Life sciences is abuzz for Canadians | 081

Welcome to another episode of Biotechnology Focus radio. I am your host – Michelle Currie – here to give you the rundown on the Canadian biotech scene. This week I’ll be discussing how the regenerative medicine community is abuzz, expanding personalized medicine, and the very recent announcement from the Ontario government that brings great news to the life sciences sector.   +++++  The regenerative medicine field, which includes cell and gene therapies (CGTs), is still abuzz with the fall approvals of three CGTs by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Novartis’ Kymriah, Gilead/Kite Pharma’s Yescarta and Spark Therapeutics Inc.’s Luxturna.  At the Cell and Gene Therapy World conference in Miami, Florida (January 22-25), many of the talks were either about the approved treatments or congratulating the industry on these significant milestones.  Reni Benjamin, of Raymond James Financial, reminded delegates that the pharmaceutical industry is also feeling confident about cell and gene therapes s. Acquisitions in 2017 were worth billions: Gilead acquired Kite for $11.9 billion, Takeda bought Ariad for $5.2 billion and Roche acquired Ignyta for $1.7 billion. As the conference was just getting underway, the news was announced that Celgene is buying Juno Therapeutics for $9 billion.  Illustrating the future of the field are the more than 1,300 currently open clinical trials listing stem cells (from sources other than blood) as the primary therapeutic, the 1,000 clinical trials in gene therapy, and clinical trials involving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells (a type of immune system cell) accounted for around half of clinical trials in 20162.  As such, global investment in the cell and gene therapies and regenerative medicine industry is booming. For example, public and private investment in immuno-oncology has grown to $1.5 billion2. When it comes to gene therapies, the forecast for the year 2025 ranges from $4.3 billion to $10 billion2 due to recent advances in the understanding of genetic disease, and innovation in genetic engineering tools. Altogether, it is estimated that the regenerative medicine industry will explode to a valuation of up to $20 billion by the year 2025.     So, where does Canada sit in terms of being an innovator in these advanced therapeutic technologies?     Let’s start with the good news. Canada is a prominent force in this emerging global field. We have a strong backbone of Canada-based researchers who are recognized scientific leaders, and a robust system for the development of highly-qualified personnel through Canada’s universities. We have also benefited from strategic investments in research, collaborative networks and infrastructure, and are developing a deep understanding of how to translate these advanced therapies from the bench to the bedside.  One way to sustain Canada’s leadership position is to nurture the right skills and education within our borders. Encouraging STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education from a young age is a necessary first step. Extending STEM-based education with biomedical engineering programs at the university level is a good strategy for supporting the growth of Canada’s CGT and regenerative medicine industry. Biomedical engineering – where engineering design principles and mathematics are applied to medicine and biology, allowing students to make significant contributions to improving human health by finding new diagnostic or therapeutic solutions – is an area Canadian universities are increasingly focusing on.  An illustration of how biomedical engineers are already impacting the regenerative medicine field can be found at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) and at Medicine by Design. The 55-year-old IBBME fosters a multidisciplinary research community where students and investigators in engineering, medicine and dentistry collaborate to develop innovative solutions that address global challenges in human health. Their impact can be seen in the development of breakthrough biomedical devices and new biomaterial products.  Funded in 2015 with a generous federal grant, Medicine by Design builds on IBBME’s successful multidisciplinary model to conceive, create and test strategies to address critical problems in regenerative medicine. By working across disciplines and generating and using emerging methods, like genome editing, computational modelling and synthetic biology, Medicine by Design is generating a deeper understanding of core biological concepts controlling stem cell fate, and devising new therapeutic approaches that will improve health outcomes.  This successful approach is now receiving a significant boost in Vancouver, where the University of British Columbia (UBC) has launched a new School of Biomedical Engineering as a partnership between the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Applied Science.     Centre of commercialization and regenerative medicine, a Toronto-based leader in developing and commercializing regenerative medicine technologies, understands how the intersection of engineering and medicine, introduced by biomedical engineers, can help provide the tools that will advance the industry now and into the future.  One area where Centre of commercialization and regenerative medicine employs biomedical engineers is in its Centre for Advanced Therapeutic Cell Technologies (CATCT), a joint investment by GE Healthcare and the Government of Canada. Biomedical engineers work on process development strategies and solutions, and on projects involving reprogramming and engineering cells, immunotherapies and gene therapies. Operational for over a year, Centre for Advanced Therapeutic Cell Technologies was created to accelerate the development and adoption of cell manufacturing technologies that improve patient access to novel regenerative medicine-based therapies. The team introduces new technologies to solve emerging technical challenges and closes gaps in current and future workflows.      Our next challenge is to make certain that we have the people, technologies, processes and infrastructure to ensure Canadians have equitable access to these potentially game-changing therapies. Biomedical engineering programs are a start. Engineers are trained to look for efficiencies through cost reductions and improved technologies.  We need to build a Canadian innovation cluster that will attract talent and business expertise to capture the intellectual property developed in Canada and mobilize it for the benefit of Canadians.  