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reports and analyses of the forces driving science and technology investment in Canada
editor: Mark Henderson How it looks to me.... by Mark Henderson FEATURE REPORTS | RESEARCH BRIEFS | PERSONALITIES How it looks to me.... by Mark Henderson, editor, RE$EARCH MONEY If federal S&T policy makers need a few ideas for new initiatives in the next federal Budget, they need look no further than the new report on research funding by the House of Commons Industry Standing Committee. The report contains a whopping 16 recommendations -- most with purse strings attached -- on ways to enhance Canada's innovation system, and while a number can be safely ruled out in the near term, all bear serious scrutiny. The multi-party, Liberal-dominated committee pulls few punches when assessing the government's track record, offering praise for recent initiatives but stressing that much more needs to be done. The National Research Council should be particularly pleased with the report. Not only does it reaffirm its request for $75 million to restore previous cuts, it endorses the NRC's five proposed strategic initiatives and recommends additional resources to bolster its role in fostering regional innovation. The government will find it much more difficult to comply with the call for expanding the SR&ED tax incentive program to include the social sciences and aspects of health research not currently covered. But as committee chair Susan Whelan told RESEARCH MONEY, an alternative could be to create a new tax incentive for those areas while leaving SR&ED with its existing focus. Whatever decisions the government makes, the report is a welcome addition to the process from a group which has listened long and well.
FEATURE REPORTS...
RESEARCH BRIEFS
BioChem launches new strategy with US$160M share buy-back BioChem Pharma Inc is spending US$160 million to purchase 8,000,000 of its shares currently held by Glaxo Wellcome Inc, reducing the latter's holding in BioChem from 12.2% to 5.3%. To be acquired in two stages (July/99 and December/00), the shares will be cancelled but will not affect the company's public share float. The move gives BioChem greater independence as it initiates a major move towards becoming a fully integrated biopharmaceutical firm. The new strategy was announced at BioChem's AGM last week by CEO Dr Francesco Bellini, as the Montreal-based firm takes an increasing active role in its own sales and marketing activities. BioChem will start by establishing its own sales and marketing organization for North America before expanding to Europe. The move will be paid for by anticipated higher royalty income from its HIV/AIDs and hepatitis B drugs, estimated at $1.5 billion over the next five years. Of the compounds in its product pipeline, a new anti-AIDS drug is likely to be the first that BioChem will market directly in North America. In conjunction with its new strategy, the firm is withdrawing from the diagnostics market to focus on therapeutics and vaccines....
NRC joins Pasteur Mérieux's cancer vaccine network The National Research Council (NRC) has joined the cancer vaccine network of Pasteur Mérieux Connaught Canada with a team to carry out research into therapeutic vaccines for prostate cancer. Led by Dr Jim Richards, director of immunotherapy at the NRC's Institute for Biological Sciences, the team will be supported by $1.1 million in grants from PMCC. The network is part of a commitment made by PMCC in 1997 when it announced $350 million in spending over 10 years to develop cancer vaccines, supported by a $60-million investment by Technology Partnerships Canada. The project initially targeted melanoma, colorectal and bladder cancers and is now initiating research on breast and prostate cancers. Richards' team will be responsible for identifying and characterizing antigens associated with prostate cancer using immunological techniques and mass spectrometry....
MRC and Juvenile Diabetes Foundation launch $6-million project The Medical Research Council and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Canada are co-funding a $6-million, three-year project to find a cure for diabetes and develop ways to prevent the disease. The funding will go to the Univ of Alberta's Dr Alex Rabinovitch and Dr Diane Finegood of Simon Fraser Univ. Finegood will lead a team seeking to prevent the death of beta cells in the pancreas which produce insulin. Her work will be aided by Dr Robert Korneluk, head of R&D at Ottawa-based Apoptogen Inc and a professor at the Univ of Ottawa. Korneluk is part of the beta-Cell Apoptosis Network, which is seeking to determine how apoptosis of beta cells in the insulin-producing parts of the pancreas can be slowed or prevented. As part of the diabetes project, Korneluk and Apoptogen will contribute technology linked to their discovery of a gene family whose products protect against inappropriate cell death (apoptosis). Rabinovitch's team will focus on developing and testing strategies to prevent and block immune rejection of pancreatic islet grafts transplanted for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes....
