Applications for the 2018 ONtrepreneurs Competition are now open. The Ontario Neurotech Entrepreneurs (ONtrepreneurs) Program catalyzes early stage entrepreneurs to commercialize brain-related technologies by accessing funding and support to launch or grow their neurotechnology ventures.

A panel of investor-judges has selected Ontario-based oncology researcher Soror Sharifpoor of Polumiros Inc. as the winner of the 2018 FACIT Falcons' Fortunes competition. The $50,000 award is intended to support further development of their innovative cancer research.

Adrenalease announced the launch of a Kickstarter campaign to back their wearable posture apparel line. Once the campaign ends, the clothing is set to produce and ship to all backers by August 2018.

VBI Vaccines announced the completion of enrollment with the last patient receiving the first dose in the ongoing PROTECT Phase 3 study of Sci-B-Vac®, the company’s third-generation hepatitis B vaccine.

CellAegis Devices announced enrollment of the first patients in a U.S. clinical trial of its autoRIC® device.

The Impact Centre released a report on the Physical Technologies Forum, which summarized the ten big challenges Canada’s companies face when commercializing innovative physical technologies.

Today, Ontario announced it will invest up to $50 million in venture capital funds focused on life sciences.

The Ontario Capital Growth Corporation (OCGC) has issued an expression of interest to identify fund managers to partner with other institutional investors such as corporations, banks and pension funds.

Avocare has launched their newest product, Avocare Remote Care. Remote Care will empower patients by enabling them to securely message their own healthcare provider using secure web and mobile apps.

Budget 2018 proposes an investment of nearly $4 billion in Canada’s research system. Robert Merson, Management Consultant, has prepared an analysis of this year's Budget 2018, focusing on research and innovation investment.

Hamilton Health Sciences & IBM's innovation exchange provides innovators – research scientists, industry & academic partners, start-ups and scale-ups – with technologies they otherwise would not have access to, to advance the pursuit of solutions to challenges in healthcare.

The Weston Brain Institute is launching three new funding programs:  

• Rapid Response: Canada  2018 (Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases)

• International Fellowships: Canada 2018

• International Outstanding Achievement Award 2018

Nanovista Inc., a start-up company co-founded by Drs. David Jaffray, Jinzi Zheng, and Christine Allen of UHN and the University of Toronto, recently received investments of $1.8M with the help of GreenSky Capital Inc. and its affiliated venture capital funds.

Nanovista also recently welcomed Steven Chackowicz as its new CEO. A serial entrepreneur, he has experience in leadership roles in companies that include Exact Imaging, Aspect Imaging and VisualSonics. 

AVROBIO, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing transformative, life-changing gene therapies for rare diseases, announced today that it has completed a $60 million Series B financing.

Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corporation (APC), a therapeutics discovery and development company, and ImmunoBiochem Corporation, today announced entering into a Collaboration and Option agreement to develop superior antibody-drug conjugates. The companies will evaluate the prospect of combining ImmunoBiochem’s proprietary antibody and APC’s site-selective conjugation technology to produce ADCs with superior properties, targeting triple-negative breast cancer.

Toronto – Biotagenics Inc., a microbiome-based platform company developing novel therapeutics and diagnostics is the industrial collaborator on a $9.1 million CAD ($7.4 million USD) project led by academic collaborators at University of Ottawa and Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) to study the clinical application of microbiome-based precision medicine in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).