability data obtained in animals in 2009,

Hoffer and SFU founded a new spinoff,

Lungpacer Medical Inc., and reunited

key Neurostep design engineers to

accelerate the commercial development

of the transvascular diaphragm pacing

technology. Lungpacer’s “weaning

solution” aims to help mechanically

ventilated patients breathe independently

again and leave the ICU sooner, in better

health and at far lower overall cost to

hospitals and health-care payers.

Don Avison – Leadership Award

Don Avison has been respected highly not

only in B.C.’s life sciences but across indus-

tries, demonstrating leadership through

numerous contributions over many years.

Throughout his years of public service,

Avison has garnered the highest level of

respect from his peers. In his most recent

service, as president of the Research

Universities’ Council of British Columbia

(RUCBC), he represented B.C.’s leading

academic institutions, ensuring that they

served the people of the province as

effectively as possible, while also being

home to the world-class research forming

the basis of our province’s knowledge-

based industries.

Avison studied at Thompson Rivers

University and SFU before obtaining a

law degree from the University of British

Columbia in 1980. After practising law

in the Yukon and in B.C., he joined the

Department of Justice Canada and was

subsequently recruited to the Office of the

Assistant Deputy Attorney General. In 1994,

he was appointed deputy minister of jus-

tice of the Government of the Northwest

Territories, where he would also serve as a

deputy in the Office of the Premier. Avison

returned to B.C. in 1997, when he was

appointed deputy minister of education,

skills and training. He would later hold

deputy minister positions in the Crown

Corporation Secretariat and Ministry of

Health before leaving government in

1999 to become the first president of the

University Presidents’ Council of British

Columbia. That organization evolved into

what is now the RUCBC.

President Stephen Toope of UBC com-

mented, “Don Avison has been a superb

leader … and an articulate and passionate

voice for higher education in Canada.”

In 2008, Avison served as chairman of

the B.C. Pharmaceutical Task Force that

was assembled to explore the province’s

pharmaceutical policy in order to advise

government on how to maximize value

both for patients and for cost, as well as

to examine ways of continually improving

the process of pharmaceutical approval.

The government accepted in their entirety

all 12 of the task force’s recommendations.

George Abbott, then minister of health,

commented, “The task force provided

us with insightful analysis on improving

patient care and enhancing the quality,

safety and value of our world-class

PharmaCare program. [Its] advice and

recommendations will strengthen our

significant investments in this vital area of

the public health system, so that patients

in B.C. continue to benefit from a public

drug plan that is based on the best sci-

entific evidence and [is] sustainable for

future generations.”

In 2006, TRU granted Avison its

Distinguished Alumni Award for his

contributions to public service. He also

received the BCNET Lifetime Achievement

Award for his exceptional participation in

raising the awareness of the importance

of advanced networks.

Avison has dedicated his time

to numerous non-profit boards,

including those of LSBC, the

Vancouver Island Advanced

Technology Centre and the

Michael Smith Foundation for

Health Research.



Neoteric Technology Ltd., a

Haemonetics Company – Medical

Device Company of the Year

Neoteric is a B.C.-based company with

offices in Vancouver and the United

Kingdom. In 1997, it set out to provide

hospital blood-chemistry laboratories a

better way of capturing test orders accur-

ately at the bedside. Attempts to solve this

problem revealed a fundamental problem

with accurate identification of patients.

In 1999, a report titled “To Err is Human”

estimated that as many as 98,000 patients

die every year in U.S. hospitals because of

medical errors. Neoteric set a long-term

goal of ensuring that everything taken

from or given to a patient in a hospital is

linked to electronically readable positive

patient identification.

This goal has resulted in a family of

products for acute-care hospitals that

ensure that critical treatments are given to

the right patients in the right way. Neoteric

is now recognized as the world leader in

blood-transfusion management, mothers’

milk management and blood-sample

collection. In April 2009, Neoteric was ac-

quired by Haemonetics Corp. Neoteric’s

BloodTrack products now form a key part of

Haemonetics’ blood-management strategy.

By using very well-established tech-

nology platforms, Neoteric provides highly

reliable, stable products that require little

user training. This is reflected in the rapid

adoption of Neoteric’s systems at new

sites. The Neoteric Enterprise Architecture

has proven its scalability in installations

ranging from one computer in small

hospitals with a few hundred beds to

regional blood-management systems

existing across entire cities and involving

hundreds of client and hospital groups of

up to 3,800 beds. Neoteric’s BloodTrack

is the most advanced blood-transfusion

management suite on the market, pro-

viding full control over movement, storage,

handling and administration of transfusion

blood. The newest module of the system

(BloodTrack OnDemand) has been proven

to reduce greatly the waste and use of

blood in surgery by providing just-in-time

inventory of blood in operating rooms.