Theratechnologies uses investment to accelerate TFGRF development Theratechnologies Inc has received a $7.5-million investment from Société générale de financement du Québec which could increase to $12.5 million is an associated share warrant purchase is exercised. The investment will permit the Montreal-based firm to accelerate the clinical program for its proprietary (therapeutic growth hormone-releasing factor (TFGRF) and construct a laboratory to develop and synthesize therapeutic peptides. The laboratory and associated clean room will be established as a wholly owned subsidiary to manufacture its TFGRF peptides as its enters the commercialization phase, with the aim of gaining competitive advantage through cost control. Slightly more than half of the initial $7.5-million investment will be used to implement and operate the new subsidiary, with the remainder dedicated to accelerating the TFGRF program....
Click here to view the more details of the committee structure, including short-form biographical information of the individuals appointed to each committee.
PERSONALITIESCarole Stephenson has been appointed president and CEO of Toronto-based Lucent Technologies Canada. She takes up the position shortly after being appointed president and COO of BCE Media (responsible for the Americas) following a reorganization of BCE Inc. Stephenson replaces Jim Schram, who moves to the US to take a senior position with Lucent Technologies' Global Service Provider Group. Her BCE Media duties are being assumed on an interim basis by Brian Nixon. Prior to her tenure with BCE Media, Stephenson was president and CEO of Stentor Resource Centre Inc, the technology development and marketing organization representing Canada's nine domestic telecommunications firms. Stephenson is a graduate of the Univ of Toronto and completed the executive program at the Univ of California at Berkley's graduate school of business administration. She is board chair of the Information Technology Association of Canada and sits on the advisory board of Queen's Univ's school of business.... Keith Ainsworth has been appointed CEO of COMDEV International, in addition to his duties as president and deputy chairman of the board. He replaces Val O'Donovan, who served as CEO for 25 years and remains chairman. Ainsworth joined COMDEV in 1975 and held several management positions including president since 1990. Other positions included manager of satellite communications and VP of satellite and defence programs, although he has had overall responsibility for non-space business lines since 1995 when COMDEV was reorganized.... Lucie Lefrancois is joining the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) -- the first graduate student to be appointed to the granting agency's governing council. Lefrancois is a doctoral student in oceanography at the Univ of Quebec at Rimouski, and is expected to contribute the perspective of the next generation of Canadian scientists and engineers. NSERC has also reappointed several members to a second term: Doug Barber, Suzanne Fortier and Norm Dovichi.... Visible Genetics Inc, Toronto, has created an executive marketing team for its HIV products to help orchestrate their market launch. The new team is composed of: Steven Owings, director of HIV North American Business. Owings as a 20-year veteran of Roche Diagnositics Systems and more recently VP of sales and marketing for both Digene Corp and American Type Culture Collection; Paula Evangelista, director of public relations. Evangelista has more than 20 years experience in the PR and public policy field, including 13 years with Hoffmann-La Roche; David Gibbons, director of product management. He will be responsible for management of VGI's products including HCV, HBV, p53, HLA, HPV, and TB; and, Christopher Holtzer, scientific and medical manager. Holtzer will focus on clinical trials and VGI protocols along with Chris Wins-low, VGI's medical director. He is a specialist in AIDS research and treatment, with extensive university and hospital experience in the San Francisco area.... Michael Lasky has been appointed CEO of Medical Pathways Inc (MPI), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Toronto-based Medical Pathways International Inc (MPII), an Internet service provider for the health and wellness information sector. As CEO of the Ashburn VA-based MPI, Lasky will assist the company in its goal of becoming a leading health and wellness e-commerce player with content development, strategic alliances and acquisitions. He has extensive Internet and and television marketing experience, including a real estate e-commerce venture of several large US publishers. Lasky received an MBA from Cornell Univ. Prior to last March, MPII was known as Polysteel Building Systems Ltd and trades on the Canadian Dealing Network.... Lionel Hurtubise is being presented with an honourary degree today by Ryerson Polytechnic Univ for his contributions to the Canadian information technology industry. Currently the chairman of Ericsson Communications, Hurtubise has spent nearly half a century in the sector, starting with Canadian Marconi in 1953....
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