VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LifeSciences BC is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2013 LifeSciences British Columbia Awards. They are:
Dr. Don Rix Award for Lifetime Achievement
Dr. Joseph M.
Connors, Clinical Professor, University of British Columbia, and
Clinical Director, BC Cancer Agency Centre for Lymphoid Cancer
Genome British Columbia Award for Scientific Excellence
Dr.
B. Brett Finlay, UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor, Michael Smith
Laboratories and the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia
Milton Wong Award for Leadership
Kenneth Galbraith, General
Partner, Ventures West Capital Ltd.
Innovation and Achievement Award
Dr. Richard Harrigan,
Director, Laboratory Program, British Columbia Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS
Medical Technology Company of the Year
STEMCELL Technologies
Inc.
Life Sciences Company of the Year
Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Emerging Life Sciences Company of the Year
Zymeworks Inc.
These awards are presented annually to recognize individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the development of British Columbia’s life sciences industry.
“This year’s recipients represent the tremendous research and innovation that’s occurring in B.C., and we’re proud to be showcasing their efforts,” says Don Enns, President of LifeSciences BC. “Their innovative and collaborative spirit has led to improved quality of life for many British Columbians, Canadians and others around the world. They are, without a doubt, representative of the great innovation here in B.C.”
The LifeSciences British Columbia Awards will take place the evening of Thursday, April 4 in front of an audience of approximately 500 guests representing the biopharmaceutical, medical device, bioproducts and greater life sciences community at the Vancouver Convention Centre (West Ballroom CD). Media personality, Dr. Art Hister, will MC the awards dinner.
The 2013 LifeSciences British Columbia Awards are presented by Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy, LLP, Genome British Columbia and Rx&D, Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies. The media sponsor is Business in Vancouver Magazines.
For event details, please visit: http://thefacesofinnovation2013.eventbrite.com
About LifeSciences BC
LifeSciences BC is a not-for-profit industry association that supports and represents the greater life sciences community of British Columbia through leadership, advocacy and promotion of our world-class science and industry. Its vision is to build a world-class life sciences community in B.C. that contributes to the economic and societal wellbeing of the Province through a collaborative effort between industry, academia and government.
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BACKGROUNDER
About the 2013 LifeSciences British Columbia Awards Recipients
Dr. Don Rix Award for Lifetime Achievement
Dr. Joseph M. Connors, Clinical Professor, University of British Columbia, and Clinical Director, BC Cancer Agency Centre for Lymphoid Cancer
Joseph M. Connors, MD is a clinical professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, at UBC, and the Clinical Director of the BC Cancer Agency Centre for Lymphoid Cancer.
Dr. Connors obtained his medical degree at Yale University, trained in internal medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and completed his medical oncology fellowship with Dr. Saul Rosenberg at the Stanford University Medical Center from 1979 to 1981. He then joined the staff and faculty at the BC Cancer Agency and UBC, with the focus of his clinical activities and research efforts in the area of understanding lymphoid cancers.
Dr. Connors is highly regarded for his research into the biology and treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemias and multiple myeloma. He serves as a member of the executive committee of the Hematology Site Group for the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group, as a Councilor for the American Society of Hematology and on the scientific advisory board of the Lymphoma Foundation Canada.
Dr. Connors has published over 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles addressing various aspects of research into lymphoid cancers, and has been a senior co-investigator on research grants totaling over $20 million while at the BC Cancer Agency. He has been awarded the Terry Fox Cancer Research Award by the British Columbia Medical Association, the Bernard L. Schwartz Memorial Award by the Scripps health system in San Diego, the Canadian Cancer Society John W. Whittick Memorial Award by the Saskatchewan Medical Association and the Karl Musshoff Award of the German Hodgkin Lymphoma Study Group for lifetime achievement in Hodgkin lymphoma research.
Genome British Columbia Award for Scientific Excellence
Dr. B. Brett Finlay, UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor, Michael Smith Laboratories and the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia
Dr. B. Brett Finlay is a Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories, the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Microbiology and Immunology at UBC. He obtained a B.Sc. (Honors) in Biochemistry at the University of Alberta, where he also did his Ph.D. (1986) in Biochemistry under Dr. William Paranchych, studying F-like plasmid conjugation. Dr. Finlay’s post doctoral studies were performed with Dr. Stanley Falkow at the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he studied Salmonella invasion into host cells.