The company has had one or more

products installed in more than 180 hos-

pitals in five countries. In the U.K., systems

are installed in more than 25 per cent

of hospitals. Having entered the North

American market in 2007, Neoteric now

has 10 sites in the U.S. and Canada. A

partnership with Mediware Information

Systems, Inc. and the recent acquisi-

tion by Haemonetics promise rapid

growth in the U.S.

A study published in

Transfusion, the AABB journal,

showed dramatic time and cost

savings achieved at hospitals that

implemented the BloodTrack system.

At John Radcliffe Hospital, the time to

access blood in the operating

room was reduced from

24 minutes to 59 seconds,

while the time required

for blood-bank and clin-

ical staff to manage blood

preparation and delivery was

reduced from 117 minutes to 34

minutes each day. At the same time,

the number of blood units issued from

the hospital blood bank was reduced by

52 per cent. The BloodTrack system thus

helped the hospital reduce the time to

make blood available to patients and

improve the efficiency of the transfusion

process.

Other Neoteric products:

LacTrack ensures that mothers’ milk

in intensive-care nurseries is properly

stored, ordered, prepared and fed to the

right babies.

PathCollect ensures that blood samples

for testing are collected from the right

patients in the right way and are accur-

ately labelled.

Cardiome Pharma Corp. – Life

Sciences Company of the Year

Cardiome Pharma Corp.’s demonstrated

leadership in B.C. biotechnology and its

multiple successes in 2009 garnered it the

title of Life Sciences Company of the Year.

The company’s most significant suc-

cess in 2009 was the licensing agreement

signed with Merck & Co., Inc. for verna-

kalant, Cardiome’s investigational drug for

treatment of atrial fibrillation. The agree-

ment includes up to US$700 million in

milestone payments, a US$100 million line

of credit and attractive royalties on sales. It

is the largest licensing deal ever signed by

a Canadian biotechnology company and

the second-largest deal ever for a cardio-

vascular drug in North America.

The agreement provides Merck, a

global leader in cardiovascular drug de-

velopment, with exclusive global rights to

the oral formulation of vernakalant for the

maintenance of normal heart rhythm in

patients with atrial fibrillation. It also grants

exclusive rights outside the U.S., Canada

and Mexico to the intravenous formula-

tion of vernakalant (vernakalant [iv]) for

rapid conversion of acute atrial fibrillation

to normal heart rhythm. Merck will be

responsible for all future costs associated

with the drug’s development, manufac-

turing and commercialization. Cardiome

has retained an option to co-promote

oral vernakalant with Merck through a

hospital-based sales force in the U.S.

Following the signing of the Merck

agreement, Cardiome announced in July

2009 that Merck had filed a marketing

authorization application to the European

Medicines Agency (EMEA) seeking mar-

keting approval for vernakalant (iv) in the

European Union. Cardiome also announced

receipt of a US $15 million milestone pay-

ment under the licensing agreement.

Finally, in late 2009, Cardiome an-

nounced successful trial results from the

Phase III AVRO study for vernakalant (iv),

achieving statistical significance in dem-

onstrating the superiority of vernakalant

(iv) over amiodarone in the conversion

of atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm. With

the European review well under way,

Cardiome and Merck look forward to an

EMEA decision in 2010 and the potential to

have vernakalant (iv) on the market by the

end of the year.



In memoriam

Farewell to Don Rix, leader in medical testing, entrepreneurship and philanthropy

Lorne Eckersley

From his beginnings as a general

practitioner in Vancouver, Donald B.

Rix, CM, OBC, devoted his life to an

astonishing number of enterprises and

philanthropic endeavours. His passing on

November 6, 2009, left a hole in the hearts

of those who knew and worked with him.

Highly regarded in technology and

biotech, Rix founded CanTest Ltd., recently

purchased by Maxxam Analytics Inc.,

and was an entrepreneur and innovator

of the highest order. He also founded

and chaired MDS Metro Laboratory

Services (now known as LifeLabs Medical

Laboratory Services). Inducted into the

Order of British Columbia in 2004, he

became a member of the Order of

Canada in 2007. He held several honorary

doctorates from Canadian universities

and was awarded the Canadian Medical

Association’s highest honour, the Frederic

Newton Gisborne Starr Award, in 2009.

Describing Rix as “a truly great British

Columbian, a man whose generosity

has left a lasting legacy for our province,”

Premier Gordon Campbell considers him

to have been the very example of a con-

tributor to his city, province and country.

“A successful career in the life-sciences

sector led to Dr. Rix becoming one of

British Columbia’s most dedicated phil-

anthropists, giving back to strengthen

the development of health research,

education and care. His support for sci-

ence, technology and research in British

Columbia has helped to lay a foundation

that will create progress and results for

decades to come,” says Campbell.

The premier adds, “Dr. Rix believed

strongly in giving back. He believed that

a truly successful business was one that

took an active role in improving the com-

munity. Corporate citizenship and per-

sonal involvement in building his province

was his passion and an important focus

in his life, and he made a point of encour-

aging his peers to do the same.”

