7 December 2011

Press Release

Toronto, December 6th, 2011 − The Québec Consortium for Drug Discovery(CQDM) is pleased to announce the funding of two joint Quebec/Ontario research projects in biomedical research for a total of $1.5M. The news was released today at the conference “Connecting Life Sciences Across the Ontario‐ Quebec Corridor” that was held in Toronto. “This investment provides an opportunity to strengthen biomedical research in Quebec and Ontario by the alignment of scientific and business resources”, said Max Fehlmann, President and CEO of CQDM.

The establishment of this new pilot competition has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of MaRS Discovery District and MaRS Innovation, two non‐for‐profit organizations that are involved in promoting the commercialization of innovative research in Ontario.

Better tools for a stronger biopharmaceutical research cluster The selected projects are orientated toward the development new tools that will accelerate the discovery of more efficient and safer drugs. The projects have been evaluated by an international panel of experts for scientific excellence, innovation and impact on biopharmaceutical research. Each project will be funded with a $750K grant from CQDM.

The awarded investigators are:
Ram Mishra (McMaster University), Joseph Gabriele (CRP40 Inc./McMaster University), Thérèse Di Paolo (Université Laval) and Pierre Blanchet (Université de Montréal) who will validate the use of Catecholamine Regulated Protein (CRP40) as a biomarker for the diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease.

Andrei Yudin (Encycle/University of Toronto) and Eric Marsault (Université de Sherbrooke) who will develop a new platform for rapid production of medium sized macrocycles as protein‐protein interaction probes.

“Ontario and Quebec are well recognized for the excellence of their research and their capacity to innovate. The collaboration between the two provinces will allow to capitalize on our strengths, to push biopharmaceutical research and to increase our international competitiveness” mentioned Diane Gosselin, Vice‐President Research and Business Development at CQDM.

“The Québec‐Ontario Life Sciences Corridor is paving the way for new and unique opportunities for investment, partnership and collaboration in life sciences research, innovation and commercialization. CQDM intends to play a major role in this initiative and continue to foster innovation in life sciences by establishing a joint funding program in the following months” concluded Max Fehlmann.

About the CQDM
The Québec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM) is a meeting ground for all stakeholders in biopharmaceutical research. Its principal mission is to fund research projects carried out in partnership between the academic and hospital milieus in the public sector and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the private sector. An innovative Canadian initiative, the CQDM has a twofold goal: to accelerate the drug discovery process and to develop safer and more effective drugs. Project funding is made possible through contributions from Pfizer Canada, AstraZeneca, Merck, Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly Canada Inc., the Business‐Led Networks of Centres of Excellence (BL‐NCE), the Ministère du Développement Économique, de l’Innovation et de l’Exportation (MDEIE) du Québec and the Fonds de recherche Québec ‐ Santé (FRQS). For more information: www.cqdm.org.

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For more information:
Diane Gosselin
Vice‐President, Research and Business Development
(514) 766‐6661, ext. 2191
dgosselin@cqdm.org

Source: CQDM