In 1989, Dr. Finlay joined UBC as an Assistant Professor in the Biotechnology Laboratory, where his research interests are focused on host-pathogen interactions, at the molecular level. By combining cell biology with microbiology, he has been at the forefront of the emerging field of cellular microbiology, making several fundamental discoveries in this field and publishing over 400 papers. Dr. Finlay’s laboratory researches several pathogenic bacteria, with salmonella and pathogenic E. coli interactions with host cells being the primary focus.
Dr. Finlay is recognized internationally for his work, and has won several prestigious awards including the E.W.R. Steacie Prize, the CSM Fisher Scientific Award, CSM Roche Award, a MRC Scientist, five Howard Hughes International Research Scholar Awards, a CIHR Distinguished Investigator, BC Biotech Innovation Award, the Michael Smith Health Research Prize, the IDSA Squibb Award, the Jacob Biely Prize, the prestigious Canadian Killam Health Sciences Prize, the Flavelle Medal of the Royal Society, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences and is the UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor. He is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and Order of British Columbia.
Dr. Finlay is a co-founder of Inimex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Director of the SARS Accelerated Vaccine Initiative. He also serves on several editorial and advisory boards, and is a strong supporter of communicating science to the public.
Milton Wong Award for Leadership
Kenneth Galbraith, General Partner, Ventures West Capital Ltd.
Kenneth Galbraith joined Ventures West in 2007 and leads the firm's biotechnology practice. He is a well-known and active member of the life sciences community in North America, with over 20 years of experience acting as an executive, director, investor and advisor to companies in the biotechnology, medical device, pharmaceutical and health care sectors.
In 2006, Mr. Galbraith served as the Chairman and Interim CEO of AnorMED, a biopharmaceutical company focused on new therapeutic products in hematology, HIV and oncology, until its sale to Genzyme Corp. Previously, he spent 13 years in senior management with QLT Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company specializing in developing treatments for eye diseases and oncology, retiring in 2000 from his position as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Galbraith was a founding Director of the BC Biotechnology Alliance and served as Chairman of the Canadian Bacterial Diseases Network, one of Canada's federally-funded Networks for Centres of Excellence. He was also a Director of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and the Fraser Health Authority. Ken currently serves as the Past Chair of the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre and is a Director with Genome British Columbia.
Mr. Galbraith has served on the board of several public and private biotechnology companies located in B.C. and the U.S., including Angiotech Pharmaceuticals and Cardiome Pharma Corp., and is currently on the board of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals. At Ventures West, he currently serves as a Director of Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Celator Pharmaceuticals, MacroGenics, NeurAxon and Presidio Pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Galbraith earned a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from UBC, and is a Chartered Accountant.
Innovation and Achievement Award
Dr. Richard Harrigan, Director, Laboratory Program, British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
For more than a decade, Dr. Richard Harrigan has been a local, national and international leader in the development of cutting-edge translational research with important implications for the clinical management of HIV. He has contributed extensively to our understanding of HIV drug efficacy and resistance, as well as the human and viral parameters that influence HIV disease progression. Dr. Harrigan’s research in these areas has played a key role in enabling the significant improvements in quality and duration of life afforded patients by Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy.
Dr. Harrigan’s work primarily focuses on HIV drug efficacy, drug resistance and the human and viral parameters that influence HIV disease progression. He developed a "next generation" sequencing method to identify HIV-positive individuals who respond to maraviroc, the first approved “CCR5 antagonist” drug, as well as “ReCall” software for automated analysis of HIV drug resistance. The test and software have been adopted as the standard test across Canada and in over 30 countries.
In addition to the Glen-Hillson Professor in Clinical HIV Virology, Dr. Harrigan holds the CIHR-GSK Research Chair in HIV/AIDS at UBC, and is Associate Professor in the Division of AIDS (Faculty of Medicine) at UBC as well.
Medical Technology Company of the Year
STEMCELL Technologies Inc.
STEMCELL Technologies Inc. focuses on the development, manufacture and distribution of high quality, standardized tissue culture media, cell separation reagents and instruments for customers in over 70 countries. With 95% of sales from outside Canada, their products support leading edge scientific research around the globe in stem cell biology, cancer research, immunology, cell therapy, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and drug discovery.
