Bio Business Jan/Feb 2016

Law

TPP treaty could impact patents 8

Regional Profile Blue biotech in Brittany 20

Electric Potential Deep Brain Stimulation shows promise for neuro illnesses 23

January/February 2016

Championing the Business of Biotechnology in Canada

Book of Dr. Parminder Raina and others study why and how we age, and how to slow the march of time

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feature

What Does TPP Mean for Canadian Biotechs?

8

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty (TPP) represents a potentially significant opportunity for various biotech-related industries in Canada, but what does it mean for patent terms and data protection?

Life’s Limit

Championing the Business of Biotechnology in Canada

With an aging population, this is a growing field of research. Understanding the complex factors that make us age, and how, brings us closer to both living longer and living better.

Blue Biotech

20

Once an independent country with strong connections to the British Isles, France’s Brittany region is harvesting its rich marine resources to become a force in “blue biotech”.

law

TPP treaty could impact patents 8

Regional PRofile Blue biotech in Brittany 20

electRic Potential Deep Brain Stimulation shows promise for neuro illnesses 23

JAnuAry/FeBruAry 2016

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Championing the Business of Biotechnology in Canada

Book of

The DefiniTive Source for Lab ProDucTS, newS anD DeveLoPmenTS

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January/Februrary 2016

U of W combines long-term senior care with research centre

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One-On-One with Canada’s new Minster Of

sCienCe

Dr. Parminder Raina and others study why and how we age, and how to slow the march of time

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Wonka-Vites for all M

y husband loves to read aloud to my son. They’ve read a lot of great books that I haven’t thought about in years. They read Anne of Green Gables, last year before our summer trip to PEI; The True Meaning of Smekday on which the recent movie, Home, was based; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and many others. The most recent book, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, really caught my attention.

Do you remember Charlie’s grandparents, all four of whom seem to be permanently stationed in bed? One day after Grandma Josephine declared she hadn’t been out of bed in 20 years and she wasn’t about to get out now, Wonka spilled the beans about his amazing Wonka-Vite. He’d discovered it by accident in his Inventing Room and been testing it on one of the Oompa-Loompas. The pill had made the Oompa-Loompa 20 years younger! His hair turned from white to gold, his teeth grew back, wrinkles disappeared and he was able to get out of his wheelchair.

The effects were instant.

If only there was such a pill. We know mostly why and how we age. But uncovering a magic pill that will slow, nevermind reverse, all the manifestations of aging as in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, seems impossible but we all seem to chase it anyway.

In our feature on p. 13, Dr. Parminder Raina, principal investigator of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, says it’s a complex phenomenon. “It’s as much a social phenomenon as it is a biological phenomenon. If you want to understand the biology [of aging], you really have to understand the social aspects of it, or psychological aspects of it or economic aspects of it.”

Managing the variables is the most we can hope for at the moment. Stay out of the sun, exercise, eat well, cultivate good relationships and keep the brain active.

And let’s hope you’re blessed with good genetics to begin with.

As a specialist who cares for our seniors, Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Geriatrics at Toronto’s Mount Sinai and the University Health Network Hospitals, has a different view. “I always like to remind people that aging itself is not a disease, but rather it’s a triumph. We should celebrate the fact that we have an opportunity to live almost double the life expectancy that we hoped for over a hundred years ago.”

I love the sentiment. But much like a magic bullet for weight loss, if there was a pill that could slow or reverse aging, with no ill effects, would you take it?

It’s very tempting.

Theresa Rogers executive Editor

@

on twitter at @biolabmag On the Web at www.biobusinessmag.com on facebook at /biolabmag

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Championing the Business of Biotechnology in Canada

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canadian news

Canada Could Gain Billions from Recognizing Education and Skills

According to a new Conference Board of Canada report, Canadians would earn $13.4 to $17 billion more annually if their learning credentials were fully recognized. This is up from the $4.1 to $5.9 billion estimated in a 2001 report. These gains would be realized through better employment of international and provincial migrants, and experiential learners, as a result of their knowledge and skills being formally recognized by employers, post-secondary institutions and professional associations.

The report includes recommendations for improving Canada’s learning recognition system including modifying immigration selection and settlement to include learning recognition during the selection process.

