The U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities — a new organization established to represent Canada's top 15 research-intensive universities — has established an office at the Univ of Ottawa and hired Suzanne Corbeil as its inaugural executive director (see page 7). U15 was formed last year to better represent the priorities and concerns of the big research universities. Its first act was to file a submission with the Jenkins Panel. U15 is an outgrowth of the Group of Ten, which was formed in 1991. That organization expanded into the G-13 before morphing into the latest incarnation. Although all U15 members also belong of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the mandate of that organization was considered too broad to accommodate the many smaller and private universities that comprise its membership ....

Bioniche receives $20-million loan from Capital Royalty

Bioniche Life Sciences Inc has received a US$20-million loan from Capital Royalty LP, a Houston TX-based investment firm focused on royalties of commercialized biopharmaceutical products and medical technologies. The loan carries a 15% interest rate with principal repayments set to begin in June/15. Capital Royalty will also receive 2% royalty interest on all product sale revenue for the term of the loan. Belleville ON-based Bioniche opened an animal vaccine production facility last year with $25 million in repayable loans from the federal and Ontario governments (R$, May 2/11). The company develops, manufactures and markets vaccine and other products for animal health, human health and food safety....