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Sanofi knocks the socks off Toronto with c$500-M investment
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French company Sanofi announces one of their largest investments ever in a single building and knocks the socks off the Toronto life sciences community. Sanofi announces that they are investing €350 million (C$500 million) into their Toronto facility to significantly increase capacity to meet the growing demand for pediatric and booster vaccines and demonstrate their commitment to innovation and leadership in global health.
The announcement was held at Sanofi Pasteur’s Canadian headquarters in Toronto and was joined by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and the Honourable Steven Del Duca, Minister of Economic Development and Growth.
“Canada has a strong legacy in the research and development of vaccines. With this investment, Sanofi is renewing our longstanding commitment to making Canada central in our effort to protect and improve human health across the globe,” says David Loew, executive vice president and head of Sanofi Pasteur. “Vaccines save three million lives every year and this new facility will take us one step closer to a world where no one suffers or dies from a vaccine-preventable disease.”
The new facility will allow Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines global business unit of Sanofi, to meet the growing demand of five-component acellular pertussis (5-acP) antigen. The building itself is expected to be completed within three to four years, a year or two to get the quality management system up and running, and a year or two to do product development and testing. The site will be equipped to produce the antigens used in the diphtheria and tetanus vaccines.
“This project is one of the most important investments for the Sanofi global industrial network,” says Philippe Luscan, executive vice president, Global Industrial Affairs, Sanofi. “It demonstrates our continued commitment to manufacturing excellence and to better serving our vaccines portfolio to people all over the world.”
To see this story online visit https://biotechnologyfocus.ca/sanofiknocks-the-socks-off-toronto-with-c500m-investment/
Zucara Therapeutics Inc., a Torontobased diabetes life sciences company working to advance the first once-daily therapeutic to prevent low blood glucose levels secures US$3.9 million in non-dilutive funding from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Helmsley will provide the funding to support preclinical advancement of Zucara’s lead drug candidate “ZT-01”, which is focused on the prevention of hypoglycemia in people with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) and other types of insulin-dependent diabetes. The partnership is structured as a program-related investment (PRI) in the form of a loan to Zucara.
The company is now moving forward with GLP toxicology, GMP manufacturing gency, have a companion inject them with exogenous glucagon. A therapy that restores the body’s ability to prevent hypoglycemia would prevent dangerous hypoglycemic episodes and would improve management of the disease while reducing long-term complications.
Zucara will join other leading institutions in a Helmsley-supported scientific working group focused on understanding and restoring the pancreas’s natural ability to prevent hypoglycemia in individuals with T1D. In this working group investigators study relevant cell types, including alpha and delta cells, and share knowledge to make therapeutic discoveries within an area of research that is historically underappreciated and underfunded.
This new support builds upon more than US$1M in recently announced funding from JDRF International, the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) and MaRS Innovation. This funding continues to support preclinical activities with Dr. Michael Riddell at York University, a Zucara founding scientist, who has accelerated the technology originally discovered by Drs. Mladen Vranic (Banting and Best Diabetes Centre, University of Toronto) and David Coy (Tulane University).
and other Investigational New Drug/Clinical Trial Application enabling activities to bring its lead drug to Phase I clinical trials in 2019. Preclinical development work will be led by Dr. Richard Liggins, Zucara’s Chief Scientific Officer, who has helped to bring several similar-stage therapeutics to clinical trials. Zucara continues to work closely with The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) to build and advance its products.
Dangerously low blood glucose, which can lead to unconsciousness or even death, is a frequent challenge for people with T1D and other types of insulin-dependent diabetes. The constant risk of hypoglycemia means that these individuals must monitor and treat low blood glucose levels with fastacting carbohydrates or, in the case of emer-
To see this story online visit https://biotechnologyfocus.ca/zucara-funding-helmsley-trust/
AbbVie and the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) announces they have entered into a collaboration to conduct a landmark retrospective chart review study to better understand and help manage multiple myeloma (MM) – the second most common blood cancer.
“There are significant knowledge gaps about multiple myeloma, and among these gaps is the role of genetic mutations in response to treatment, and the related outcomes for patients,” says Brian G.M. Durie, M.D., IMF chairman. “This study has the potential to provide valuable real-world evidence that can help advance care for patients, and we are proud to join forces with AbbVie to further advance efforts in research and education in multiple myeloma.”
The primary objective of the study is to determine the overall survival of patients with MM and the t(11;14) translocation, which is present in an estimated 16 to 24 percent of FISH-tested MM cases. IMF researchers from at least 30 participating sites across the world will retrospectively review and characterize the outcomes of 1,500 patients with the t(11;14) translocation identified on FISH, making this study one of the largest and most comprehensive MM studies to date.
The secondary objectives include response rates, progression-free survival, time to progression, time to next treatment, duration of responses and overall survival with different regimens among patients with the t(11;14) translocation. Additional secondary objectives include determining prognostic factors for overall survival among MM patients with t(11;14) translocation and to identify the spectrum of co-existing genetic abnormalities among this patient population.
“The partnership with the International Myeloma Foundation underscores our commitment to meaningfully advance the understanding of blood cancers, and continue identifying scientific approaches that have the potential to improve care for patients with multiple myeloma,” says Neil Gallagher, M.D., Ph.D., vice president and head, global oncology development, AbbVie. “We look forward to the findings and to continue strengthening our ongoing research efforts to provide transformative therapies for patients with multiple myeloma and other blood cancers.”
To see this story online visit https://laboratoryfocus.ca/abbvie-andthe-international-myeloma-foundationpartner-up/
Replicel’s regenerative technology could take the ‘Polar Silk Road’ to china
New opportunities are arising at every turn for the regenerative medicine community. Research is at the tip of the iceberg, but a company in British Columbia isn’t waiting for the ice to melt. RepliCel, a regenerative medicine company, has been developing autologous cell therapies to treat conditions linked to the deficit of healthy cells required for normal function and healing. Their cell therapies are designed to treat chronic tendinosis, UV-damaged or aged skin, and pattern baldness as an alternative method to surgery, pills, and chemicals.
Recently, YOFOTO, one of China’s largest health and wellness companies announced its intention to invest significant financial backing into the company to market RepliCel’s tendon repair and skin rejuvenation products – and they are not the only one – Shiseido, another giant, has been developing RepliCel’s hair regeneration technology for the Asian market.
Last year hit significant milestones for the company with production of the first fully functioning prototypes of their next generation dermal injector that is optimal for the delivery of injectables into the skin. With patents already issued in the United States and in Europe, the functioning prototypes allow RepliCel to display the applications of the device with other potential partners as they move forward at finalising the mold for the commercial-ready devices.
Last year also saw new clinical data produced on all three biologics programs – thinning hair (androgenic alopecia), aging/sundamaged skin, and chronic tendinopathy (Achilles Tendinosis). The phase 1 clinical data demonstrated overwhelming product safety and highly encouraging signals of product efficacy to regrow hair, rejuvenate skin, and regenerate tendon tissue.
In 2013, RepliCel executed a co-development and licensing agreement with Shiseido that covered all of Asia for their hair regeneration program. Now, with the potential for another deal emerging in Greater China, they have real opportunity to leverage these partnerships to be a leader in regenerative medicine platform across Asia.
It is a very exciting time for RepliCel as they move forward with a CE mark for their device in Europe and their potential expansion in Asia, as well as refining their US strategy for the launch of their dermal injector. With fascinating development projects in queue and continuing to look for the right opportunities, there will be substantial progress that will come from this innovative regenerative medicine company in the near future.
To see this story online visit https://biotechnologyfocus.ca/replicelregenerative-technology-polar-silk-roadchina/