Pfizer Canada Congratulates Ontario Immunization strategy

Pfizer Canada applauds the Ontario government on the release of Immunization 2020 for its leadership, forward-thinking and collaborative approach to modernizing immunization, particularly for recognizing current gaps and challenges which inhibit optimal immunization targets. Pfizer’s commitment to Immunization 2020 include: communicating the value of immunization; supporting a more transparent review process; and ongoing research and collaboration.

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Top Clean Technology & Life Sciences Company Recognized

Vanc Pharmaceuticals Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on the Canadian generic drug and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, was recognized in the 2016 TSX Venture 50 as the top-performing Clean Technology & Life Sciences Company. The company ranked number one in the sector. “We are honored to be recognized by the TSX Venture given the competitive environment occupied by innovative companies,” says Arun Nayyar, CEO of Vanc. “I am proud of what our team at Vanc has been able to accomplish over the past two years and we look forward to sharing further progress in 2016.”

Ancient Clay Shows Promise Against Bacterial Infections

UBC researchers Julian Davies and Shekooh Behroozian with a bucket of clay.

Naturally occurring clay from Kisameet Bay, BC – long used by the Heiltsuk First Nation for its healing potential – exhibits potent antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens, according to new research from the University of British Columbia.

The researchers recommend the rare mineral clay be studied as a clinical treatment for serious infections caused by ESKAPE strains of bacteria.

The so-called ESKAPE pathogens – Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species – cause the majority of U.S. hospital infections and effectively “escape” the effects of antibacterial drugs.

“Infections caused by ESKAPE bacteria are essentially untreatable and contribute to increasing mortality in hospitals,” says UBC microbiologist Julian Davies, co-author of the paper published in the American Society for Microbiology’s mBio journal.

“After 50 years of over-using and misusing antibiotics, ancient medicinals and other natural mineral-based agents may provide new weapons in the battle against multidrug-resistant pathogens.”

The clay deposit is situated on Heiltsuk First Nation’s traditional territory, 400 km north of Vancouver, in a shallow five-acre granite basin. The 400-million kg (400,000 tonne) deposit was formed near the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 10,000 years ago.

Local First Nations people have used the clay for centuries for its therapeutic properties – anecdotal reports cite its effectiveness for ulcerative colitis, duodenal ulcer, arthritis, neuritis, phlebitis, skin irritation, and burns.

“We’re fortunate to be able to partner with UBC on this significant research program,” says Lawrence Lund, president of Kisameet Glacial Clay, a business formed to market cosmetic and medicinal products derived from the clay. “We hope it will lead to the development of a novel and safe antimicrobial that can be added to the diminished arsenal for the fight against the ESKAPE pathogens and other infection-related health issues plaguing the planet.”

In the in vitro testing conducted by Davies and UBC researcher Shekooh Behroozian, clay suspended in water killed 16 strains of ESKAPE bacteria samples from sources including Vancouver General Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, and the University of British Columbia’s wastewater treatment pilot plant.

No toxic side effects have been reported in the human use of the clay, and the next stage in clinical evaluation would involve detailed clinical studies and toxicity testing. Loretta Li, with UBC’s Department of Civil Engineering, is conducting mineralogical and chemical analyses of the clay as well. MITACS, Kisameet Glacial Clay Inc. and the Tally Fund supported the work.

worldwide news

“Recipes” Help Biologists Interpret Data

LDC Enters Partnership for the Discovery of Novel Medicines

The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) and Roche will collaborate to identify and leverage innovative therapeutic opportunities that address diseases of unmet medical need across several disease areas. Projects will be sourced from the LDC’s academic partners as well as from Roche’s innovation network.

The partners will work together to advance projects from as early as target level up to the identification of a preclinical candidate.

Over an initial three-year period, LDC will act as a translational incubator for Roche and carry out small molecule projects in close collaboration with the scientific inventors and their academic institutions.

MedQualis Sells Biomedical Research Activities to Keyrus Group

1 in 4 Novel New Drugs Approved by FDA are Personalized Medicines

A new analysis from the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC) documents an upward trend in the number of personalized medicine approvals at FDA, with personalized medicines accounting for more than 1 in 4 novel new drugs (NNDs) approved in 2015. The analysis, titled 2015 Progress Report: Personalized Medicine at FDA, lists the 13 personalized medicines approved as NNDs in 2015, which represent 28 percent of the 45 NNDs the agency approved overall. In addition to the increased number of NND approvals overall and for oncology specifically, the new analysis provides a description of how new indications and approvals for drugs that treat rare genetic disorders reflect advances in genomics and personalized medicine.

