OTTAWA, ON, Aug. 4, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ – Roche Diagnostics, a division of Hoffmann-La Roche Limited, and the Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association (EORLA) are pleased to announce a major collaborative research initiative on SARS-CoV-2 serology. The EORLA research team will conduct a randomized seroprevalence study of 4,400 people in Eastern Ontario to identify how many have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and for how long those antibodies remain detectable in the body.
“Our objective is to establish an estimate of the number of Eastern Ontario residents who have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, but may not be aware of their exposure,” said Dr. Christopher McCudden, Deputy Chief Medical/Scientific Officer at EORLA and leader of the study. “We will aim to quantify this exposure first among high-risk hospital out-patients. They are mobile, living in the community, but still need to come to hospital for regular blood tests and follow-up.”
The study is also intended to learn more about the pattern by which the amount of antibodies rises and falls over time in SARS-CoV-2 patients. By doing so, EORLA researchers hope to determine the longevity of antibody production in patients, critically important to pandemic response and recovery planning, with wide applications and benefits both regionally and nationally. The study will cover the Champlain Region of Ontario, which includes the National Capital Region and communities east of Algonquin park between the Quebec and New York state borders.
“We are proud to partner with the EORLA for this seroprevalence study using Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody test, which we are confident will bring reliable results to better manage the COVID-19 health crisis in Ontario,” said Michele D’Elia, Medical Director of Roche Diagnostics. “This study will help answer key questions about COVID-19 epidemiology and immunity and is one of our many efforts across the country to help better understand the dynamics of the pandemic in Canada.”
Study results will be invaluable to workers in long-term care homes, regional health centres and hospitals, and the community at large. Further, the study could provide a better understanding of the extent of herd immunity. About antibody testing An antibody test, also called a serology test, is used to determine whether a person might have mounted an immune response against a pathogen or not. In the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, antibody tests need to be able to specifically detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 with no cross-reactivity to other similar coronaviruses, which could generate a false positive result and thus wrongly indicate potential COVID infection. A false positive result happens when a person receives a positive test result, when they should have received a negative result. False positives are particularly critical when we do not know how many people in a given population have been exposed to the virus. About EORLA The Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association (EORLA) is a member-owned, non-profit organization encompassing the operation of 18 licensed, acute-care, hospital-based clinical laboratories that service clinical programs across the Champlain Region of Eastern Ontario. A leading, innovative model of integrated laboratory practices in the province, the purpose of EORLA is to deliver patient-focused, consistent, high-quality and cost-effective hospital-based laboratory services to meet the needs of the region’s patients. EORLA laboratories provide diagnostic testing to both hospital inpatients and registered outpatients, performing a total of approximately 13 million tests annually. Comprehensive testing in the disciplines of Anatomic Pathology, Biochemistry, Transfusion Medicine, Hematopathology, and Microbiology/Virology is performed. For more information, visit www.eorla.ca. About Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 serology test1 Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 is an immunoassay for the in-vitro qualitative detection of antibodies (including IgG) to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in human serum and plasma. Through a blood sample, the test, which is based on an in-solution double-antigen sandwich format, can detect antibodies to the new coronavirus causing COVID-19, which could signal whether a person has already been infected and potentially developed immunity to the virus. Based on the measurement of a total of 10,453 samples, the Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 assay has 99.80% specificity and shows no cross-reactivity to the four human coronaviruses causing common cold. This means it can lower the chance of false positives due to the detection of similar antibodies that may be present in an individual, but are specific for coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV-2. Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 detected antibodies with 99.5% sensitivity in samples taken 14 days after a PCR-confirmed infection. The importance of specificity and sensitivity of a particular test will be dependent on its purpose and disease prevalence within a given population. About Roche Roche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics under one roof have made Roche the leader in personalized healthcare – a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. For more information, please visit www.roche.com.
OTTAWA, ON, July 14, 2020 – Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) today announced funding for four Canadian start-up companies in the food, agriculture and aquaculture. Two of the firms are based in Halifax, one in St. John’s, and one in Montreal.
One of these companies is an agtech firm developing organic products to replace chemicals for disease control. One is building new software in the dairy industry to manage the milk supply chain more efficiently. A third firm is using artificial intelligence to reduce food waste and mortality on fish farms. The fourth team is also working in the fish industry, developing active compostable packaging that extends the shelf life of fresh fish.
The funding comes from SDTC’s Seed Fund. Piloted in 2019, the Seed Fund can support up to 100 companies per year. Successful applicants receive between $50,000 to $100,000 from SDTC, enabling them to unlock even greater funding from their private equity partners. In total, 17 small businesses received funding from SDTC in the first round of 2020-2021, which concluded at the end of June.
Central to the success of SDTC’s Seed Fund is its partnership model. SDTC partners with business accelerators and incubators across the country to identify high-potential start-up firms. With specialized knowledge of their regions and target industries, the accelerators nominate companies in their portfolios that meet SDTC funding criteria. Any accelerator in Canada is welcome to apply to SDTC to be a partner in the Seed Fund.
“When it comes to clean technology, Canada is a true global leader, creating good jobs for Canadians while helping meet our climate change goals. Today’s investment will have a direct impact across the food, agriculture and aquaculture industries to improve sustainability and efficiency, while reducing waste.” – The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
“The Seed Fund is helping SDTC to extend our reach into emerging areas of innovation in sectors and regions that might surprise Canadians. By creating innovative solutions to keep food fresh, reduce waste and bring products to market more efficiently, these entrepreneurs are important contributors to advancing cleantech in Canada.” – Leah Lawrence, President and CEO, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
A list of the agriculture and food sector companies and their accelerator sponsors appears below. The second call for Seed Fund applications of 2020-2021 will launch this Fall.
Impactful Health Research & Development Inc.(Montreal, QC), supported by Innovacorp, is developing active compostable packaging to extend the shelf life of fresh foods, particularly fish, increasing return on investment along the value chain while reducing waste.
Milk Moovement (St. John’s, NL), supported by Genesis, develops cloud-based software to improve the efficiency of the dairy supply chain through features like transport monitoring, production tracking and route optimization, reducing the carbon footprint of dairy trucks.
Reazent (Halifax, NS), supported by Verschuren Centre, makes efficient, high-efficacy organic replacements for agrochemicals. These products help in crop disease control, yield growth, and abiotic stress resistance in the agricultural industry.
ReelData (Halifax, NS), supported by Innovacorp, is developing artificial intelligence and computer vision software for aquaculture, providing realtime metrics to fish farms. This reduces wasted fish feed and mortality by tracking fish health, hunger, and weight.
Halifax-based B-Line Analytics, whose software tracks commuters, is developing a contact-tracing service that CEO Aaron Short believes will be quicker and easier to implement than government alternatives.His company’s flagship product is an app that logs users’ movements when they travel to and from commercial buildings, allowing planners, architects and engineers to identify and accommodate for routes with the highest traffic levels.Now B-Line is adding features to help identify where people with COVID-19 have been, so other people in that vicinity can be alerted. Rather than logging ill users’ movements everywhere they go, in the style of the app proposed by the Canadian government, the scope of B-Line’s offering is limited to a single office building at a time.“People are on high alert right now, and anything [that makes] them feel safer, people want that solution,” said Short in an interview. “Otherwise, it’s like getting on a ship with no life jackets.”Short, a former urban planner in Toronto, founded B-Line in 2016. He was spurred by the realization that most building and city layouts failed to properly account for what routes and modes of transportation commuters use to travel to and from their destinations.Property owners and developers buy access to the service from B-Line, and encourage people who work on their property to download the app. It tracks all of their movements, but saves only the data related to trips to and from their workplace, which B-Line’s customers then use to make design decisions.For example, a university recently used the company’s data to rework its transportation system. Likewise, Short said the owner of a commercial property might use data from the app to lobby local government officials for improved public transportation in a given area.As well, the app supports both surveys and direct communication with property owners, so that users can notify them of incidents such as drink spills.He added B-Line’s best customers tend to be developers of newer, environmentally friendly buildings.“Our technology works with all buildings, not just green buildings,” he said. “But we focus on green buildings because often they’re higher-quality buildings. These are people looking for technology that is more sophisticated.”Appili Raises $17M for COVID Tests
The contact tracing works by allowing infected users to share key details, such as: the floor of a building they work on; their direct supervisor; and the times of day when they have been in the office.
When a worker is diagnosed with COVID-19, the property owner or manager verifies the situation with that person’s employer to guard against false alarms, and other app users are warned that they may have been exposed.
The process is anonymous, and because the tracking is voluntary and localized, it doesn’t require the substantial legislative and social changes that Short worries government tracking might necessitate.
Meanwhile, B-Line is aiming to cement its relationship with eco-friendly developers by way of a new collaboration with Arc Skoru – a company affiliated with the U.S. Green Building Council.
Arc is a software platform that allows building owners to track sustainability metrics and visitor feedback that they are required to log in order to receive certification from the council. The platform is being expanded to include features targeted at increasing the likelihood of a safe reopening of the United States economy, and B-Line’s technology will be among the new integrations.
According to Short, the demand for contact-tracing services is particularly strong in major American cities, such as New York, where COVID-19 infection rates are still high.
“I think COVID is going to be our way to expand pretty rapidly across portfolios,” he said. “If COVID has taught anything, it’s that we need healthier and safer workplaces.”
The federal and Nova Scotia governments on Wednesday announced more than $1.4 million in funding for two ocean-related companies and a support organization.
