Healthier Bodies for Longer Lives
Biotech finds opportunity in non-infectious diseases and body maintenance
Imagine the demand for a vaccine that prevents acne and watch once-spotty teenagers strut the halls of their high schools with their heads held high. Imagine re-growing lost teeth in a lab and watch once-toothless hockey players retire to the golf courses with a full set of real teeth in their mouths.
Biotech searches for cures to the most lethal killers but some businesses see opportunities in crafting solutions for non-infectious diseases—solutions that may not change the world but can make life better for individuals.
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FORWARD Commercialization
New funds and new talk for Canada’s persistent problem
Paul Lucas, head of the Canadian division of GlaxoSmithKline, takes the podium at the ritzy Carlu conference centre in Toronto. It’s early November and he’s here to launch the $50-million GSK Canada Life Sciences Innovation Fund. Managed by GlaxoSmithKline in Canada and GSK’s global corporate venture capital arm SR One, the fund supports pre-clinical, proof-of-relevance breakthrough research. It’s the most significant new private fund to arrive in the life science sector in a long time. With private R&D spending contracting since 2006—at a time when Canada’s private sector sits on $400 billion in cash—GSK’s cash is like fresh water for thirsty biotech firms hoping to commercialize their ideas.
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There’s Green in Ireland
Ireland’s attractive start-up funding, tax incentives and established life science sector draws start-ups and multinationals from around the world
In a room buzzing with international journalists, public relations consultants, and the CEOs and presidents of Ireland’s top life science companies, Rosemary Durcan takes a break from the 2011 Med in Ireland conference to discuss what makes Ireland such a great place for biotech.
“Basically, we have a lot of seed capital available in Ireland, which is fantastic. And that means that companies can get started, de-risk their business a little, add value to their product, and then attract bigger venture capitalists,” says Durcan, Senior Commercialization Specialist in the Life Science and Food Division at Enterprise Ireland. Enterprise Ireland, the government agency responsible for the funding, development and international growth of innovative start-up companies in Ireland, provides matching funds to capital invested by start-up companies.
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Leaching into samples from plastic consumables.
To see YouTube video from Eppendorf, click here.
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Fade or Flourish: IBM Study Challenges Biotechs
The key challenge for life science companies today, according to the IBM study, Fade or Flourish? Rethinking the Role of Life Sciences Companies in the Healthcare Ecosystem, is to move away from their current “silo thinking” toward a “systems thinking” approach. The study identifies three main challenges facing life sciences companies today: blockbuster drugs coming off patent, sales diminishing due to restricted physician access, and increased price pressures from payers.
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 Studying Antibiotic Resistance
Antibiotic resistance is a serious challenge for the Canadian health care system, says the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology. To address this issue, leading Canadian researchers will collaborate with researchers from the United Kingdom to work on antibiotic resistance.
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Canadian Research Developing Alzheimer’s Treatment
Cangene Corporation, a Canadian biopharmaceutical company, signed a collaborative research agreement with the University of British Columbia to develop the work of Dr. Neil Cashman. Cashman is the Scientific Director of PrioNet Canada, a company that develops strategies to cure prion diseases in humans and animals. Cashman’s present work is aimed at developing immune-based therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.
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