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Many biomedical researchers are striving to make sense of the flood of data that has followed recent advances in genomic sequencing technologies. In particular, researchers are often limited by the challenge of getting multiple bioinformatics tools to “talk” to one another. To help address this need, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, in collaboration with labs at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Stanford University, Weizmann Institute and Pennsylvania State University, developed GenomeSpace, a cloud-based, biologist-friendly platform that connects more than 20 bioinformatics software packages and resources for genomic data analysis.

The team is now developing and crowdsourcing “recipes” – step-by-step workflows – to better enable non-programming researchers to interpret their genomic data. The work is described in a paper published January 18, 2016 in Nature Methods.

Before GenomeSpace, it was extraordinarily difficult for researchers, especially without programming skills, to get many of the available analysis tools to work together. GenomeSpace now performs this service seamlessly with a user-friendly interface, connecting popular genomic data analysis tools, some of which are themselves “tool aggregators,” so in linking them, GenomeSpace provides access to hundreds of bioinformatics analyses.

Here’s how it works: A researcher wonders if there is a specific set of genes that leukemia stem cells express differently than normal white blood cell precursors. She also wants to better understand the biological mechanism underlying those differentially expressed genes but doesn’t know where to start. With GenomeSpace, the researcher can simply upload the gene expression data and other information about the two cell types (the “ingredients”) and follow a GenomeSpace recipe, designed specifically for these types of research questions. In this case, the recipe tells the researcher how to run the data ingredients through two tools available in GenomeSpace: 1) GenePattern, which finds a list of the 50 genes that differ the most between the two cell types and 2) Cytoscape, which identifies how proteins associated with these genes interact in networks, thus providing clues to the roles that tumor-specific or normal cell-specific genes play in the body.

This type of information could help the researcher better understand how leukemia develops and help identify possible targets for new therapeutics.

The hope is a combination of the group’s own development and crowdsourcing, will grow the resource and increase its breadth.

MedQualis, a Canadian CRO located in Montreal, has entered into an agreement with the multinational Keyrus Group, which will acquire its biomedical research activities and Montreal office. Having undergone many changes in recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has had to turn to Contract Research Organization such as Keyrus BioPharma and MedQualis to find more adapted solutions.

By uniting their strength, MedQualis and Keyrus will offer a more innovative and global offer in this increasingly competitive and international market.

7

LAW

THE TRANS–PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP TREATY:

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR

bio business j a n u a ry/ f e b r u a ry 2 01 6

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BIOTECH

LAW

INDUSTRIES IN CANADA? w w w. b i o b u s i n e s s m ag .co m

By Kelly A. McClellan, Scott Foster, John Norman

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LAW

is uncertain. Neither the Canadian government nor the TPP indicate how the extension would be calculated.

Second, for patents covering pharmaceutical products, patent terms can be extended where “unreasonable curtailment” of the patent term occurs during the marketing approval process. A similar principle applies in Europe where the objective is to provide additional patent protection to permit the patentee to recover some of the expensive research and development costs. The TPP does not state how long the delay must be before a patent is entitled to a term extension.

The Canadian government has stated that the extension under the TPP is in line with the extension negotiated for such delays under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union; meaning up to a maximum of two extra years.

Protection of research and development data

T

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he Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty (TPP) negotiated in October 2015 represents a potentially significant opportunity for various biotech related industries in Canada.

Canada has signed but not yet ratified the TPP. Canada’s ratification is not a foregone conclusion in that Canada’s recently elected Liberal Party government is engaging in consultations and Parliamentary review prior to taking any decision about the ratification and implementation of the TPP. Below we review how the TPP addresses patent term and data protection, and discuss potential developments that could occur in Canada as a result.

Duration of patent exclusivity in Canada

Patent Term in Canada is 20 years from the filing date. The TPP provides two mechanisms to extend patent term where administrative delay occurs. Canadian patent holders and innovators stand to benefit from these provisions since such extensions don’t presently exist in Canada.