Halifax-based life sciences company DeNova, which is developing a sustainable source of protein for fish feed and animal food, received the lion’s share of the funding with more than $900,000. Sedna Technologies, based in Dartmouth, received a $111,000 loan to help develop a water quality sensor.
“The ocean is a new economic frontier,” said federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan, who announced the funding at a reception at COVE. “In a little more than a decade, the global ocean economy is forecast to double in size and create tremendous new employment opportunities, innovations and economic growth.”
The funding announcements come as oceantech is growing in Atlantic Canada in general and the Halifax area in particular. The number of oceans-related startups has been increasing in the past three years, and groups like COVE, the Start-up Yard and the Creative Destruction Lab-Atlantic are increasing the support programs for young companies.
DeNova, which operates out of the National Research Council in Halifax, has developed a new source of protein made from micro-organisms fed by harmful unused carbon deposits. The protein will help support sustainable aquaculture practices.
“We believe that DeNova’s sustainable protein can become a significant global player in the expanding alternative proteins market and will contribute to the sustainability of our oceans and more environmentally sound aquaculture practices,” said DeNova CEO Brianna Stratton in a statement.
DeNova will use the funding for research and development and for such scale-up activities as a production pilot and performance feed trials. This project will create two full-time positions.
Dartmouth-based Sedna has a suite of tools to help the commercial fishing and aquaculture industries streamline quality control of products. The company now plans to develop a proprietary micro water quality sensor to better monitor and manage commercial seafood and aquaculture chains. Its $111,000 loan from ACOA will create two full-time positions.
“Having support from ACOA allows us to invest the time and resources we need in order to bring our innovations to market as well as further advance our R&D and identify ways in which we can improve our ocean economy locally and globally,” said Sedna CEO Sheamus MacDonald in the statement.
COVE is a hub of ocean innovation where a range of companies, from startups to mature ocean entrepreneurs, develop products to help maritime industries. ACOA is now providing a grant of $356,842 to help COVE develop programs that develop the skills and talents of ocean sector professionals. The Nova Scotia government, through the Department of Labour and Advanced Education, is supporting a related internship program with a $63,000 contribution.
“The ocean technology sector in Nova Scotia is thriving,” said the centre’s CEO Jim Hanlon. “New companies like DeNova and SEDNA are launching and scaling quickly, and long-standing ocean technology companies are growing new export markets and hiring talented Nova Scotians.”
Curv Health has closed a $1.5 million round of equity financing, which will help the company sell its digital healthcare product directly to health and educational institutions.
With offices in Halifax and Toronto, Curv uses machine-learning tools to analyze video of people in motion, then uses that information to develop fitness routines to prevent or cure injuries.
In its first round of funding, the company received investment from a range of backers from around the world. They include such venture capital funds as: Toronto-based Globalive Capital (which also invested in Fredericton-based Eigen Innovations last fall); Chicago-based NewStack Ventures; Newfund Capital, based in Paris and Silicon Valley, and ACICS Ventures of Japan. Curv also received funding from angel investors in Spain and an Angel List syndicate.
“Measuring human motion has traditionally relied on human eyes or costly hardware,” said CEO and Co-Founder Shea Balish in a statement. “Our bet is that the future of measuring human motion is computer vision combined with machine learning – which is far more intuitive, scalable, cost-effective, and in some important respects, more accurate.”
Balish, who recently held a Banting Fellowship at the University of Toronto, started the company that would become Curv in 2017, while he was doing his PhD studies at Dalhousie University. Since then, he and his team have bootstrapped their growth by licensing their technology and through a series of awards and research grants.
One award was the National Football League’s 1st and Future Competition in 2018. It allowed sports-related startups to pitch solutions that could help the pro football league. Curv won the first prize of US$50,000 and two tickets to the Superbowl in which the Philadelphia Eagles downed the New England Patriots.
The company’s Software-as-a-Service solution provides users with insights into musculoskeletal issues – that is, how muscles and skeletons work together.
“A lot of health insights can be extracted from how bodies look and move,” said Balish. “We’re building a new suite of standardized and accessible tests for the body, which we believe will replace crude measures like Body Mass Index and others.”
The company now has a six-member team and has an opening for a senior software developer or engineer. The staff at the Halifax office in Founders Square carry out such duties as software development, R&D and sales.
“In Phase 1, we developed our core technology via annual recurring API licenses with large enterprise,” said Balish in an email. “We raised this round to go after Phase 2, in which we deploy our SaaS platform that functions as the vehicle for our core technology, allowing providers to integrate our tools within their workflow.“
The company now has annual recurring revenues of about $500,000 and Balish said it hopes to strongly increase sales as it closes out 2019.
The funding round was led by Henri Deshays, a partner at Newfund Capital, who focuses on seed-stage companies in a range of sectors with exceptional founder-market fit.