STEMCELL is a fully integrated company with 525 staff in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore and China. Distributors make their products available to medical researchers in 60 other countries. STEMCELL’s head office, research and manufacturing activities are all located in Vancouver, employing 425 people. Founded in 1993 by Dr. Allen Eaves as a spinoff from the Terry Fox Laboratory at the BC Cancer Agency, the company has been profitable since inception and remains private. Current annual sales are $70 million, and profits are re-invested to support growth which has averaged over 20% per annum.
STEMCELL reinvests 14% of annual sales revenues into R&D, and as a result, holds 51 patents and 24 pending patent applications covering 24 significant independent inventions. Close relationships with global leaders in medical research has facilitated over 80 licensing agreements to manufacture products in Vancouver. Currently, the company has over 30 collaborations with scientists from around the world. The growing requirement that academic grant applicants must have some support from an industrial partner has resulted in STEMCELL providing reagents and tools to many stem cell researchers, giving substance to the slogan that “STEMCELL Technologies provides the picks and shovels for the stem cell gold rush.”
The high quality of STEMCELL’s products can be attributed to the knowledge staff have in raw material qualification, processing, device manufacturing and supply chain logistics. Their processes are embedded in an environment of extensive quality control and quality assurance, and are certified to the ISO 13485 standard. The success of the company’s products in potential clinical applications has moved them beyond the research-use-only market to address demands coming from the in vitro diagnostic and cellular therapy markets. A good manufacturing practice production suite is being built in Vancouver to help them meet this medical need. The long term success of STEMCELL depends on the scientific knowledge of their staff, virtually all of whom have post-secondary training in science, including a Ph.D. (60), M.Sc. (55), B.Sc. (165) and other degrees and certifications (110). STEMCELL’s goal is to create wonderful jobs for people passionate about medical science and help turn Vancouver into Science City.
STEMCELL is about making great products that help medical researchers improve the diagnosis and treatment of disease, and thereby make the world a better place. Thus, they simply see themselves as "scientists helping scientists."
Life Sciences Company of the Year
Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company that uses its human genetics platform to develop novel pharmaceuticals for rare diseases. One of the company’s first technologies, which it licensed for the gene therapy treatment of a rare lipid disorder known as Lipoprotein Lipase Deficiency, was recently approved in Europe. This product has the potential to generate an exciting royalty stream for both Xenon and UBC, its partner in the early identification of the technology.
A deliberate business strategy for Xenon has been to ensure a revenue stream to support a broader and deeper product pipeline. In order to achieve this, the company has entered into seven large pharmaceutical alliances, two of which were announced in 2012. In January of 2012, Xenon announced a $646 million partnership with Genentech to develop novel drugs for treating pain. The second deal, which was announced in December of 2012, was a $376 million partnership with Teva Pharmaceuticals, also in the area of pain. The company received $41 million up front as a license fee, and in addition, Xenon retained the option to co-commercialize resulting products. Phase 2b trials with Xenon’s XEN402 product will begin shortly, with results expected in 2014.
These two partnerships add to the approximately $90 million in which Xenon has raised in non-dilutive R&D funding from alliance partners in the past five years. This focus on revenue generation has allowed the company to continue to deliver novel products in what has been a very challenging financing environment for privately held biotechnology companies.
Xenon’s pipeline also includes a development stage product (XEN701) for treating anemia of chronic disease, which has been funded in part, by Genome British Columbia. The XEN701 product is expected to start clinical trials this year, which would be a key milestone not only for Xenon, but also for Genome British Columbia. Their pipeline is rounded out by exciting discovery stage assets which should form the basis of its future clinical products. All of Xenon’s programs have been borne out of the company’s genetic platform that to date, has delivered numerous novel drug targets which have been translated into innovative medicines in development.
Corporate social responsibility is important for Xenon and its employees, and the company is a regular contributor to several organizations, including JDRF, Amica Helping Hands, MOSAIC and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
Emerging Life Sciences Company of the Year
Zymeworks Inc.
Zymeworks Inc. is a world leader in antibody design and development, and is committed to building best-in-class protein therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The company’s platform technology focuses on the development of proprietary protein therapeutics, including bi-specific antibodies and multi-valent proteins. Zymeworks' structure guided protein engineering platform approach generates therapeutic candidates with best-in-class drug-like-properties and manufacturability. The company’s business model centres on strategic collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, as well as the development of its own pipeline of antibody and protein based drug candidates.