First, for all patents, patent terms can be extended where “unreasonable” delays occur in issuing the patent. In Canada, this means during patent prosecution at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. The TPP provides extensions in two alternative scenarios: five years after the filing date of the patent application or three years following a request for examination, whichever is later. A similar principle exists in the United States; but how it might be implemented in Canada

Obtaining approval to sell a pharmaceutical product in Canada requires the first manufacturer to submit extensive data establishing product safety and efficacy to Health Canada. The time and financial investments required to produce the data are significant. Canada, like many other countries, recognises this investment by protecting the data through the “data protection regime” that prevents potential competitors from referencing the manufacturer’s data for a period of six years, and selling a competing product until eight years, after the first marketing approval. Similarly, for pest control products for the agriculture industry, Canada provides 10 years of data protection.

Consistent with these principles, the TPP provides four main categories of data protection:

i. New pharmaceutical products

Under the TPP, manufacturers seeking marketing approval for a “same or similar” product to a “new pharmaceutical product” (i.e. one that does not contain a previously approved chemical entity) cannot reference the safety and efficacy data of the new pharmaceutical product for a minimum of five years from the date of first marketing approval.

The Canadian government has not commented on how this provision may apply. However, the existing data protection regime for eligible “innovative drugs” appears to be in line with the minimum TPP requirements. Since the TPP defines a “new pharmaceutical product” as one that does not contain a previously approved chemical entity, these products appear to fall within the current definition of “innovative drug” under Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations.

ii. Clinical data for previously approved pharmaceutical products

Under the TPP, new clinical information submitted for new

LAW

formulations, indications, or method of administration, of approved pharmaceutical products can benefit from a minimum of three years of data protection. If implemented, this provision would allow for a new category of data protection not currently available in Canada. It should be noted the Canadian government has stated its existing regimes for clinical data protection are compliant with TPP.

iii. Biologics

The TPP provides two categories of data protection for biologics. “Effective market protection” is granted to undisclosed data for either five years or eight years following the first marketing approval of new pharmaceutical products that are or contain a “biologic”. In recognizing the evolving nature of biologics, these periods of data protection are subject to review by all TPP countries after 10 years.

Canada has not commented on which biologic option it would choose, however, both options appear to satisfy Canada’s current data protection laws. Biologics under the TPP are products that are, or contain a protein produced using biotechnological processes for use in humans, prevention, treatment or cure of a disease. This definition appears to fall within the current “innovative drug” definition under Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations, currently eligible for up to eight years of data protection.

If Canada ratifies and implements the TPP, biotech industries in Canada will benefit from some of the TPP’s intellectual property and data protection regime provisions.

iv. Agricultural chemical products

The TPP provides for 10 years of data protection for “agricultural chemical products” which are chemical entities not previously approved for use in Canada as an agricultural chemical product. Canada has not commented on this provision, but already provides 10 years of data protection for pest control products under the Pest Control Products Regulations.

Kelly A. McClellan, Scott Foster and John Norman are IP litigation lawyers at Gowling WLG in Ottawa and Vancouver. The authors wish to thank articling student Justin Smith for research and editorial assistance.

However, Canada is still in the early stages of this process, with the next steps taking up to several years.

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Conclusion

If Canada ratifies and implements the TPP, biotech industries in Canada will benefit from some of the TPP’s intellectual property and data protection regime provisions. However, Canada is still in the early stages of this process, with the next steps taking up to several years. In the meantime, interested parties should pay close attention to positions taken by the Canadian government about the scope of the TPP’s provisions and participate in the consultation process and Parliamentary review. BB

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feature story

Life’s Limit Understanding aging may help us defy time

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By Hermione Wilson

Photo Credit: Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

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feature storY

Aging is not caused by free radicals and it’s not caused by mitochondrial dysfunction.

D

espite the better hygiene, health care systems and medical innovation of our modern age, at a certain point the body begins to fail. Skin loses its elasticity, muscles and bones begin to weaken, macular degeneration causes eyesight to fail, and stiffening arteries don’t transport blood throughout the body as efficiently they once did. The immune system doesn’t function as it used to, creating vulnerabilities to infection. Cognitive function may decrease.

Still, we are living much longer than we once did. The average life expectancy has been rising steadily for some time now. According to data from the World Bank, as recently as 1996, Canadians could on average expect to live to about 78 years of age; now they will most likely live at least 81 years, with 85 being the most common age at death according to Statistics Canada.

Of course many people will – and have – surpassed that number. Japan has a high number of centenarians and the Okinawa Centenarian Study is dedicated to uncovering the genetic and lifestyle factors responsible. But if all humans had an ultimate expiration date, it would probably be around the 120-year mark. According to Guinness World Records, a French woman named Jeanne Louise Calment who lived 122 years and 164 days was the oldest person to have ever lived.

