The B.C. government is giving Vancouver-based adMare BioInnovations $10 million to build a new wet laboratory that dozens of early-stage ventures could use.
AdMare is based at a 35,000-square-foot site at the University of British Columbia (UBC), which includes some space used by other companies, an adMare representative told BIV. AdMare uses its own scientific and commercial expertise, specialized research infrastructure and seed capital to help build other life sciences companies.
The funding is important because Vancouver has long suffered from a shortage of wet-lab space.
Executives in the life-sciences sector have told BIV that they have found it difficult to find usable wet-lab space to conduct studies. They need to do those studies to generate data to attract investors, who would provide capital for further research, and potential breakthroughs.
AdMare also has a 170,000-square-foot facility in Montreal. The building for its new 30,000-square-foot wet-lab facility already exists: at 110 East 5th Avenue (Main Alley M4) in Vancouver. AdMare's plan is to use the provincial government's money to build out the lab on one floor of that building, an adMare representaive explained to BIV.
AdMare expects the lab to be complete by late 2025 and to be large enough for between 120 and 150 workers to be based, that representative said.
The company's CEO, Gordon McCauley, said in a press release that "like our innovation centres in Vancouver and Montreal, this new facility will provide a collaborative space equipped with all the resources and support needed for companies to scale-up and develop new life-saving therapies for patients."
B.C. government said the $10 million grant comes from what it calls its Life Sciences and Biomanufacturing Strategy.
Its Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation sent BIV a statement saying that the strategy has helped leverage more than $1 billion in federal funding and private investment.
One of the actions that the fund has taken to boost private sector investment and job creation includes a $75 million investment toward AbCellera’s expansion in Vancouver. The federal government is contributing $225 million toward the project, which has a total value of $701 million.
B.C. is home to Canada’s largest biotechnology company, Stemcell Technologies, as well as at least four of Canadian biotech companies that each have a market capitalization in excess of $1 billion, according to the province’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation.
B.C.’s life-sciences sector is growing faster than other such clusters in the rest of Canada.