We also need to work with government to position our health-care system as part of our competitive advantage. A big part of getting to this step in getting to this solution is starting to look at health economic models that integrate therapeutic costs and savings from development through to long term patent treatment costs.  Together, Canada’s companies, networks, researchers, start-ups and innovative centres are starting to deliver on the promise of regenerative medicine. With the technical know-how and a spirit of collaboration, biomedical engineers are a driving force in the country’s quest to lead the regenerative medicine industry into the future.  +++++  Personalized medicine is becoming a very popular term heard amongst researchers and the scientific community. It is a more tailored approach to preventing disease that is based on an individual’s predispositions. Whichever way you put it – personalized medicine, genomic medicine, precision medicine – it is reshaping healthcare.  Dr. Richard Kim, a scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute and clinical pharmacologist at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), has received $4.4 million to study an expanded personalized medicine program at London Health Sciences Centre. One-third of the funding comes from the provincial government’s Ontario Research Fund (ORF) while the remainder is contributions from Thermo Fisher Scientific and donor funding through London Health Sciences Foundation.  Personalized medicine uses pharmacogenomics – the study of genetic changes that alter the way a person responds to individual drugs. The new funding will enable researchers to follow patient outcomes and assess the cost-effectiveness of London Health Sciences Centre’s personalized medicine program, providing evidence on the relationship between the cost of the program and how patient care is improved.  London Health Sciences Centre’s personalized medicine program involves the full integration of research into patient care and was the first in Canada to implement personalized medicine as a clinical strategy. The practice began in 2008 through Dr. Kim’s research on warfarin – a blood thinner prescribed to treat blood clots.  Adverse drug reactions in patients is a significant problem. Some drugs do not metabolize with every patient, and can even lead to toxicity. It is the fourth leading cause of death among hospitalized patients and costs the Canadian health care system over $5 billion a year.  Dr. Kim explains, “For every medication, there are patients who should be prescribed lower or higher than the recommended standard dose and patients who should be prescribed an entirely different medication. Personalized medicine studies a patient’s unique DNA to ensure he or she is prescribed the right dose of the right medication at the right time.”  The team’s research continues to grow since inception and is providing testing for several other drugs. For example, they can now offer testing for cancer patients that have been prescribed 5-fluorouracil – a highly toxic form of chemotherapy – but is integral in treating bowel, stomach, head, and neck cancers.  Oncologists at London Health Sciences Centre’s London Regional Cancer Program can now refer patients to get tested for their potential reaction to 5-fluorouracil to better predict if they may or may not have an adverse reaction. A blood sample will be taken and tested with genotyping, and a full report given to the recommending oncologist. If a patient’s predicted to react poorly with the drug, they can follow clinical guidelines to either reduce the dose or find a method of treatment.  The team will study the outcomes of any patients referred to the program, including hospital stays, emergency department visits, and physician visits. These patients will be compared to others in the province using provincial health care data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). The team hopes to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of implementing personalized medicine in a large acute-care hospital in Ontario.  +++++  The most recent announcement from the government of Ontario this past week was that it is investing $50 million in venture capital funds focused on life sciences.  Ontario is moving forward with their plan for a venture capital fund to aid life sciences firms access the capital they need to grow their business, create jobs, and grow on a global level.  The Ontario Capital Growth Corporation (OCGC) would like to identify fund managers to partner with other institutional investors such as corporations, banks and pension funds. Ontario’s new life sciences venture capital fund is designed to respond to the challenges faced in raising capital by innovative, high-potential life sciences companies to scale up and reach global markets.  The Hon. Reza Moridi, Minister of Research and Innovation says, “Providing much needed capital to growing life sciences companies is a crucial step towards a strong and sustainable life sciences ecosystem. Supporting high-potential life sciences companies will create good jobs and help commercialize technologies and services for improved healthcare at home and around the world.”  Ontario’s new venture capital fund focused on life sciences is designed to respond to the challenges faced in raising capital by innovative, high-potential life sciences companies to scale up and reach global markets. It will also help businesses foster new discoveries, including new technologies, treatments and cures for illnesses while supporting high quality, knowledge-based jobs for people across the province. It will also drive Ontario’s ability to attract and retain talent.  The Ontario Capital Growth Corporation, venture capital agency of the government of Ontario, was created to promote and develop the venture capital sector in Ontario, so that more high-potential technology companies have access to the capital needed to grow and prosper.  Supporting innovation in the life sciences is part of Ontario’s plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.  Ontario is the largest life sciences jurisdiction in Canada with more than 50 per cent of overall Canadian revenue. The province includes an incredible 1,840 firms employing close to 61,000 people across the province. This fund will open many doorways for Canadians and Ontarians.   +++++  Well, that wraps up another episode of Biotechnology Focus radio. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have a story idea or would like to be on the show, please email me at [email protected]. To see the articles in full check out the website biotechnologyfocus.ca ca so you don’t miss a beat! Have a momentous week. From my desk to yours – this is Michelle Currie.