The human immune system is nature’s standing army. Honed by evolution to fight off any and all foreign pathogens, it is far less effective when the enemy originates from within, as with malignant cells run amok. Figuring out how to co-opt the body’s immune system to enlist in the fight against cancer is no mean scientific feat.
For the past 10 years Dartmouth-based IMV has been learning how to do just that. Through collaborations with Dalhousie researchers and others, IMV has developed a novel delivery platform called DPX, that provides a set of instructions to the body’s T-cells to locate and destroy cancerous cells. It’s an entirely new class of therapy, with the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment and there are now eight clinical trials underway across North America.
Proximity to Halifax’s universities and research expertise was critical in the development of DPX says IMV CEO, Fred Ors.
“Life sciences research requires a high level of specialization in a number of fields and highly specialized equipment,” Ors says. “Very few companies will have all of that internally.”
IMV is part of a growing cluster of life science companies in the Halifax region that encompasses everything from pharmaceuticals and vaccines to medical technologies, natural health products, bioproducts, and digital health solutions.
The industry accounts for more than $300 million in exports and employs some 1,500 people in the private sector alone — not including the universities, hospitals, and government researchers. Employees in life sciences earn almost $25,000 above the provincial average.
The business model in life sciences is unlike any other. Canadian drug patents, for example, last for 20 years. But patents are filed the moment a new compound is identified under the microscope, so the clock begins ticking years before anything is ready for market.
“By the time you’ve gone through clinical trials and gotten approval from Health Canada, you’re into year 10 or 12,” explains Bobby Sutherland, Executive Director, Government Relations with Innovative Medicines Canada, which represents 45 pharmaceutical firms across the country. The cost of bringing a new drug to market can be upwards of
$2 billion, so the upfront investment is enormous, with no assurance of a return.
Equity tax credits offset some of this risk for investors and in January the Nova Scotia government announced that the investment eligibility in the sector was being raised from $50,000 at a tax credit rate of 35 per cent to $250,000 at
45 per cent.
“That’s a good start and exactly where we need to be going,” says BioNova Executive Director, Scott Moffitt. BioNova advocates for the province’s health and life sciences sector and Moffitt is part of a group providing recommendations to government on ways to assist the industry. Currently, the Nova Scotia tax credit is available only to investors within the province. The consensus in the industry is that it needs to be expanded to include investors from outside the province.
In terms of procuring investment, attracting talent and selling a finished product, life sciences is in every sense a global enterprise.
“For a company like ours to flourish,
we need to look beyond the province and beyond Canada,” says Peter Hickey, CEO and co-founder of Adaptiiv Medical Technologies Inc., based in Halifax. Established in 2016, Adaptiiv has developed a clinically viable software platform that allows cancer treatment centres to automatically fabricate and 3D print patient-specific accessories used in radiation therapy. The software provides far greater precision than anything that previously existed. A bolus created using Adaptiiv’s software program accommodates the patient’s anatomical irregularities and delivers precise and accurate radiation doses to the target area, while protecting healthy surrounding tissue.
“It allows for better treatment and better patient experience,” Hickey says. “Accessories can be printed on demand and our software integrates seamlessly into the treatment centre’s existing workflow.”
The technology is used in seven countries including Canada, U.S., Israel, Australia, Ireland, China and the U.K.
“The challenge our region faces is bridging the gap between research and commercialization,” Hickey says. “We need to be able to take original ideas and scale them.”
A range of assistance is available to help startup companies with the commercialization process. Dalhousie professor, Dr. Melanie Kelly and her three business partners — Dr. Mary Lynch, Dr. Christian Lehmann and Dr. Orlando Hung — were all academics/clinicians when they launched the company that eventually became PANAG Pharma back in 2012 and they all still have their day jobs. Focussing on cannabinoids and other naturally occurring compounds, the company develops novel therapeutics for chronic pain and inflammation.
“The idea for the company really developed out of our research backgrounds,” Dr. Kelly recalls. “So many people are living with chronic pain. We were looking for compounds that provide pain relief without the addictive potential inherent in opiates.”
The company was able to tap into a range of non-academic innovation grants and programs. ACOA’s Productivity and Business Skills Initiative provided salary assistance to hire key personnel. An interest-free BDC loan will help the fledgling company expand, while consultancy advisory service grants from CEED allowed the firm to hire consultants. NSBI provided expertise with branding and promotion and Innovacorp’s Spark program provided assistance with marketing.
“We were really lucky to be able to take advantage of all of these programs,” Dr. Kelly says. “We would have been dead in the water at the first hurdle, because these types of endeavors are not supported by traditional academic research funding.”
Today the company has a number of products under patent and in clinical trials and has been able to attract a licensing partner that has brought in additional R&D funding.
BioFuture 2030 is BioNova’s growth strategy for the next decade and it has ambitious goals: doubling the number of companies, tripling the number of employees and increasing the average income and tripling the value of exports. These are all attainable goals for the province, Moffitt believes.
“We have tremendous capital infrastructure in the health-related fields and the research expertise,” he says. “This industry is well positioned to be one of the core economic drivers for Nova Scotia.”
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