Why Trade Matters
Success Stories
Healthy Gains in Biotechnology
From the kitchen table to the operating table, advances in biotechnology
have touched our lives. Canadian companies are leading the way with
scientific breakthroughs as simple as new food products and as complicated
as robotic surgery. Our track record in scientific innovation is
legendary. Canadian research centres are working with peers around
the world, sharing their knowledge and experience through academic
partnerships supported by International Trade Canada and other federal
government departments. This issue of Success Stories highlights
a few of the many recent advances in biotechnology that are having
a positive impact on world health.
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Advancing the Global
Bio-Economy
Ag-West Bio Inc.,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
The mission of Ag-West Bio Inc. is to
link knowledge and investment with science and enterprise for the
development of products that satisfy market needs in the new, bio-based
economy.
In October 2004, Ag-West signed a five-year agreement with India’s
Punjab Biotechnology Park Ltd. to exchange information pertaining
to business and joint venture opportunities, technology transfer
and multilateral funding initiatives in the fields of agricultural
and environmental biotechnology, bio-processing and health care.
This framework of scientific, technological and commercial linkages
will benefit the life sciences sector in both regions, says Dr.
Ashley O’Sullivan, Ag-West’s President and CEO. “Punjab
is the most agriculturally productive of all the Indian states,
and shares many similarities with the province of Saskatchewan,”
he explains. “Both, for example, are major producers of agricultural
commodities and are striving to capture value from these commodities
through value-added processing.”
In 1996, Ag-West created the Agricultural Biotechnology International
Conference (ABIC), which took place outside Canada for the first
time last year. Held in Cologne, Germany, ABIC 2004 attracted more
than 700 delegates from 37 countries, and was supported by local
Canadian trade commissioners. “We worked very closely with
Canadian embassy staff in Berlin, notably Steffen Preusser,”
says O’Sullivan. In 2006, ABIC will travel to Melbourne, Australia.
Continuing to enhance Saskatchewan’s presence internationally,
Ag-West recently co-hosted a technology-partnering event, coordinated
by the United Kingdom Department of Trade and Investment. A group
of local natural health product and functional food companies and
industry representatives from the U.K. participated in the event,
which has led to several follow-up meetings and sales prospects.
The International Technology Promoters group plans to return to
Saskatoon in the spring of 2005 for a bio-oils mission.
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Plasma Ready in Under
Seven Minutes
ARK Bio-Medical Canada Corp.,
Winsloe, Prince Edward Island
From its facility in central Prince Edward Island, ARK
Bio-Medical Canada Corp. manufactures specialty microwave
plasma defrosters. With some 20 international distributors selling
to more than 50 countries, virtually all of ARK’s production
is exported, although some units are used in Quebec, Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick. The company’s first market was Saudi Arabia,
and this led to sales and the establishment of distributors in Ireland
and Australia.
The husband and wife team of Wendell Dawson and Marjorie Stevenson-Dawson
explain the benefits of their business to the medical sector worldwide:
“Blood plasma is used for operations, liver and heart transplants,
burns and accident victims. Thawing it properly reduces the risk
of contamination, disease and hypothermia.” Because ARK’s
unit thaws plasma quickly to an even 20 degrees Celsius throughout,
a transfusion can be ready within seven minutes. “It’s
been very rewarding to be involved in this,” add the Dawsons.
“For instance, we had a call from a hospital that had a major
trauma in their emergency room. As fast as they could thaw, in about
five minutes, they could transfuse. Another caller said they were
delaying surgeries because they didn’t have our unit and couldn’t
thaw fast enough.”
ARK’s exporting achievements can be attributed to marketing
strategies that include participating in the American Association
of Blood Banks’ annual meeting and the International Society
of Blood Transfusion conference, which convenes every two years.
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Advanced Biotechnology
to Produce Enzymes
Iogen Corporation, Ottawa,
Ontario
Iogen Corporation produces industrial
enzymes to modify and improve the processing of natural fibres.
Through its Bio-Products division, the company exports fully 85
per cent of its enzymes to most regions of the world, including
North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and
eight countries in Asia. These enzymes are then marketed for use
in a diverse range of applications, particularly pulp and paper,
textiles, animal feed and grain processing.
“As a result of Iogen’s expanded export sales over
the past five years, profitability has increased sharply, allowing
for further expansion and increased employment in the Ottawa region,”
says Bruce Martin, Vice President and General Manager, Iogen Bio-Products.
Established in 1974, Iogen employs approximately 85 people at its
world-class biotechnology facility, almost half of whom are involved
in research and development activities. In recognition of its international
achievements, the Greater Ottawa Chamber of Commerce awarded Iogen
the Gold Business Achievement Award for Exporter of the Year in
2003.
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The World’s Largest
Producer of Fish Gelatin
Kenney & Ross Ltd.,
Port Saxon, Shelburne Country,
Nova Scotia
2004 Nova Scotia Export Achievement Award winner Kenney
& Ross Ltd. has been turning fish skins into fish
gelatin since 1945. Its products find their way into everything
from television electronics to the PVC resin manufacturing process.
But it is the increased demand from the food and pharmaceutical
industries that has helped the Port Saxon company grow its exports
to more than 98 per cent of total production.
Although primarily focused on markets in Europe and the United
States, Kenney & Ross is now showing strong growth in the Far
East as well. In addition, Chilean wine producers are increasingly
using its fish gelatin as a clarifying agent for their wines. “The
only continent we haven’t marketed to is Africa,” says
Robert Welland, company vice-president. “As beef byproducts
become less acceptable, the public is looking for alternate forms
of food additives.” The company’s success comes from
one of the fish-processing industry’s underutilized byproducts—the
skins of such cold-water fish as cod, haddock and pollock. Even
Kenney & Ross’s own byproducts are made into fishmeal,
which is packaged and sold as animal feed.
Over the past three years, Kenney & Ross—the largest
producer of fish gelatin in the world—has grown from 12 to
65 employees, while its plant size has tripled and sales have increased
fourteenfold.
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Bird Flu Vaccine
ID Biomedical Corporation,
Vancouver, British Columbia
ID Biomedical Corporation has begun development
of an experimental vaccine against a strain of influenza virus that
experts believe could cause a deadly worldwide epidemic. Since 2004,
sporadic outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza caused by
an H5N1 influenza strain have occurred in Southeast Asia. Occasional
transmission of the virus directly from birds to humans has resulted
in a high mortality rate in those infected.
The genetically modified rH5N1reference strain was obtained by
ID Biomedical from the National Institute for Biological Standards
and Control in the U.K. The initial objective of the pandemic preparedness
program, which will be conducted at the Vancouver-based company’s
Quebec City manufacturing facility, is to optimize the conditions
under which the virus grows in chicken eggs and to develop a virus
seed bank for future vaccine production. The second phase will involve
producing sufficient quantities of a “mock” vaccine
for clinical trials.
“The successful completion of this development program will
position Canada and ID Biomedical as worldwide leaders in pandemic
readiness,” says Dr. Anthony Holler, Chief Executive Officer
of ID Biomedical. “We are very proud to be at the forefront
of the preparedness work.”
Last year, the U.S. National Institutes of Health awarded ID Biomedical
a grant to develop a cell culture-based pandemic influenza vaccine
and a nasally delivered plague vaccine based upon the company’s
Proteosome technology. Since 2001, the company has held a ten-year
mandate from the Government of Canada to ensure a state of readiness
in the case of an influenza epidemic and provide vaccines for all
Canadians in such an event.
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