So what is preventing us all from living to the grand old age of 120 and beyond?

That is the question at the heart of aging research. First, we must understand why we age and according to leading scientists in the field, there are no simple answers.

Like teasing out individual threads from a vast tapestry, each researcher seeks to unravel their small part of the mystery. Researchers like Dr. Siegfried Hekimi, who investigates mitochondrial damage and cell dysfunction in animal models at his lab at McGill University, and Dr. Parminder Raina, principal investigator of the landmark Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

Why we age

Photo Credit: Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

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In the lab, Hekimi and his colleagues have been studying mitochondrial function and longevity in mutant mice and roundworms. Hekimi has been examining the biological process of aging for more than two decades and although he and his team were able to extend the lives of their animal models, even he cannot say with certainty why. All he has managed to do so far is rule out possible causes of aging, Hekimi says.

“It’s not caused by free radicals and it’s not caused by mitochondrial dysfunction,” he says. “In our mutants, there’s actually an increase in free radicals, which function like a messenger to turn on stress-resistant mechanisms, and also the processes that are damaging and require ADP [adenosine di-phosphate] are not as intense because we have a reduction of mitochondrial function and that’s why they live long. [But] I still haven’t explained what goes wrong and gets fixed by what I just explained.”

The truth, Hekimi says, is that many of the things people have pointed to as the causes of aging, including free radicals and mitochondrial dysfunction, are actually “a reaction of the organism to a, I believe, still-unknown underlying process.”

There are several possible explanations for why we age, Hekimi says. The most obvious explanation is that our cells accumulate damage and as a result they function less and less well until they eventually breakdown. Hekimi suspects the reasons for this are evolutionary.

“A given organism in the niche it lives in makes a calculation of how much it’s worth maintaining the body, which takes resources, versus reproducing and other things it needs to be doing,” he says. “Depending on what sort of organism you are, you will tend to be living more or less long.”

In other words, it wouldn’t make sense for an animal the size of an elephant to live only a few years when it takes almost 15 years for it to fully mature. That, in evolutionary terms, would be highly wasteful.

A holistic approach

Of course biology cannot fully explain the aging process. A thousand different variables – both internal and external – come into play. For example, we now know that living in isolation from family and friends in the late stages of life can compromise the immune system.

“There is some research emerging that people who are socially isolated actually stop producing some of the cells in their blood that help them fight infection,” Raina says.

Shifting Mortality Patterns CAUSES OF DEATH ALL AGES

ALL AGES

65+

65-75

75-85

85+

#1

#1

#1

#1

#1

#1

Heart Disease

Heart Disease

#2

#2

#2

#2

#2

Cancer

Cancer

#3

#3

#3

Chronic Lung Diseases

Stroke

#4

#4

#4

Chronic Lung Diseases

Stroke

Stroke

Alzheimer’s Dementia

Heart Disease

#2

Cancer

Septicaemia

1900

#3

iarrhea D & Enteritis

#4

Heart Disease

Rank in

2005

#3

Stroke

#4

Chronic Lung Diseases

Heart Disease

Cancer

#3

Stroke

#4

Cancer

Heart Disease

Chronic Lung Diseases

#5

#5

#5

#5

#5

Stroke

Accidents

#5

#6

#6

#6

#6

#6

#6

Diabetes

Influenza/ Pneumonia

#7

#7

#7

#8

#8

#8

Nephritis

#7

Accidents

#8

Cancer

#9

Chronic Lung DiseaseS

#10

Alzheimer’s Dementia

Diabetes

#7

Alzheimer’s Diabetes Dementia

Influenza/ Accidents Pneumonia

#7

Alzheimer’s Diabetes Dementia

Nephritis

Alzheimer’s Chronic Lung Dementia Diseases

Influenza/ Diabetes Pneumonia

#8

#8

Influenza/ Pneumonia

Nephritis

#9

#9

#9

#9

#9

Nephritis

Accidents

Septicaemia Accidents Accidents

#10

#10

#10

#10

#10

Influenza/ Nephritis Pneumonia

Nephritis

Septicaemia Septicaemia Alzheimer’s Septicaemia Septicaemia Dementia

Data for 1900 from Lindor and Grove, 1947; Data for 2005 from National Vital Statistics Report, Vol 56, No.10, April 24, 2008.