Carole Taylor says, “For me, Don Rix

represented so much that we all aspire to

be,” a person “totally dedicated to using

his talent and his financial support to

make the world a better place. He was

hands-on, involved in his causes morning

‘til night, not just writing cheques. We will

all miss his help and influence.”

Taylor knew and worked with Rix in

several capacities, including during her

tenures as BC minister of finance and

governor of the Vancouver Board of Trade,

which he chaired in 2008.

“Don Rix engaged you at a very human

level and always made himself accessible

to anyone needing his guidance,” says

Karimah Es Sabar, president, LifeSciences

British Columbia. “He was also always

ready to listen and look at new ways of

doing things.”

“Don was a giant,” says Darcy Rezac,

managing director, Vancouver Board of

Trade. “He was a role model to everybody

in business and in the broader community

as well. He was a consummate volunteer,

an engaged community leader. He was

a philanthropist and a model corporate

citizen.”

As relayed by Gillian Shaw in an article

in the Vancouver Sun that ran after Rix’s

passing, Rezac told a story about a courier

killed while making a delivery to one of

Rix’s labs by a driver who had veered into

oncoming traffic, hitting the courier’s van.

After the accident, according to Rezac, Rix

lobbied the City of Vancouver to put a

median on the bridge and also helped the

driver’s wife and child financially. The son

went on to attend university on a scholar-

ship Rix established.

“Dr. Rix, to me, had integrity beyond

[that of] most people and a humility

that was inspiring,” says Dave Roels,

official photographer in residence at the

Vancouver Board of Trade. “When I went

to his office to photograph him for his

chairman’s portrait, he showed me a por-

trait that he had hanging on the wall: a

Karsh portrait of Sir Winston Churchill. We

talked a while about Churchill, and then a

few weeks later, he sent me a list of books

that I might like to read on Churchill.

“What inspired me the most about Dr. Rix

was that he was very personal and had

your best interest at hand when he spoke

with you. The portrait I made of Dr. Rix is

one of my favourites because I was able to

capture him in a Karsh-like pose,” and Rix

“said [it] was one of the best portraits he

had of himself. Dr. Rix was a true artist as

only an artist could appreciate.”

“Dr. Rix was a business and community

leader who had reached the pinnacle of

success. Yet notwithstanding his countless

professional and personal achievements,

he had no intention of letting up,” says

Jon Hantho, chief executive officer of

Maxxam Analytics. “His boundless energy

and his unwavering commitment to cre-

ating successful businesses that would

contribute to British Columbia and Canada

were remarkable. Dr. Rix was a Canadian

success story personified.”

In his inaugural address as chairman of

the Vancouver Board of Trade, Rix related

the following: “I once received a letter

from a student who quoted a Chinese

proverb [that] to me illustrates an ap-

proach to life that we should all aspire to:

‘If you want happiness for an hour, take a

nap. If you want happiness for a day, go

fishing. If you want happiness for a year,

inherit a fortune. But if you want happi-

ness for a lifetime, help someone else.’”

Don Rix was a giant, a leader who set

an example for others to follow. He is

much missed.



Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. is one of the world’s leading healthcare companies committed to improving patient health.

At Novartis Pharmaceuticals, innovation is the heart of our research strategy.


www.novartis.ca

1-877-237-9444


www.worldcourier.com

Company Page Web

Amgen pg 21 www.amgen.ca

BC Centre for Excellence pg 26 www.cfenet.ubc.ca

BC Innovation Council pg 24 www.bcic.ca

BCIT pg 32 www.bcit.ca/health

Bio Energy pg 19 www.bioenergyconference.org

BRI Biopharmaceutical pg 16 www.bripharm.com

CDRC pg 3 www.cdrd.ca

Discovery Parks Inside front cover www.discoveryparks.com

Eppendorf pg 10 www.eppendorf.com

Genome BC pg 7 www.genomebc.ca; www.genomicseducation.ca

IG MicroMed pg 36 www.igmicromed.com

KalGene pg 9 www.kalgene.com

Novartis Inside back cover www.novartis.ca

Oyen Wiggs pg 41 www.patentable.com

PBC Laboratories pg 32 www.pbr.ca

Proof Centre for Excellence pg 36 www.proofcentre.ca

Providence Health Care pg 5 www.providenceresearch.ca

Rick Hansen Institute pg 33 www.rickhanseninstitute.org

Rx & D pg 29 www.canadapharma.org

SFU Business pg 13 www.business.sfu.ca/mot

Thompson Rivers pg 17 www.truopen.ca

Trinity Western pg 42 www.twu.ca/biotechnology

Triumf pg 40 www.triumf.ca

UBC Life Sciences pg 28 www.lsi.ubc.ca

World Courier Outside back cover www.worldcourier.com

Xenon pg 16 www.xenon-pharma.com

lifesciences bc 2010 magazine

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