Sights set on new federal program

The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) is nearing the halfway mark of its $100-million fundraising goal with the decision by the British Columbia government to provide a $25-million grant to support its operations. The Univ of British Columbia (UBC)-based Centre is now turning its sights on the federal government's new Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research (CECR) program in a bid to secure a similar amount and fully execute its business plan.

The CDRD is aimed at building the value of promising intellectual property through its non-profit Drug Research Institute and moving it closer to the marketplace with its for-profit Drug Development Inc (DDI) (R$, December 11/06).

"The province's funding allows us to hire key people and operate the non-profit side of the Centre for five years," says CDRD CEO Natalie Dakers. "We'll be hiring five-to-eight people in the near term and another five people after that."

The provincial funding grant is in addition to $20 million the CDRD is raising to establish its first facility on the UBC campus. The Canada Foundation for Innovation awarded $8 million in its latest competition, which Dakers says will likely be matched by the BC Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF). Although the BCKDF has not confirmed its contribution, Dakers says the new grant reinforces the BC government's endorsement of the Centre. The grant was announced April 18 by premier Gordon Campbell at the annual BC Biotech Awards ceremony.

"It's a reflection of his (Campbell's) view of the life sciences industry and its importance to the economy," she says.

new fed program welcome

The CDRD originally planned to seek $10 million from the federal government. But with the introduction of the CECR, it has decided to leverage its success at the provincial level and seek up to $25 million in federal funding. Industry minister Maxime Bernier recently visited the CDRD and met with its top officials including Dakers, who said they advocated a federal funding program that CDRD could compete for.

The bulk of CECR funding ($195 million) is up for grabs in competitions to be held over the next two years.

"CDRD is well positioned to take advantage of the new program. It's a pool of capital we should be able to compete for," says Dakers. "We will use the BC funding as a match."

If successful, CDRD will have reached its objective of approximately $70 million in public financing, allowing for the creation of additional Centre nodes on provincial university campuses. Some of the key infrastructure for those new centres is already being established.

Simon Fraser Univ, for example, is investing in new chemistry capability and a new animal facility. The next competition of the recently replenished CFI may be targeted for further infrastructure enhancements at participating institutions.

The remaining $25 million of CDRD's $100-million funding target is to be secured from the private sector. Industry financing will be directed to the for-profit DDI.

"DDI is a very different funding mechanism to commercialize specific technologies received from participating institutions," says Dakers. "We will take later stage proof-of-principle compounds and put project teams round them to drive them forward. This is our hybrid model's unique feature."

The chances of BC-based life sciences inventions being commercialized were also enhanced with the announcement of $90 million in funding to create new venture capital pools in the province (see page 5). Dakers applauds the move, saying it complements CDRD's objectives.

"Value creation lines are pretty flat across the proof-of-principle space. It's difficult to attract investors and that won't change in the near term," she says. "The pharmaceutical industry is shifting its perspective and looking for earlier stage compounds but they still want to see a lot of value. That's what we're all about. Government support is so important because the private sector is not going to come into this space (without public assistance)."

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