To those of us who were on the factory floors of biotech life back in the late 2000s (here in Montreal or in Quebec more generally), the financial crisis that kicked in more or less simultaneously with the election of Barack Obama in the USA led to some very bitter and difficult pills to swallow. One went from having cut one's teeth in the risky but exciting world of drug development, and garnering some serious career traction in the process, to heading home without even a severance cheque.
Not having a severance cheque was one thing; but the incineration of other options whereby to exploit the experience gained to date felt like the proverbial nail in the coffin in the heretofore promising careers of so many. The domino effect kicked in seriously in 2008/9 as the doom and gloom whispers spread, until over 100 life science-related companies had evaporated from the province. Here for today, gone tomorrow, as the song goes!
While the talk of eventual rebuilding of the life science cluster that the province was renowned for provided a modicum of comfort, the talk did little to stem the exodus of talent from the Montreal area, and that exodus very significantly included big pharma. Merck, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim (among others), and most recently Vertex, all pulled local operations enitrely, sending even greater numbers of skilled local workers home, with departing for the USA as perhaps the only viable option.
Those times were truly funereal in nature in the industry, and while they are in the past now, the memory of them should never be too far in the back of the mind, such that they serve as a stark reminder of what can go wrong, and/or act as a guide on which mistakes should not/must not be repeated again. But, thankfully, it is 2017 today, and we are in an enormously improved condition and amidst a new dawn in the life science ecosystem once more, and it sure feels like one very welcome breath of fresh air.
Even just one example from the news of last week serves to illustrate the reemergence of Quebec life science and biotech as key components and drivers of the local economy, and that was the announcement that REPARE Therapeutics was opening for business in Montreal. The founders closed a whopping $68M US Series A that was co-led by the Versant Ventures powerhouse alongside MPM Capital. Other investors in syndication included Montreal's FTQ, BDC Capital's Healthcare Venture Fund, as well as Celgene. Heady company, indeed!
This ~$90M CDN Series A (!) round is indicative of an ongoing restoration or indeed a repair of the Canadian life science sector in general, with over $1B of cash splashed out in some 74 companies by the end of 2016. This set a new record since the last peak seen in the year 2000, and it looks like 2017 is following suit with close to $500M already deployed in 26 different enterprises.
The REPARE deal is simply an underlining of the thinking that a more robust venture capital infrastructure is not only needed but is already firmly in place, and is willing to part with sufficient cash to bring such companies out of stealth mode into preclinical development, and to maybe even have enough funds to get them to an exit without a need to raise more money. The fact that this deal raised more money than the recent IPO of Vancouver's Zymeworks sort of says it all in that regard.
REPARE is being championed by a figure who is well known here in Montreal, and who in fact has been one of the AmorChem heavyweights in our annual KNOCK OUT pitch competition - Lloyd Segal - who is taking the reins as CEO after 18 months of stealth while developing their tour de force CRISPR-enabled synthetic lethality drug discovery platform. Two of the founders (Drs. Daniel Durocher and Frank Sicheri) are from Toronto's Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and the third (Dr. Agnel Sfeir) is from NYU's Skirball Institute.
While it appears that there are several new targets discovered while in stealth mode, REPARE’s first program targets the DNA-directed DNA polymerase theta (PolQ), a key component of a pathway that repairs double-stranded DNA breaks in cancer cells. That this polymerase is highly expressed in ovarian, breast and certain other cancers means that REPARE is likely to have multiple options for this newly identified target, and they have made the bold claim to have their first compound in the clinic in 2019.
We are delighted to see this company emerge into the public eye, further raising the Canadian flag along with the likes of Zymeworks, BlueRock Therapeutics, and EnGene, among others. At AmorChem we have seeded several newcos ourselves over the past year (Mperia, SemaThere, Corbin, with three more to come in 2017!), even if our more limited resources preclude us from the type of investments typical of say, a Versant or an FTQ. But the placement of REPARE's HQ on Montreal soil further adds to the critical mass being built here, and unquestionably the team at FTQ is to be credited for such efforts in the life science sector.
As far as I am concerned, whether we are talking about DNA repair and the restoration of a healthy cellular infrastructure, or about repairing the DNA of the local (and Canadian) life science ecosystem, and rebuilding the Quebec cluster's infrastructure and international reputation, well, it's all good! Wishing nothing but success and some serious repair by the talented people kicking off REPARE! Oh, and by the way, go Dan! :)
