Biotech industry blooming in Manitoba

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This article was published 30/09/2014 (3488 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Like all industry campaigns, National Biotech Week tries to raise awareness of the opportunities in the field, especially to encourage young people to pursue that area of study and ultimately increase the capacity in the sector.

At an event in Winnipeg on Tuesday, it was noted Manitoba has the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in Canada outside Ontario and Quebec.

In Steinbach, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International has a massive pill factory, Emergent BioSolutions (formerly Cangene) has been a profitable drug manufacturer for decades, Vita Health makes vitamins and Pfizer Canada does its global production of ingredients for a class of drugs in Brandon.

But when it comes to technologies in the life-sciences industries, it’s Manitoba’s medical-device companies that are starting to hit their stride. Three of them — Cubresa Inc., Miraculins Inc. and Monteris Medical — are at critically important stages of their development.

Even though they all might still be considered “emerging,” all three have been in business for many years — Miraculins and Monteris for more than a decade.

Miraculins and Cubresa are about to start generating revenue, and Monteris has been in the market for a while but has just achieved critical regulatory approval in Canada for its newest product iteration.

All of them could have an impact on health outcomes, and none of them would be possible without incredible stick-to-it-ness.

Access to capital is devilishly hard for all new enterprises and the entrepreneurs behind.

James Schellenberg, the founder and CEO of Cubresa Inc., said, “Our cycle in the medical-device business is longer. It’s going to be at least three to five years before any revenue starts to flow to justify the investment.”

Cubresa has developed a hand-held gamma camera, the only one of its kind in the world, used in preclinical research — a $200-million-per-year market.

Cubresa is about to ship its first finished device — which will sell between $200,000 and $500,000 — to a research firm in Halifax.

Schellenberg’s company, which already has 10 full-time employees and just as many part-timers, has been as frugal as they come, having burned through a very modest $2.5 million to get to this stage.

By comparison, IMRIS Inc., the MRI surgery technology company that started in Winnipeg and moved last year to Minneapolis, has burned through more than $100 million and is not yet profitable.

Miraculins Inc. recently completed an important, exclusive distribution deal in China for its non-invasive diabetes-screening test called Scout DS. The deal could mean as much as $90 million in orders over the first five years of the agreement.

Miraculins CEO Chris Moreau said the company has some hard work ahead of it before those orders are placed. It has to obtain approval from the Chinese regulatory agency, a process that is likely to take more than a year.

Last month it finalized the agreement, and last week it received the first payment from the deal which, according to the terms and conditions, was likely about $500,000.

“The Chinese love to sign things, but it has to have teeth to it,” Moreau said. “We signed the deal that called for them to make the first up-front payment in 30 days. The fact that they did it… I want the market to know they are serious, we are serious, this is real.”

The Scout is available in Canada, and Miraculins is in the process of getting FDA approval in the U.S. With a comprehensive commercial arrangement in place for the Chinese market, Moreau said there are doors starting to ease open a little when it comes to securing the financing needed to get the puck in the net.

Among other things, Miraculins has been asked to accompany Premier Greg Selinger on an upcoming trade mission to China.

This week, Monteris Medical — a company that began as an idea at the St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre — in the mid-1980s, is celebrating Health Canada approval for the latest iteration of its technology.

Monteris has developed the only minimally invasive robotic laser thermotherapy tool to treat deep-seated brain tumours in Canada. Although John Schellhorn, CEO of Monteris, is based in Minneapolis, the company has its research and development operation in Winnipeg, with a staff of about 15 people. He said there is deep pride in achieving regulatory approval in Canada.

“This is a transnational company now, but achieving a Canadian licence is something we feel very proud about,” he said. “The initial invention, the early sources of capital, the early inspiration all came from local Winnipeg institutions, both financial and medical, and the talented people of Winnipeg who imagined and realized this device that we are very proud of.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca