Archive for 2019

From June 3 to 6, an Atlantic Canadian delegation will join other prominent bioscience organizations and investors from around the globe for the 2019 BIO International Convention and Trade Show, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. BIO is the world’s largest show of its kind, drawing more than 16,000 attendees to the annual event.

At BIO2019, the Atlantic Canada Bio-Industries Alliance will promote the steadily growing bioscience sectors of each the four Atlantic provinces. The aim is to increase export sales by Atlantic Canada’s businesses, get more of their technologies to market, attract further investments, hire additional talented employees, and showcase the achievements and capabilities of Atlantic Canada’s sector.

Today, Atlantic Canada’s bioscience sector employs more than 3,000 workers and represents $655 million in revenue from upward of 200 companies and at least 50 research organizations. Over the years, the provinces have developed complementary strengths: in Newfoundland (marine biotechnology and human genomics), in New Brunswick (agriculture and bio-resources), in Nova Scotia (marine, health, bio-medical and general biotechnology) and on PEI (pharmaceutical manufacturing, diagnostics, natural health products, animal and fish health ).

Tieos Pharmaceuticals, a bioscience company based in Moncton, New Brunswick, has been chosen by national industry association BIOTECanada as one of four competitors in the Coast to Coast Competition at BIO2019. Tieos Pharma will find out which company takes the top title when the competition is held on stage in the Canada Pavilion on June 5, 2019.

In addition to business meetings, networking opportunities at BIO2019, the Atlantic Canadian delegation will also have an exhibition presence within the Canada Pavilion, which unifies companies and research organizations from other regions of the country.

Funding support for the mission is provided by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and the four Atlantic provincial governments through the Atlantic Trade and Investment Growth Agreement. The Atlantic Canadian mission was coordinated by the PEI BioAlliance, on behalf of the Atlantic Canada Bio-Industries Alliance. The Atlantic Canada Bio-Industries Alliance is an umbrella organization comprised of BioNB, BioNova, the Newfoundland & Labrador Association of Technology Industries (NATI) and the PEI BioAlliance.

Among other Atlantic Canadian participants, the official delegates of the Atlantic Canadian mission at BIO2019 include representatives from each of the following:

Appili Therapeutics
Atlantic Cancer Research Institute
BioMedica Diagnostics Inc.
BioNova
BioVectra
Center for Aquaculture Technologies
Dosecann
Government of New Brunswick
Innovation PEI
New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT)
New Brunswick Health Research Foundation
Neurodyn Cognition Inc.
PEI BioAlliance
PhotoDynamic Inc.
Sequence Bio
Tieos Pharmaceuticals
Torigen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Université de Moncton
VetNOW – One Health Solutions
Vitalité Health Network

-30 –

For more information about the Atlantic Canada mission to the BIO 2019 International Convention and Trade Show, contact:

Rory Francis
Executive Director, PEI BioAlliance
(902) 367-4400
rory@peibioalliance.com

Cuna Del Mar LP has purchased all shares of the Center for Aquaculture Technologies (CAT), which has state-of-the-art lab facilities in Souris, Prince Edward Island, and research headquarters in San Diego, California.

The Center for Aquaculture Technologies has operated as a contract research organization in PEI since 2012 and its 21,000 square feet facility opened in fall 2015. There, the talented team honed its expertise and grew operations to provide research and development as well as professional services to the aquaculture industry, with particular focus on health and nutrition for aquatic animals in both cold and warm waters. The team’s expertise ranges from genomics programs to new product development, involving new feed ingredients, vaccine testing and drug development. The facility is one of very few in the world with this level of technical capacity and biocontainment certifications.

Robert Orr, Managing Director of Cuna Del Mar, said “Cuna del Mar is very pleased to be acquiring the CAT operations in the USA and Canada. CAT has a tremendously talented team of people with unique capabilities, who are dedicated to making a difference for our customers and the industry as a whole. We are excited about the possibilities the future holds for this business.”

