By Tyler Kula From www.theobserver.ca The Observer
A startup biotech company has opened a Sarnia office at the UWO Research Park with plans to test a tobacco-based breast cancer drug in clinical trails.
PlantForm joined the University of Western Ontario research park earlier this month to take advantage of the facilities, connection with London and access to potential investors, said David Cayea, director of PlantForm’s international relations and business development.
“The precarious position of a startup is funding institutions very rarely put money in until you have revenue assets and things like that,” he said. “We won’t realize any revenue from three to four years from now.”
At that point, Sarnia could become the site for full-scale manufacturing, with greenhouses and pharmaceutical-grade facilities to process the drugs, he said.
The company, founded at the University of Guelph in 2008, is producing biosimilar drugs — using plants to create generic alternatives to existing medicines.
The first is a Herceptin (trastuzumab) alternative, made from tobacco.
Herceptin is a Roche Group drug for breast cancer that earned $5.7 billion last year. The patent ends in Europe by 2014, and in North America by 2017, Cayea said.
PlantForm’s biosimilar version, which is 10 times cheaper, could then be sold, he said. It’s currently entering phase one with animal efficacy tests.
“Herceptin alone is usually a $44,000 a year dosage for one person,” he said.
The company is eyeing two other multibillion dollar drugs, trying to make less expensive alternatives from plants.
Sarnia is also closer to home, said Cayea, who’s been working in Abu Dhabi the past nine years.
“We wanted to come back to this area and I found it was challenging in the beginning” to find work in Sarnia, he said.
The research park helped solve that dilemma and is very cost effective, he added.
“I believe in the area and would love to see more people back.”
Office space is available for four new tenants at the Bioindustrial Innovation Centre, and there is significantly more laboratory space, said Mary Prendiville, business development and communications manager with the research park.
“It’s bringing opportunity to startups and connecting Dave to the different groups that we’re involved with,” she said.
Anyone interested in learning more can contact Prendiville at 519-383-8303 ext. 238.
Observer Article ID#3312546