There’s a new star in the constellation of Atlantic Canadian startups – DeNovaMed Inc.
The Halifax biotech, which is developing a new class of compounds to battle superbug viruses, was awarded the top prize Wednesday in Innovacorp’s I-3 competition, beating out 141 competitors from across Nova Scotia.
The company, which grew out of the research lab at the IWK children’s hospital, has used computer-aided drug design to develop a new class of antibiotics to treat infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria, known as superbugs. These superbugs have proliferated greatly in the last 30 years, but the global medical community has not yet found a treatment for them, said CEO Christopher McMaster.
DeNovaMed plans to evaluate its best compounds in animal models of infection in the next 12 to 18 months, with an ultimate goal of bringing to market a truly new antibiotic. The company has been in existence for five years and already received $6 million in non-dilutive financing from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Canadian Institute for Health Research.
McMaster said DeNovaMed has a short path to its Phase I trials, which are designed to ensure the compounds are safe for human consumption. What seems obvious is that this company has the potential to develop a bona-fide blockbuster drug, but it’s equally obvious DeNovaMed will need a ton of capital to do so – millions for Phase II trials and hundreds of millions for Phase III.
I got the feeling watching the award ceremony that we were witnessing the debut of a company that will grow in importance in the region in coming years.
The company will receive a total of $200,000 for winning the competition. The regional winners, who received $100,000 each, were: Water Drills International Inc., New Glasgow; Ventgrid Inc., Chester; The Bait Savour, Meteghan Centre; and J&K Scientific Inc., Edwardsville, Cape Breton.
Aside from congrats to Innovacorp for making I-3 a mainstay of the startup community, I have two random thoughts on the I-3 competition:
First, the top ten this year had a strong emphasis on manufacturing and an underweight position in information technology. I have little knowledge of the contestants, the number or quality of IT entries or the judging; but I would have hoped for more IT candidates on the podium. It’s a high-growth industry requiring little capital and a lot of brain power, and it’s hot right now after the success of Radian6, Q1 Labs and GoInstant. Among the top 10, only two regional runners up were in the tech space: znanja, of New Glasgow, is developing technology to convert Word and PowerPoint files into SCORM-compliant eLearning systems; and GoVenture World Inc., Sydney, is developing a massively multiplayer online game with a theme of business and entrepreneurship.
Second, I can’t help but notice that 69 of the 142 entries were from the Halifax area. This means that 49% of the entries are jockeying for two prizes, and the other 51% are dividing eight awards. In a way this is a massive benefit, because companies based in Halifax have awesome resources at their disposal in comparison to those in other areas, and the regional nature of the I-3 competition helps to spread mentorship across the province. The downside is there are probably some great Halifax companies that aren’t receiving the recognition or capital they should from I-3. My suggestion: next time around seek out private sponsorship for sector specific awards, in addition to the regional awards. For instance, ask Research in Motion to sponsor the I-3 Information Technology award, or Novartis the I-3 Biotech award, or something similar. The sponsors would be get early exposure to the leading Nova Scotian innovators in their field, and the geographic playing field would be evened out somewhat. And it wouldn’t add to the costs of the competition from Innovacorp’s point of view.
