BUSINESS CORNER

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Isotechnika Announces Management Changes
A series of corporate governance changes have been announced at Edmonton, Alta.-based biopharmaceutical company Isotechnika Inc.
The company has separated the roles of CEO and chairman, previously held by founder Robert Foster, PhD. Foster will remain as executive chairman, while Randall Yatscoff, PhD will assume the role of president and CEO. Yatscoff, who has more than 10 years of biotechnology experience, will leave his role on Isotechnika’s board of directors once a suitable replacement has been found.
Isotechnika made the changes in part to reduce the number of insiders on the board, creating a more independent body that can reinforce management accountability for day-to-day operations.

Biophage Receives Funding
Montreal, Que.-based Biophage Pharma Inc., in partnership with the École Polytechnique de Montréal (Montreal, QC), received an estimated $748,500 in funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Ottawa, ON).
The funding will be used to develop novel phage-based microbiotic systems for live-bacteria detection. The goal of the project will be to integrate Biophage’s phage-based detection systems with a miniature computer, to create an ultra-rapid biosensor that can provide detection results in seconds.
Sylvain Martel, PhD, the Canada Research Chair in Micro/Nanosystem Development, Construction and Validation, will lead the three-year research project.

enGene Wins Excellence in Research Award
Global growth consulting company Frost & Sullivan Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) has presented its 2005 Excellence in Research of the Year award to enGene Inc. (Vancouver, BC), in recognition of its Gut Endocrine-cell Modification System (GEMS™).
GEMS is a proprietary technology that induces certain cells in the intestinal tract to produce a range of therapeutic protein drugs to treat diseases such as diabetes, hemophelia and anemia. In the case of diabetes, for example, GEMS could eliminate dependency on insulin injections by allowing the body to produce insulin internally.
The annual Excellence in Research award is given to a company that has developed an innovative technology that is “disruptive” to the status quo, and that is expected to generate considerable contributions to a given industry in terms of adoption, change and competitive posture.
Eric A. Adams, enGene’s president and CEO, accepted the award on the company’s behalf.


Hemosol Announces Considerable Layoffs
Hemosol Corp. (Mississauga, ON) has issued layoff notices to approximately two-thirds of its employees.
The company stated that the layoffs were necessary to conserve its remaining cash and continue to pursue potential strategic relationships and financing options.
In other Hemosol news, the company received notice from the Nasdaq Stock Exchange that the bid price for the company’s common stock closed below the minimum $1 US per share requirement for 30 consecutive business days.
Hemosol has 180 calendar days to regain compliance — by having its shares close above $1 for a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days — or face having its stock delisted.

Response Ranked Amongst Fastest-Growing Tech Companies
Burnaby, B.C.-based Response Biomedical Corp. has been ranked number 100 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, a listing of the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in North America.
The company earned the honour on the strength of its 2,290-per-cent revenue growth from 2000 to 2004. To qualify for the list, companies are required to have achieved at least $75,000 and $1 million in operating revenues in the years 2000 and 2004, respectively.
Response develops, manufactures and markets rapid on-site diagnostic tests for use with its RAMP® system, which could potentially be adapted to more than 250 current medical and non-medical tests.

Haemacure To Build U.S. Facility
A Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.-based facility that uses a new cost-efficient manufacturing system is in the works for Montreal, Que.-based Haemacure Corp.
The approximately 50,000-sq.-ft. facility will incorporate Hynetics™ single-use bioprocessing technology, which Haemacure will use to manufacture its two all-human products, Hemaseel® HMN fibrin sealant and Hemaseel Thrombin. The facility will have the capacity to process 75,000 litres of plasma per year, and the potential to generate up to $200 million US in annual revenues.
The international market for fibrin sealant surpasses $300 million US annually, while the U.S. market for thrombin — for which there is only one commercial supplier at present — reached $174.6 million US annually as of 2004, up from $15 million six years earlier.

Gregg Appointed Vice-Chairman of Vasogen
Mississauga, Ont.-based Vasogen Inc. has announced the appointment of Terrance H. Gregg as vice-chairman of its board of directors.
Gregg joined the Vasogen board in 1999 and has served as chair of the company’s compensation, nominating and corporate governance committee for several years. He has previously served as president and CEO of MiniMed Inc. (now Northridge, Calif.-based Medtronic Diabetes), and has held several executive and board positions with various health-care and medical companies.
Vasogen chairman William R. Grant points to Gregg’s experience with Medtronic — transitioning it from an early-stage device company to a world leader — as invaluable to Vasogen’s future plans.