AGADA Biosciences Corp. was among 26 businesses to receive provincial government money Tuesday to help expand outside the region’s confines. The company, which received a $26,252 grant under the province’s Global Business Accelerator Program, has 10 people on staff, not including its two founders. According to Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s website, the disease can appear at any time in life. It is widely understood as a childhood disorder, but there are many types that afflict people. “It’s a horrible disease where children are diagnosed between two and four years of age; one hundred per cent of them die in their twenties,” AGADA co-founder Dr. Kanneboyina Nagaraju said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s a horrible thing for parents knowing that their children are going to die.” Nagaraju said the provincial money will help expand the young company — co-founded by Dr. Eric Hoffman, who in the late 1980s discovered the gene that causes muscular dystrophy — and enable AGADA to break into new markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, France, Italy and Australia. The firm has contracts with groups in those countries. “In fact, this is one of the first human genes ever discovered; it remained as his main focus,” Nagaraju said of Hoffman. “He needs to find a cure … for the disease. “We wanted to expand our business in multiple different companies. We truly don’t have the expertise to go off to each market, so that means we have to hire people to help us.” AGADA will continue to work on treatments of its own and screen possible drugs for muscular dystrophy submitted by other pharmaceutical firms, he said. Nagaraju and Hoffman worked on a drug to combat the disease in 2008 and plan human trials next year. That drug was developed by the partners, who also own the firm ReveraGen, before they formed AGADA, said Nagaraju. AGADA did pre-clinical work on the drug. Hoffman, who is based in Washington, D.C., spends part of every year in Nova Scotia. Nagaraju, a professor of integrated systems, biology and pediatrics at the Children’s National Medical Centre in that city, frequently travels to the province. Nagaraju said big pharmaceutical companies often focus on diseases that affect a large number of people but not rare diseases, which AGADA focuses on. Agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European medical regulators have recently become more helpful, and the focus on rare disease has heightened, said Nagaraju. That shift has helped AGADA because big companies are bringing trial drugs to the Halifax firm for screening, he said. Blind trials are done at AGADA’s headquarters in the Dalhousie Life Sciences Building on Summer Street, where it has laboratories and offices. The company rents from Innovacorp and Dalhousie University. AGADA is just a year old, and Nagaraju said the funding will help accelerate it beyond Nova Scotia borders. “We are in the very early stages.” Source]]>
BIONOVA CONTACT
#46 1344 Summer Street
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada B3H 0A8
Phone: 902-421-5705
Fax: 902-421-2733
Email: [email protected]
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada B3H 0A8
Phone: 902-421-5705
Fax: 902-421-2733
Email: [email protected]
Recent Posts
- NEWS RELEASE: Doris Grant appointed Vice President Business Development and Strategy at BioNova
- MARS VR Lab
- Workinsights
- NEWS RELEASE: BioNova Announces MycoFutures North Atlantic as the Winner of the Eleventh Annual BioInnovation Challenge (BIC) at BioPort 2021
- NEWS RELEASE: BioNova’s BioPort 2021 Conference for Health and Life Sciences Kicks-Off Today
Business Wire National BioTech News
- AbCellera, Viking Global Investors, and ArrowMark Partners Collaborate to Launch New Biotech Companies
- Aurinia Underscores Enduring Commitment to People Living with Lupus Nephritis Through Innovative Advocacy and Education Initiatives for Lupus Awareness Month
- Aurion Biotech Announces Completion of Enrollment in Phase 1 / 2 Clinical Trial
- Debiopharm & Repare Therapeutics Announce First Patient Dosed in Phase 1/1b Mythic Trial Evaluating the Synthetic Lethal Combination of WEE1 AND PKMYT1 Inhibition
- Repare Therapeutics & Debiopharm Announce First Patient Dosed in Phase 1/1b MYTHIC Trial Evaluating the Synthetic Lethal Combination of PKMYT1 and WEE1 Inhibition
- The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Approves Updated LUPKYNIS® (voclosporin) Label to include Long-Term Data from the AURORA Clinical Program
- VHA Introduces Groundbreaking Pontosense AI Solution, Offering New Innovations for Aging in Place
- ZYUS Announces Anticipated Delay in Its Annual Filings
- Repare Therapeutics Appoints Steven H. Stein, M.D. to its Board of Directors
- DIC Algae Oil Sulfurized Extreme Pressure Additives Present Promising Alternatives to Lard Oils and Vegetable Oils in Lubricating Oils, Metalworking Fluids, and Greases
RECENT NEWS
- NEWS RELEASE: Doris Grant appointed Vice President Business Development and Strategy at BioNova February 9, 2023
- MARS VR Lab January 25, 2022
- Workinsights January 25, 2022
- NEWS RELEASE: BioNova Announces MycoFutures North Atlantic as the Winner of the Eleventh Annual BioInnovation Challenge (BIC) at BioPort 2021 November 8, 2021
- NEWS RELEASE: BioNova’s BioPort 2021 Conference for Health and Life Sciences Kicks-Off Today November 2, 2021
- NEWS RELEASE: BioNova Selects Eight Semi-Finalists to Participate in the 11th Annual BioInnovation Challenge August 24, 2021
RECENT TWEETS
Notice: Trying to get property 'full_text' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 206
Notice: Trying to get property 'user' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1033
Notice: Trying to get property 'id_str' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1033
Notice: Trying to get property 'favorite_count' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1064
Notice: Trying to get property 'user' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1104
Notice: Trying to get property 'name' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1104
·
@
Notice: Trying to get property 'user' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1123
Notice: Trying to get property 'screen_name' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1123
Notice: Trying to get property 'id' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1123
Notice: Trying to get property 'user' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1307
Notice: Trying to get property 'screen_name' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1307
Notice: Trying to get property 'id' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 1307
Notice: Trying to get property 'id' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 601
Notice: Trying to get property 'user' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 601
Notice: Trying to get property 'screen_name' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 601
Notice: Trying to get property 'id' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 619
Notice: Trying to get property 'user' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 619
Notice: Trying to get property 'screen_name' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 619
Notice: Trying to get property 'user' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 579
Notice: Trying to get property 'screen_name' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 579
Notice: Trying to get property 'id' of non-object in /home/bionova/public_html/wp-content/plugins/feed-them-social/feeds/twitter/class-fts-twitter-feed.php on line 579