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I nfluenza/ Pneumonia

Rank in

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“So much of medicine has been based around… what’s the issue, what’s the cure. But there is no cure for aging.”

– Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Geriatrics at Toronto’s Mount Sinai and the University Health Network Hospitals

“Aging is a complex phenomenon,” he adds. “It’s as much a social phenomenon as it is a biological phenomenon. If you want to understand the biology [of aging], you really have to understand the social aspects of it, or psychological aspects of it or economic aspects of it.”

That is why the CLSA has taken a holistic approach to studying aging, Raina says. In addition to gathering medical, social, psychological and economic data from the more than 50,000 participants, CLSA investigators have collected blood and urine samples from 30,000 of that group. Those biomaterials are being stored for posterity at the Biorepository and Bioanalysis Centre (BBC) in Hamilton, ON. Raina says the CLSA is planning to conduct genetic testing on 10,000 of the participants to see if there are certain genes that result in longevity, similar to genes that cause susceptibility to certain diseases. A group of 5,000 of those participants will be examined for epigenetic biomarkers that will allow researchers to determine their future aging trajectory.

“We want to see how these biological mechanisms change over time and for that we need to recollect every three years when we recontact people,” Raina says. Having all that biological data on hand and the facilities to process it quickly will also allow researchers to do biomarker screenings for disease risk factors.

He envisions the BBC becoming an invaluable resource for future researchers, a biobank that will serve many different disciplines and research interests.

“It’s important to keep in mind that aging as a field of research is relatively new,” Raina says. “Much of the focus in this research has been... specific diseases, and we are learning more and more through the biology, the sociology and the psychology of aging that there might be some underlying common pathways that are related to the aging process that actually determine all sorts of different diseases and disabilities.”

Miracle cure

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The trouble with aging is that medical research is a tool that has been designed to tackle a specific problem and come up with solutions. For every disease there must be a cure, for every ailment, a treatment. But thinking about aging this way may be the wrong approach.

“So much of medicine has been based around… what’s the issue, what’s the cure,” says Dr. Samir Sinha, the Director of Geriatrics at Toronto’s Mount Sinai and the University Health Network Hospitals. “But there is no cure for aging.”

There are certain treatments and medications out there that we think may slow the aging process or some age-related disease. At one time it was thought that resveratrol, a polyphenolic compound found in red wine (among other things), could inhibit the growth of cancer cells and prevent cardiovascular disease. Studies have even shown resveratrol to increase the lifespan of some animal models, but whether it will do the same for humans is still up for debate.

Similarly, the popular diabetes medication Metformin has also been shown to increase lifespan.

“In a laboratory setting, small studies have shown that [Metformin] might actually impact aging,” Raina says. “People who are taking this drug, they are functionally better and they live longer. So what is it that drug is affecting that changes the underlying biology in these older people that they start to become healthier and live longer? If we start to understand those mechanisms, then we can actually tackle diseases as a complex rather than a one-by-one entity.”

Hekimi regards these treatments that claim to be aging cure-alls with much doubt. No one can point to any one “cure” for aging that is any more miraculous than the simple results of us living better lives, he says.

“There’s no intervention which is any better than what happens for environmental reasons alone,” Hekimi says. “That already tells us something, I think.”

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feature story

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feature storY

“aging itself is not a disease, but rather it’s a triumph. We should celebrate the fact that we have an opportunity to live almost double the life expectancy that we hoped for over a hundred years ago. That’s a huge gain that we’ve made.”

– Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Geriatrics at Toronto’s Mount Sinai and the University Health Network Hospitals

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Running down the clock

As a geriatrician, Sinha is more concerned with helping his patients maintain good health and independence in their later years. There are several ways they can contribute to what he calls their “longevity dividend.” Maintaining good social connections, a healthy diet, moderate alcohol consumption, and exercising regularly are just a few.

“We all know that children have a vaccination schedule that ideally they should adhere to,” Sinha says. “But many people forget that older adults similarly have a vaccination schedule that they should be adhering to as well, vaccinations that could prevent common infectious diseases that can cause significant problems and disease burdens in older age.”

Although the numbers show that life expectancy is on the rise, our poor lifestyle choices may balance things out. “The generation before was more likely to have been smoking; this generation coming into aging is less likely to have been smoking,” Sinha says. “Yet this generation that’s starting to age now is more likely to have diabetes and obesity.”

