Cardiome Pharma - 2011 Company of the Year Winner

Cardiome Pharma is a Vancouver based life sciences company focused on developing proprietary drugs to treat or prevent cardiovascular and other diseases.  In September 2010, Cardiome was granted approval for marketing of vernakalant (iv) in the European Union, Iceland and Norway under the trade name BRINAVESSTM for the rapid conversion of recent onset atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm in adults.

Cardiome’s lead programs, vernakalant (iv) and vernakalant (oral) are focused on the treatment of atrial fibrillation, an arrhythmia (or abnormal rhythm) of the upper chambers of the heart.  Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, resulting in a stroke for approximately 15% of patients.  Vernakalant is a new chemical entity designed to treat atrial fibrillation, with the potential to overcome the limitations of current drugs used to treat atrial fibrillation.  Vernakalant (iv) is being evaluated as an intravenous pharmacologic converting agent designed to terminate an atrial fibrillation episode and return the heart to normal ryhythm; and vernakalant (oral) is being evaluated as an oral maintenance therapy for the long-term prevention of atrial fibrillation recurrence.  

Cardiome has a collaborative agreement which provides Merck with exclusive global rights to vernakalant (oral) and exclusive rights outside of the United States, Canada and Mexico to vernakalant (iv).  Cardiome has a second collaboration with Astellas for vernakalant (iv) in the United States, Canada and Mexico. 

In 2010, Cardiome earned revenues of $65 million from upfront, milestone and other payments from Merck.  To date, Cardiome has received over $105 million in payments from Merck for vernakalant and is eligible for up to $300 million in additional milestone payments as well as tiered royalties for sales on any approved products. 

Cardiome also has several pre-clinical projects directed at various therapeutic indications.

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OncoGenex Technologies Inc. - 2010 Company of the Year Winner

OncoGenex was founded in 2000 as a University of British Columbia spin-off, to address unmet needs in cancer treatment. In contrast to the approach popular at the time, of focusing development on a single product at the time, OncoGenex chose to diversify. Today the company has five products in various stages of development and continues to grow. The strategy of simultaneously conducting multiple clinical trials, involving multiple product candidates for several different indications has paid off. OncoGenex achieved significant clinical milestones in 2009, and is poised for future growth.

In late 2007, OncoGenex had planned to go public when foreign market issues crippled the market, forcing management to adopt a different path. Undaunted, OncoGenex completed a reverse takeover of Sonus Pharmaceuticals becoming a NASDAQ traded company. Then, in December, 2009, the firm signed a world-wide collaboration and license agreement with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. The agreement includes upfront fees totaling $60M, and milestone and other payments up to $370M to support the final stage of development of OncoGenex's lead product candidate, OGX-011. The partnership with Teva validates the OncoGenex platform, which is now well positioned for the final stages of clinical development and potential market entry.

OGX-011 blocks production of clusterin, a cell survival protein over-produced in several cancers as well as in response to many cancer treatments. Phase 2 data released in 2009 demonstrated meaningful improvement in survival over and above that of the current gold standard therapy in prostate cancer. The company is poised to begin Phase III trials in castrate-resistant prostate cancer, and is exploring broadening the product profile to include numerous other cancer types. A second product candidate, OGX-427, has likewise experienced extremely positive progress.

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Arius Research Inc. - 2009 Company of the Year Winner

Pharma Research Toronto a division of Hoffmann-La Roche Limited (Roche Canada), formerly ARIUS Research Inc., is an innovative biotechnology operation committed to the discovery and development of antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. The unique FunctionFIRST technology platform pioneered by ARIUS identifies antibodies that react with patient-derived tumors and inhibit cancer cell viability in vitro and in tumor models. Using FunctionFIRST, Pharma Research Toronto has established a portfolio of more than 500 functional antibody candidates against the most prevalent human solid and liquid tumors.

Founded in 1999 by David Young in the midst of the biotechnology boom, ARIUS Research Inc. has been able to demonstrate progress and growth for most of its short and largely preclinical life. 2008 was a year of significant progress for this organization, marked by pivotal data on leading antibodies. The company was involved in a successful pre-IND meeting with the FDA, which focused on development plans for CD44, an antibody targeting cancer stem cells and the company completed toxicology studies with a lead antibody targeting TROP-2, a major signal transducing determinant of cancer. Abstracts detailing these and other strong antibody programs were selected for publication at the 2008 AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) and EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer) annual cancer meetings. The latter part of the year was marked by the successful acquisition of ARIUS Research by Roche in September.

Achievements:

• Successful acquisition of ARIUS Research by Roche in September 2008 for $191 million ($2.44 Canadian per share).

• Built a portfolio of over 500 antibody candidates against the most prevalent human solid and liquid tumors through its FunctionFIRST technology.

• Successfulpre-INDmeetingwiththeFDA,whichfocusedondevelopment plans for CD44, an antibody targeting cancer stem cells and the company completed toxicology studies with a lead antibody targeting TROP-2, a major signal transducing determinant of cancer.