Join BioAlberta for our Health and Life Sciences Showcase this fall focused on the outstanding innovation and business achievements of Alberta's vibrant life sciences industry, alongside our AGM and Awards Gala.

Watch for details in your inbox and in this newsletter coming soon.

BioAlberta remains opposed to both the process and content of Health Canada’s PMPRB draft regulation proposals since they were first published.

BioAlberta’s position is that the regulation changes to PMPRB do not advance any objectives, and in fact the negative impact to Alberta and Albertans is significant and unacceptable. Upon review of the July 15 proposal, we find the same arbitrary approach by the PMPRB, one which is inconsistent with the PMPRB’s legislative mandate to ensure that the prices charged for patented drug products are not excessive. Read the full reponse sent to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board from BioAlberta here.

BioAlberta is now recruiting SMEs to participate in the WIL Voucher program for the STEM and life sciences sector. We are continuing to work with post-secondary institutions and employers like you to match students with new learning opportunities on the job.

SME internships must provide students with practical work in a field related to their studies within the Alberta life sciences eco-system that enable them to gain a better understanding of your company’s work. Eligible Alberta small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who successfully recruit skilled students enrolled in under-graduate, graduate or post-graduate degree programs will be awarded $5000 in matching wage support per student placement. These Alberta SMEs are then free to match WIL Voucher support with either their own operational funds or apply to other available student funding programs (i.e. BioTalent Canada, MITACS, etc).

Students are matched as placements become available.

The deadline for SMEs to apply for Fall 2021 funding is September 10th and November 1st for Winter 2022. For WIL Voucher details or to apply contact Trish@bioalberta.com.

Canada’s preeminent Medtech Conference will take place virtually on October 5 and 6. The Conference is the leading information exchange and educational forum for the medical technology industry.

The pandemic has resulted in a major shift in the provision of healthcare.

For info and to register see here.

Sessions will include:

• What have we learned about how to manage disease, care and supply chain?

• Best practices and learnings to enhance system efficiencies and deal with surgical/procedure backlogs.

• What changes to policies and practices will allow for enhanced utilization of digital health solutions to increase access to care and complement current care delivery models?

• Lessons learned about supply chain / procurement and the path forward.

For the first time in more than three decades, the Government of Canada will enhance its federal economic development presence and services in Western Canada by creating two new regional development agencies for the Prairie provinces and British Columbia. This approach recognizes that economic drivers and conditions are different in each of the two regions, and entrepreneurs, innovators, institutions, and communities have unique needs linked to where they are located.

Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) will be the new regional economic development agency for businesses and communities in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It will build on Western Economic Diversification Canada’s (WD) 34 year legacy by playing stronger roles as convenors, pathfinders, advisors, investors, and collaborators to achieve better economic outcomes for regional economies across the Prairies.

PrairiesCan will establish new service locations in:Lethbridge, Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie. Read the announcement here.

On August 12, Natural Products Canada (NPC) announced a strategic partnership that will support its unique natural product innovation network of advice, connections, programs and investment to advance Canadian natural product innovation.

This NPC announcement (see here) followed a Government of Canada investment of $20 million into a $41.8-million NPC initiative to boost current and future innovation in the sector, create jobs and help protect our environment (see details here).

NPC says with this $20 million in new support, they, together with their partners including BioAlberta, will be able to help 500 Canadian companies develop natural products and technologies as diverse as nutrition supplements and feed ingredients to compostable packaging and environmental remediation.

GlycoNet is an innovation-driven pan-Canadian organization with a focus on the discovery, development, and commercialization of glycomics-based therapeutics, vaccines, biomaterials, diagnostics, and technologies to transform lives. Funded by the Federal Networks of Centres of Excellence Program since 2015, GlycoNet focuses a critical mass of research resources on pressing social and economic challenges, commercialize and apply homegrown research breakthroughs, increase private-sector R&D, and train highly qualified talents. In just six years, GlycoNet has established a network of 175 laboratories across Canada, 556 trainees, and 278 partners from industry, government, and NGOs. GlycoNet is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta.