Then again, by the time the next generation starts to age, we may have found a cure for dementia which could that could buy us, on average, five to 10 extra years of life, he says.

“As we approach older age, we’re a very heterogeneous group in that, if you’re lucky enough… to make it to 65, you’re life expectancy resets, you get about 20 more years on average at that point and most of those years are going to be in relatively good health,” Sinha says. “But you can see then that quickly there are some people who are already marching into older age with chronic illnesses and other disadvantages, and other people who actually have a much longer runway ahead of them because they made it that far without any new issues.”

Ultimately, aging is a very complex phenomenon that is difficult to get a handle on, but Sinha is quick to point out that it isn’t all negative.

“I always like to remind people that aging itself is not a disease, but rather it’s a triumph. We should celebrate the fact that we have an opportunity to live almost double the life expectancy that we hoped for over a hundred years ago. That’s a huge gain that we’ve made.” BB

regional profile

blue

By Hermione Wilson

B

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rittany is the home of blue biotech in France. It is the country’s number one agricultural region, a major producer of fresh produce and ornamental plants, and a leading industrial region for biotechnology. A cultural region in France, Brittany was once an independent country with strong connections to the British Isles and is now made up of four French départements (similar to British counties). A variety of algae and other microorganisms flourish on the Breton shores and it is these rich marine resources that have put the region on the biotechnological map.

Blue Biotech

The goal of the biotechnology industry in Brittany is to use the natural marine resources and then add value. The research aims of marine biotech, also known as blue biotech, includes developing sustainable methods of harvesting algae and extracting bioactives from marine sources. It’s led to innovations such as powdered algae solutions to replace chemicals in paint; biofuels and bioplastics developed from marine sources; and cosmetics enhanced with marine sugars and other marine bioactives.

“We have on our coast more than more than 700 species of algae. Brittany has 1,700 km of coastline... so that makes Brittany’s coast an unequaled source of marine [variety],” says Roland Conanec, Project Manager, CBB Capbiotek, a biotech cluster which helps companies with R&D and economic development.

CBB Capbiotek works to promote the region’s marine biotechnology and marine cosmetics industries, as well as connecting biotech companies and research centres to the financial support they need. Within the network of Capbiotek, there are 250 key stakeholders in the field of biotechnology. Of those,

regional profile

Biotech

in Brittany is developing a sustainable way to reproduce all the algae and other marine resources it needs. Environmental concerns mean that French legislation governing the use of marine resources is very strict.

“We have to manage our marine resources in a sustainable way,” Conanec says. “If you want to use algae, for instance, instead of chemical products, you have to be able to produce very large amounts, but you can’t produce algae... wherever you want. If you don’t cultivate the algae in the right place you will find it all over the Breton coast.”

Another big focus of the biotech industry in Brittany is cosmetics. “We have for long time worked on the use of marine ingredients, on the benefits of the sea for cosmetics, for skin [and] for wellness,” Conanec says.

Codif, a cosmetics supplier to major brands such as Estée

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150 are biotech companies and the remainder are research centres and other related organizations. CBB Capbiotek recently worked with clusters in the neighbouring Pays de la Loire region to organize Forum Blue Cluster.

The Forum Blue Cluster has become a place where blue biotech companies and research centres from Brittany meet to discuss the innovative work they’re doing, work that includes the 1 million € project Blueco PHA, that has developed a way to use marine microorganisms to produce bioplastics.

“You can feed these microorganisms byproducts of the agricultural industry and they transform these byproducts into biopolymers called PHA,” Conanec explains. “This PHA can be used in bio-plastics and they are more biodegradable, and they are less polluting.”

At the last Forum Blue Cluster in November 2015, Conanec says companies discussed tapping into marine resources to find clean energy solutions. One company, BiotechMarine, has developed a novel method of cultivating algae in its own plant rather than trying to harvest large quantities from the sea.

“That’s new because it is very difficult to cultivate algae in reactors,” Conanec says. “It’s a very long and difficult [process].” BiotechMarine’s new method also ensures the harvesting processes is sustainable and doesn’t overload the local ecosystem.

One of the biggest challenges the blue biotech industry faces

Brittany is the home of blue biotech in France. It is the country’s number one agricultural region, a major producer of fresh produce and ornamental plants, and a leading industrial region for biotechnology.