The purchase is positive news for the company’s 30 employees and CAT clients alike with the investment further opening global doors to them. Since announcing the acquisition in late April, CAT has expanded to post three additional well-paying career opportunities currently open in PEI’s bioscience cluster: a post-doctoral researcher, an aquaculture technologist and a research associate.

“The Center for Aquaculture Technologies has a customer base across the global aquaculture industry and is a key asset in our ability to attract investment and jobs to our bioscience industry in rural PEI,” said Rory Francis, Executive Director of the PEI BioAlliance. He pointed out that CAT has benefited from consistent support from Innovation PEI, Finance PEI, ACOA, and the Emergence incubator as it was being established. “We’re very pleased to see this investment from Cuna del Mar that will now enable CAT to achieve its full potential.”

By acquiring all of CAT’s shares for an undisclosed sum, Cuna Del Mar adds CAT to its existing investment portfolio of companies focused on aquaculture.

In advance of the 2019 provincial election, the PEI BioAlliance joined an alliance of more than 20 Prince Edward Island business organizations and industry associations to launch the Partnership for Growth. Comprised of organizations representing thousands of businesses across the province, the Partnership for Growth embraces a shared vision to make P.E.I. a leader in Canada for sustainable growth and economic performance. Read News Release.

Over 250 keen, young and budding scientists were eager to share their projects and knowledge to the many judges at the 2019 Provincial Science Fair at the University of Prince Edward Island today. BioAlliance awarded three Best in BioTech awards this year. First prize was awarded to Avery Nicholson and Megan Down, Grade 10 students at Bluefield Senior High School for their project “Ulva Lactuca: Supercritical Water & Supercritical CO2 Extractions”.  Second place winner was Abby Chapman, Grade 10 Student from Charlottetown Rural High School for her project “Temperature Dependent Approach to Enhance the Drug Discovery Process in Marine-Derived Bacteria”. Third-place winners of the BioAlliance Best in BioTech awards went to Davis Nicholson and Joseph Moak, Grade 8 students at Gulf Shore Consolidated for their wonderful presentation, “Ready Set Grow: A guide to better microgreens”. Good luck to all students in moving forward to Regional and National competitions!

The FDA has announced that it will now allow AquaAdvantage Salmon eggs, produced by AquaBounty, to be imported to the company’s land-based facility in Indiana and raised into salmon for food. The AquaAdvantage Salmon grows year-round and grows faster than farm-raised Atlantic salmon. Read AquaBounty Press Release. Read more here.

Harvest One, an international cannabis house of brands in the self-care and health and wellness space, has acquired Delivra. The acquisition of Delivra and its LivRelief™ brand, which produces a variety of topicals and creams with existing distribution channels across Canada, will position Harvest One well when cannabis-infused products are legalized in Canada, expected in the fall of 2019. Read more here.

BioVectra Inc., an Atlantic Canadian Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization, has announced a five-year, $144.6 million (CAD) expansion project to enhance its Biopharmaceutical capabilities in both Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and Windsor, Nova Scotia. Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, visited BioVectra in Charlottetown today to announce a $37.5 million contribution from the Government of Canada through the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), creating 150 new high-skilled jobs in the region. Read more here.

Sekisui Diagnostics in Charlottetown is expanding again to add capacity and jobs. This is the fourth expansion in four years for Sekisui in PEI. The company expects to add 15-20 new jobs through its current expansion, bringing total employment at its Charlottetown facility to over 130. Read more here.

The provincial government will support 32 new jobs at Dosecann, a cannabis oil extraction company in the Biocommons Industrial Park in Charlottetown. Dosecann is a Health Canada approved and licensed cannabis processor. Their 42,000 square foot, purpose-built analytical testing facility in Charlottetown serves as the hub for Dosecann’s cannabis extraction, product innovation and formulation, research and development, quality testing and manufacturing. Read more here.

Advanced Extraction Systems Inc. has unveiled the largest CO2 Supercritical Fluid Extraction System for the Global Hemp & Cannabis Industries. The PEI-based company designs, engineers and fabricates supercritical fluid CO2extraction systems with a specific focus in the medical/recreational marijuana and hemp industries. Read more here