COVID-19 vaccine maker Providence says it's leaving Canada after calls for more federal support go unanswered"I can't tell you how much this pains me. The reality is, I can do more good for the world outside of Canada than I can in."
The move is a setback for the federal government's efforts to nurture a domestic biotechnology industry. The COVID-19 crisis has exposed how being entirely dependent on foreign sources for much-needed products like vaccines makes Canada vulnerable.
Providence, which was developing mRNA cancer vaccines before the COVID-19 crisis hit, came forward with promising data about its novel coronavirus product last March, only weeks after BioNTech and Moderna produced similarly encouraging early results for their mRNA-based vaccines.
Sorenson claimed the company's pre-clinical trial results were "equivalent or better than these big companies that are now saving the world."
Last year, the small Canadian firm — which developed its product with researchers at the Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto — asked the federal government for a loan to help launch clinical trials in humans and stand-up a manufacturing site in Canada. Those requests were largely ignored...
"I never asked for a single handout. All I've asked for is a deposit on vaccines or a non-interest loan," Sorenson said.
"People have said to me so many times and I refused to acknowledge it, but the truth is,
if Providence was located in Quebec we wouldn't be having this conversation," Sorenson said.
"Canada's broken. The federal government doesn't see past Ontario heading west."
Based on the advice of the vaccine task force, federal officials have made a $173 million commitment to help Quebec City-based Medicago produce its version of a COVID-19 vaccine.
One member of the task force, Gary Kobinger — who helped develop a successful Ebola vaccine with a team in Winnipeg — resigned last fall amid concerns about the task force's transparency and its ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/providence-therapeutics-pulling-out-canada-1.6009068