Key discovery based company, BioProspecting NB Inc. opens New Lab in Sackville, NB

March 24, 2008
Sackville, NB - BioProspecting NB Inc., founded in 2005, is an early stage drug discovery company that focuses on novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of cancer and chronic pain. The drug candidates are derived from soricidin, a compound isolated from the venom of the shrew, a small mammal native to Eastern Canada. The company has evolved rapidly since the founder, Jack Stewart, a biochemistry professor at Mount Allison University, started trapping the tiny rodents in his yard in 2001. The company currently has two patents in the United States, one European patent, four more U.S. patents pending and one Canadian patent pending, and it's ready to begin pre-clinical animal trials.

Stewart initially studied shrew venom's paralysing effects because other mammals' paralysing venom has led to the development of pain-killing drugs. However further research demonstrated an ability to activate programmed cell death in certain types of cells, an important discovery since tests on human cancer cells show it hits the cells selectively, without attacking healthy cells or causing side effects.

Recently, the company reached a major milestone in the development of its proprietary soricidin technology, and has moved to the Pre-Clinical stage. Concurrent with that announcement, the company has opened a now Lab facility in Sackville, NB. The new lab will optimize the core research activities for the company's 9 employees.

To assist the company's research, the Canadian Government has invested $422,000 through ACOA's Business Development Program and $135,000 through the National Research Council Canada Industrial Assistance Program. Business New Brunswick has also provided $43,000 in assistance.


For more information on these investments, please visit:
www.bioprospecting.ca
timestranscript.canadaeast.com/rss/article/254093
www.fpinfomart.ca

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