21

regional profile

Brittany Biotech Facts & Figures

700

species of algae Roland Conanec, Project Manager, CBB Capbiotek

Lauder and L’Oreal that is based in Brittany, has developed a new marine sugar that has interesting age-defying properties. Using the fermentation process, Codif was able to extract new polymers from marine microorganisms.

The company plans to launch its new product at the In-Cosmetics show, a main event for the cosmetic ingredients industry in Europe. Codif is also involved in developing new ways to sustainably cultivate the algae from which it extracts its ingredients.

The local cosmetic ingredients industry has also organized its own local conference called Cosm’ing, Conanec says. It will be the first of its kind this year and many major cosmetics companies are expected to attend. The event is part scientific conference and an opportunity for businesses to meet face-to-face.

“Our aim at CBB [Capbiotek] is to help... small companies develop new ingredients to bring more value to Brittany and to develop innovations using these marine resources,” Conanec says. bio business j a n u a ry/ f e b r u a ry 2 01 6

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International connections

Franck Zal, CEO of Hemarina, began studying the extracellular hemoglobin of marine vertebrates that allows them to survive in and out of the water and ended up discovering a blue substitute to transport oxygen in the body. Hemarina has been able to adapt this unique marine blood, which it refers to as universal marine oxygen carriers, as an additive for organ transplant preservation solutions, and a wound healing aid that can be transported in powdered form and reconstituted with water. The company has several international contracts to develop medical applications, including for the US Navy. Hemarina is currently working on a way to use the extracellular hemoglobin for human blood transfusions since it is very close to

1,700 km

of coastline

250

biotech companies,

research centres and key stakeholders

60

marine biotech companies which provide

1,400 jobs

Brittany is France’s

3rd

most important biotechnology region, after Paris and Grenoble.

The cosmetics industry in Brittany, excluding thalassotherapy, is made up of more than

100

companies that provide more than

1,000 jobs.

The region is home to more than

50%

of total French oceanographic research.

human blood and has no blood type.

Zal was instrumental in forming Capbiotek in 2007. He and members of other biotech companies in the region felt the large concentration of blue biotech industry in the Brittany region warranted its own network. According to Zal, Capbiotek focuses on the academic realm and SMEs, while another cluster he helped form, Bretagne Bioscience, specializes in the business and commercialization side of things.

The blue biotech cluster isn’t just focused on the Brittany region, however.

Through involvement in the cosmetics industry and in partnerships with other countries, it is making a name on the international stage.

“I have been to Quebec several times to collaborate or partner with companies there,” Conanec says, without going into specific detail. He does expound on the academic partnerships that exist between institutions in both countries.

For example, the University of Brest and Roscoff Marine Station, a major research centre in Brittany, have research partnerships and student exchange programs with schools in Rimouski and Montreal.

“They have large amounts of algae in the [Saint Lawrence River],” Conanec says. “We can help them develop processes to [use] algae in active ingredients” and in return Quebec can give Capbiotek and the Brittany region access to new resources.

Capbiotek and its partners are working hard to keep blue biotech innovation, and the revenue and jobs it generates, in the Brittany region. Fortunately, Conanec says, local government has been very supportive of the organization and its goals of commercializing marine resources in the region.

“The local government has a strategy to support collaboration between research and economy, and has chosen to help the biotech sector as one of the seven major sectors of the region,” Conanec says.

Aside from the financial support of local government and the natural resources of Brittany’s coastline, there are many factors that have contributed to the success of the region’s marine biotechnology sector. Zal points to an environment that fosters connections between fundamental research and innovation.

“To work closely with academic centres [like Roscoff ] is very nice because… we can transfer innovation to start-up companies and so on,” he says. BB

moments in time

Electric Potential eep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a treatment that may put one in mind of Dr. Frankenstein and his reanimated creature, but for those who suffer with neurological and neurodegenerative illnesses it may be their best hope of recovery. The treatment, which involves surgically implanting electrodes in the brain and delivering electrical pulses to certain areas, has already proved an effective tool in the treatment of patients with anorexia nervosa and Parkinson’s disease.

In 2010, a Canadian study demonstrated that DBS may be able to slow the cognitive deterioration that accompanies Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Andres Lozano and his team of researchers at Krembil Neuroscience Centre (KNC) of Toronto Western Hospital, were able to show that using DBS on Alzheimer’s patients led to improved memory capacity. Although the study was based on a small safety trial involving six patients, the results at least suggest that DBS treatment’s effect on Alzheimer’s disease warrants further study. BB

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