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Summary
- The Canadian government has invested about C$ 25.1 million in genetics medicine technology provider Precision Nanosystems Inc.
- The company said the investment will help finance the development of its C$ 50.2-million biomanufacturing centre in Vancouver.
- Among other genetic medicine production, this facility will help expand Canada’s production capacity of COVID-19 vaccine doses.
- Precision’s ribonucleic acid (RNA) COVID vaccine candidate is not expected to be ready or be in production in Canada until March 2023.
In an effort to kickstart COVID-19 vaccine production at home, the Canadian government has invested about C$ 25.1 million in genetics medicine technology provider Precision Nanosystems Inc. The company said in an official release on Tuesday, February 2, that the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) will help finance the development of its C$ 50.2-million biomanufacturing centre in Vancouver.
Among other genetic medicine production, this Vancouver-based facility will support the Trudeau government's efforts to expand the production capacity of COVID-19 vaccine doses.
What We Know About Precision Nanosystems’ Biomanufacturing Centre in Vancouver?
Precision Nanosystems CEO James Taylor said the Vancouver-based facility, which has the capacity producing as many as 240 million vaccine doses per year, has been in the company’s strategic vision for a long time.
The biomanufacturing unit, which would span over an area of about 40,000 square foot, is expected to be complete by 2023.
In response to the latest round of funding, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said that the government is working on enhancing Canada’s vaccine production capacity to a level that Canadians “expect and need”.
©Kalkine Group 2021
As per reports, the federal government put aside an investment of C$ 18 million in fall last year for the company to work on its own COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The shot is expected to be pushed into Phase 1 clinical trials in summer 2021.
However, Precision’s ribonucleic acid (RNA) COVID vaccine candidate is not expected to be ready or be in production in Canada until March 2023.
The Trudeau government faced quite a bit of strong criticism in the early days of the COVID-19 vaccine breakout when Canada lagged behind in the global queue. Eventually, the government ramped up its efforts and prebooked a substantial amount of COVID shot doses from different suppliers, becoming one of the first countries in the world to initiate inoculation campaign on December 14 last year.
However, Canada’s complete reliance on foreign countries for COVID vaccine supply has put it in a vulnerable position. The recent shortage of supply from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc has further emphasized the issue.
The federal government has been working on kickstarting a production unit at home. On Tuesday, Novavax Inc reached an agreement with the Trudeau administration to produce its COVID shots at a new Montreal-based unit.