“The Curv team has deep experience across the engineering, scientific and operational aspects of the problem they’re solving,” he said. “They’ve demonstrated this by securing impressive revenue and partnerships early on.”
DARTMOUTH, Nova Scotia, Jan. 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — IMV Inc. (Nasdaq: IMV; TSX: IMV), a clinical stage immuno-oncology corporation, today announced that the first patient has been treated in the Phase 1 trial evaluating neoepitopes formulated in the Company’s proprietary DPX delivery platform in patients with ovarian cancer. The study is part of the Company’s DPX-NEO program, which is an ongoing collaboration between UConn Health and IMV to develop neoepitope-based anti-cancer therapies.
“Expanding our DPX-based clinical immunotherapy program beyond DPX-Survivac is an important milestone for IMV, and we are pleased to be able to do so with this type of cutting-edge program in which the novel mechanism of action underscoring all DPX-based candidates plays a critical role,” said Frederic Ors, Chief Executive Officer at IMV. “We believe that the potential of neoepitope-based therapies could be a significant advance in the way physicians treat patients with ovarian cancer who today face a high unmet medical need. We look forward to working with UConn Healthto advance this program as IMV is committed to developing an immunotherapy option for women affected by this disease.”
Investigators will assess the safety and efficacy of using patient-specific neoepitopes discovered at UConn Health and formulated in IMV’s proprietary DPX-based delivery technology in women with ovarian cancer. Investigators plan to enroll up to 15 patients in the Phase 1 study. UConn Health is funding the trial with IMV providing materials and counsel.
Epitopes are the part of the biological molecule that is the target of an immune response. Neoepitopes are the mutated proteins produced by a patient’s own tumors. Neoepitope immunotherapies target these patient-specific proteins and have been referred to as ‘the next immunotherapy frontier.’ (1)
“The first immunization of the first ovarian cancer patient with our personalized, patient-specific neoepitopes developed at the University of Connecticut using our proprietary technology, formulated in IMV’s excellent immunomodulatory DPX delivery platform, is a major milestone for us,” said Study Investigator Pramod K Srivastava, PhD, MD, Director of the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. About the DPX-NEO Program
The DPX-NEO program is an ongoing collaboration evaluating the anti-cancer activity of proprietary patient-specific epitopes developed at UConn Health and formulated in IMV’s DPX-based novel immunotherapeutic delivery technology. IMV had previously announced the results from preclinical research in which researchers at UConn found that neoepitopes formulated in DPX-based formulations demonstrated superior immunogenic activity over comparators in mouse tumor models. In addition, IMV also previously announced a breakthrough in formulating multiple peptides in DPX formulations. The Company has patented the technology, which allows for both a larger number and a broader potential range of peptides into a single formulation as compared to standard formulation technologies.
About IMV
IMV Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to making immunotherapy more effective, more broadly applicable, and more widely available to people facing cancer and other serious diseases. IMV is pioneering a new class of immunotherapies based on the Company’s proprietary drug delivery platform. This patented technology leverages a novel mechanism of action that enables the programming of immune cells in vivo, which are aimed at generating powerful new synthetic therapeutic capabilities. IMV’s lead candidate, DPX-Survivac, is a T cell-activating immunotherapy that combines the utility of the platform with a target: survivin. IMV is currently assessing DPX-Survivac as a monotherapy in advanced ovarian cancer, as well as a combination therapy in multiple clinical studies with Incyte and Merck. Connect at www.imv-inc.com.
IMV Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking information under applicable securities law. All information that addresses activities or developments that we expect to occur in the future is forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the date the statements are made. However, they should not be regarded as a representation that any of the plans will be achieved. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in this press release due to risks affecting the Corporation, including access to capital, the successful completion of clinical trials and receipt of all regulatory approvals. IMV Inc. assumes no responsibility to update forward-looking statements in this press release except as required by law. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our ability to access capital, the successful and timely completion of clinical trials, the receipt of all regulatory approvals and other risks detailed from time to time in our ongoing quarterly filings and annual information form Investors are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements and are encouraged to read IMV’s continuous disclosure documents, including its current annual information form, as well as its audited annual consolidated financial statements which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar.
Contacts for IMV: MEDIA Andrea Cohen, Sam Brown Inc.
T: (917) 209-7163 E: [email protected] INVESTOR RELATIONS Marc Jasmin, IMV Senior Director, Investor Relations
T: (902) 492-1819 E:[email protected] Patti Bank, Managing Director, Westwicke Partners
O: (415) 513-1284
T: (415) 515-4572 E: [email protected] REFERENCES 1 Neoepitope Vaccines, Next Immunotherapy Frontier Cancer Discovery Published Online First December 28, 2015; doi:10.1158/2159-8290.CD-NB2015-179
Source: IMV Inc.
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