Bioscience Regional Spotlight
London: An emerging Biotechnology Cluster
Located halfway between Toronto and Detroit, London Ontario is home to a dynamic cluster of biotechnology related companies and institutes backed by a large and well-educated workforce.
One of the London’s key strengths is its status as a national Centre of Excellence for biomedical technology. Other core research strengths include advanced robotic surgery, advanced medical and molecular imaging, immunology and regenerative medicine, orthopedics and biomaterials.
Supporting this research are four major post secondary institutions: The University of Western Ontario, Fanshawe College, CDI College and Medix School. In all, there are 19 hospitals and research facilities in the area, more than 20,000 people employed in the sector and an amazing 53 life science companies that call London home.
Likewise there are several major research institutes located in the area. These include the Aging Rehabilitation and Geriatric Research Centre, Agriculture Canada Southern Crop Protection & Food Research Centre, the Canadian R& D Centre for Probiotics, The Canadian Surgical Technologies & Advanced Robotics, the Centre for Brain and Mind, the Child Health Research Institute, CIHR Institute of Infections and Immunity, Lawson Health Research Institute, London Regional Cancer Centre, London Regional Genomics Centre, The National Centre for Audiology, The UWO Photonics and Nanotechnology Laboratory, the Centre for Clinical Investigation and Therapeutics and the Experimental Eye Research Facility.
The city also benefits from the presence of several key tech transfer organizations and the presence of one of the first bioscience incubators in the province, The Stiller Centre for Technology Commercialization.
The Stiller Centre for Technology Commercialization is located in the University Western Ontario Research Park, located on campus. The centre was built in 2003 and sits adjacent to world class educational, medical and research facilities, the London Health Sciences Centre and Robarts Research Institute. It is at the centre of all London’s RIN activities.
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“We help to bring their innovation to the market place, primarily we’re a business incubator for science companies,” states Lee Smithson, General Manager of the Stiller Centre. “The facilities here are designed for start-up technology-based companies. We provide that specialized real estate that science companies need to startup and offer our tenants a range of services which include market research, mentoring and operations analysis by our hired Bio-MBA graduates. We maintain it, provide it to them and make sure the space is there. We also coach them on their business plans, get them talking to the right people at the right time.”
Among the key advantages of doing business out of the Stiller Centre, Smithson lists the readily available lab space and the centre’s cost competitiveness as two major reasons companies choose to come to London. It is also classified as a Level II wet lab facility, which means that tenants can do everything except work with materials such as radioactive and airborne disease contaminants. As a result, the current tenant makeup of the centre according to Smithson is very broad.
“We have everything from medical device and imaging to drug development and chemical investigating companies,” he explains. “We’ve got usable lab space and we’ve got infrastructure designed to help small companies and besides MaRS Discovery District, we’re the only other commercial lab space you can rent in the province.”
He adds that the Centre depends on its partners for a lot of their successes, among them are organizations such as the London Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), TechAlliance and WORLDiscovories.
However, the role that the LEDC plays is broader than serving just the Stiller Centre. Specifically the LEDC’s mandate is to attract business to the London area and retain it.
“Essentially we operate as a conduit from the economic development side. We develop and foster opportunities for companies in the city while at the same time attracting companies to London to work with our various research institutes,” says Peter White, president of the London Economic Development Corporation.
Likewise, TechAlliance’s mandate is also broader than its partnership with the Stiller Centre. This organization provides education, networking and venture services, as well as other forms of support for the region’s technology companies.
WORLDisvoveries is the newest entity of the three. Launched in March, this enterprise provides business development services for London’s research community by combining the tech transfer efforts of the Robarts Research Institute, the University of Western Ontario and the Lawson Health Research Institute.
“We have a very strong base of expertise and talent within such a concentrated area and there is tremendous opportunity to build from this platform,” explains Acting Executive Director Paul Paolatto. “We are striving to become the business development arm for London’s research community. Our focus is on moving research development enterprises, technologies and inventions to the market specifically for researchers working in three areas: imaging, biomaterials and alternative energies. We provide monetary value back to the institutions and in doing so onto the researchers.”
The organization draws upon a mix of industry connections, sector-specific market knowledge and business development expertise, to help researchers and local inventors commercialize their discoveries through licensing and new company spin-offs. Thus far the organization has been responsible for two licensing agreements.
Through all these combined efforts and collaborations, there are a couple of companies worth watching in the London area. Curocom Canada specializes in the development, production and sales of new medicines and vaccines. They are located at the Stiller Centre and were established in 2006. The company has priority on a hepatitis vaccine and exclusive licensing for an AIDS vaccine that is being developed by Dr. Young Kang at the University of Western Ontario. The other company, Viron Therapeutics, is a pioneer in exploiting natural viral proteins as innovative drugs for treatment of human disorders resulting from abnormal inflammatory responses, such as cardiovascular disease, chronic transplant rejection and rheumatoid arthritis. They are currently running Phase II clinical trials.
Please contact Ali Ibrahimi at 416-673-6699 or ali.ibrahimi@ontbi.org if you are interested in having your Ontario bioscience region featured in our e-BIOSCAN newsletter.