Glycomics is the study of carbohydrates—or so called glycans—in human, animals, viruses, plants, and microorganisms. Every cell within every organism contains a complex array of glycans that act as molecular barcodes that guide and control almost every aspect of biology. For example, the COVID-19 virus uses glycans on its spike protein to attach to and penetrate human cells while evading our immune system. How one fights infection, how the body heals, how the immune systems functions, and the ability of agricultural crops to resist drought and pests are all precisely controlled by these glycan “barcodes”.

By identifying the potential of glycomics and a need for a more focused effort, GlycoNet is driving innovation in the four important areas of healthcare: infectious diseases, cancer, chronic diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. Genomics, proteomics, and precision medicine are integrated with the way GlycoNet researchers work across all four areas, and in collaboration with industry partners in Canada and globally. Tapping into the strong Canadian health sciences ecosystem, GlycoNet and its partners invested more than $54 million in R&D from 2015-2021. GlycoNet was also recently identified an integral player to the global glycomics market, which is estimated at USD $2B by 2025. Nationally, GlycoNet enabled 125 fundamental and translational projects and led the development of several technologies and drug candidates for immuno-oncology, diabetes, inflammation, and cell therapies.

To date, GlycoNet has 14 carbohydrate-based drug candidates, 4 clinical trial applications, 9 licensing deals, and 60 patent applications. Working with industry, academia, and technology receptors, GlycoNet helped create 5 biotechnology companies, 3 of which are in Alberta, including 48Hour Discovery.

In addition to contributing to rapidly growing bioeconomy in Canada and in Alberta, GlycoNet’s facility—GlycoNet Integrated Services (GIS)—has the largest number of glycomics experts in Canada and state-of-the-art instruments to provide advice and tailored services for researchers from all sectors. The facility is spread through seven nodes across Canada. It also houses one of the two mass spectrometry instrument in Canada, as well as one of the eight fully automated synthesizers (The Glyconeer®) in the world. Examples of services include glycan screening, drug discovery, custom synthesis, analytical R&D, pre-clinical disease modeling, microbial analysis, and glycoengineering.

For more information about GlycoNet, visit glyconet.ca. For partnership opportunities and facility services, contact Dr. Elizabeth Nanak, CEO. Follow GlycoNet on social media to stay up to date with latest projects and offerings. Twitter: @glyconet_nce. LinkedIn: @GlycoNet.

Do you have a great idea in the rehabilitation health space? REHAB i2c is a new program aimed at innovators across the province of Alberta who have ideas to better their communities.

REHAB i2c was established in 2021 as a sister program to the successful TENET i2c at the University of Calgary. The idea was developed by Gary Faulkner and Geoff Gregson of the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital and Ken Moore, Founder and General Manager of TENET Biomedical Engineering and founder of the TENET i2c program. Together, they assembled the resources and partnered with the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary to build a multi-month program to better the lives of those in Alberta through unique rehabilitation ingenuity.

This Alberta-wide program and live pitch competition designed to accelerate the growth of early-stage startups in the rehabilitation health field, by providing essential resources, training, and mentorship. The top startups will have the opportunity to pitch their startups live on stage in Edmonton in November, for the chance to win $100K.

Apply by September 3 pr contact Justin.Massar@ucalgary.ca and say BioAlberta sent you to ask for an extension. Program starts September 28. See here for more info!

Connection Silicon Valley launches 2nd Access to Global Capital (A2GC) in partnership with Alberta Innovates and Edmonton Regional Innovation Network (ERIN) for Edmonton-based startups.

This curriculum-based virtual program helps companies from Pre-Seed to Series A navigate the best of Silicon Valley. Startups benefit from our unique network of influencers, investors, founders, corporate executives and mentors.

Spaces are limited. Apply by Sept. 15 - see details here.

A2GC program includes these program features:

The Genomic Applications Partnership Program (GAPP) funds downstream research and development projects -see full details here. Genome Canada will provide support for projects ranging in size from $300,000 to $6 million ranging from six months to a maximum of three years that:

Deadline to submit Expressions of Interest is October 2021. Contact Ryan Mercer to discuss.

If you do conventional agriculture research, including biotechnology, agronomy, demonstration and adaptation research - make sure to look at this funding announcement - SAFDAC supports projects that develop or advance smart technologies to increase productivity, reduce production costs or increase the value of Alberta’s agri-food commodities. Learn more and apply here.

A new $50M investment fund to invest in early-stage Canadian companies developing naturally-derived alternatives to synthetic products. Learn about this new opportunity here.

Designed to help establish the commercial feasibility of innovative natural products and technologies, and attract and de-risk subsequent investment- research institutes, start-ups and SMEs, see details here.

AGE-WELL’s funding has been renewed through the federal Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program to the end of fiscal year 2022-2023. They have $21.9 million over three years from GoC to provide Canadians with technology-based solutions to improve quality of life for older adults and caregivers. If you have an idea apply for these exceptional funding opportunities now. Details can be found at: http://ow.ly/fgsL50zE3oO Y

This Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF) is being delivered by regional development agencies (RDAs) to help more businesses and organizations, that are key to the regions and local economies. A total of $304 million will be available for western Canadian businesses. To learn more or apply see here.. 

Entos Pharmaceuticals (Entos), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing genetic medicines with its Fusogenix proteolipid vehicle (PLV) nucleic acid delivery platform, is excited to announce the approval by SAHPRA to start a Phase 2 clinical trial of its COVID-19 DNA vaccine candidate in South Africa. The approval is based on positive Phase 1 trial results showing that Covigenix VAX-001 met all safety endpoints with no serious adverse events reported. Read the full release here.

CanBiocin, creators of species-specific probiotics for companion animals, has aligned with Healy Group for market entry and distribution across the United Kingdom and Ireland. This partnership follows on CanBiocin’s submission for approval by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). In addition to published EFSA requirements, CanBiocin has completed significant additional third-party studies for safety and efficacy. Read the full release here.

Bausch Health, Canada, which is part of Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE: BHC) (TSX: BHC) ("Bausch Health" or the "Company"), and its dermatology division, one of the largest prescription dermatology health care businesses in Canada, today announced on August 4 that Health Canada has approved the Notice of Compliance (NOC) for ARAZLOTM (tazarotene) lotion, 0.045%, for the topical treatment of acne vulgaris (common acne) in patients 10 years of age and older. Read all about this announcement here.

Fluid Biotech Inc., a medical device start-up company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, announced on August 11, the completion of its Seed fundraising round totaling $4.7 million USD and the addition of two new members to its board of directors. METIS Innovative of Miami, Florida, and ShangBay Capital of Palo Alto, California, co-led the company's oversubscribed financing round, which included new investors UCeed Health Fund and UCeed Child Health and Wellness Fund from the University of Calgary, Thin Air Labs, Wharton Alumni Angels, Amino Capital, Bluesky Equities, ThresholdImpact and Alabaster Capital, and follow-on funding from pre-seed partners. See the full announcement here.

Dataffinity Health, a boutique clinical services provider specializes in real-world data collection products and services, announced a full rebrand to position the company as a leader in global digital health. The rebrand comes on the heels of a major growth period for the company. In the last two years, the company has more than doubled in size and expanded its projects to have a global footprint in over 18 countries. Supporting the refreshed strategic vision, the rebrand works to establish the company as a leader in digital health and data collection with the goal of accelerating health outcomes through data. The rebrand illustrates the guiding force that Lumiio has become to improve access to treatments and health care for patients across global health communities. Read the full announcement here.