Canadian Companies

Æterna Zentaris

Æterna Zentaris Inc. (TSX: AEZ) is a Quebec, Canada-based biopharmaceutical company focused in oncology and endocrine therapy. It has over 100 employees in Canada, USA and Germany. The headquarter is based in Canada, the development and research site ist based in Germany.

Algorithme Pharma

Algorithme Pharma Holdings Inc. is a Canadian corporation specializing in clinical trials and bioanalysis including a wide range of services in bioequivalence and early stage development (Phase I/IIa) studies for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The corporation also supplies other types of services including protocol designs, CTD/ICH clinical reports, data management, biostatistics, quality assurance (QA) and regulatory affairs. The company was successfully audited by the US FDA, Canada TPD, Brazil ANVISA, France AFSSAPS, UK MHRA and Austria AGES regulatory authorities.

Algorithme Pharma was founded in 1992 and is headquartered at 575, Armand-Frappier Blvd, Laval, Quebec, Canada in The Biotech City area.

With 500 employees, the company has facilities in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals

Angiotech (TSX: ANP) is a Vancouver, British Columbia pharmaceutical company. Its products enhance the performance of medical devices and biomaterials through the use of pharmacotherapeutics. Angiotech is a global specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company that discovers, develops, and markets innovative technologies and medical products primarily for local diseases or for complications associated with medical device implants, surgical interventions and acute injury. The company is listed on both the TSX and NASDAQ stock exchanges (NASDAQ: ANPI, TSX: ANP). In April 2010, Angiotech acquired Haemacure manufacturing to develop human biological adhesives, hemostats and therapeutic proteins.

Apotex

Apotex is a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation. Founded in 1974, the company is the largest producer of generic drugs in Canada, with sales exceeding one billion dollars (CAD) a year. The company produces more than 300 generic pharmaceuticals in approximately 4000 dosages, exporting to over 115 countries around the globe.

The company has two main divisions: medical research and development; and biotechnology. The biotechnology division is divided into three subsidiaries.

Apotex owns 61% of Cangene Corp., a Winnipeg-based biopharmaceutical company, according to Cangene's 2007 annual report. Cangene's business focuses are hyperimmunes, contract manufacturing, biopharmaceuticals and biodefense against infectious diseases such as smallpox, hepatitis B and anthrax. Its products include WinRho SDF.

Apotex has tied up with an Indian biopharmaceutical company, Intas Biopharmaceuticals, in April 2008 for developing generic version of blockbuster drug Filgrastim for US, Canadian and European market.

In 1991, Apotex opened Apotex Fermentation in Winnipeg to develop fermentation-based technologies for the production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and to manufacture APIs for eventual sale as final dosage forms in Canada and internationally. The factory employs 150 people.

Axcan Pharma

Axcan is a privately-held, leading multinational specialty pharmaceutical company focused on gastroenterology. The Company develops and markets a broad line of prescription products to treat a range of gastrointestinal diseases and disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, cholestatic liver diseases and complications related to pancreatic insufficiency. Axcan's products are marketed by its own specialized sales forces in North America and the European Union and through commercial collaborations in many markets around the world.

In February 2008, Axcan was acquired by TPG Capital, a private investment firm.

BioMS Medical

BioMS Medical Corp (TSX: MS) is a Canadian biotechnology company engaged in the development and commercialization of novel therapeutic technologies with emphasis on the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. On July 27, 2009 the company announced that its drug, dirucotide, failed to meet its primary endpoint in the Phase III MAESTRO-01 Trial. It will discontinue testing of the drug and the future of the company is unclear.

BioMS Medical obtained an exclusive worldwide license to proprietary technology developed at the MS Patient Care and Research Clinic at the University of Alberta for the treatment of MS. The compound, dirucotide (MBP8298), is a synthetic myelin basic protein peptide composed of 17 amino acids which is intravenously injected (every six months) into MS patients as a therapeutic treatment.

Biovail

Biovail Corporation (TSX: BVF) is Canada's largest pharmaceutical company, operating internationally in all aspects of pharmaceutical products. Its major production facility is located in Steinbach, Manitoba.

Buckley's

W.K. Buckley Limited is a Canadian corporation founded in 1920, by W.K. Buckley, that manufactures medicines for health problems such as the common cold. They also have children's medicine which are sold under the brand Jack & Jill. The company is located in Mississauga, Ontario.

In 1978, after W.K. Buckley's death, his son Frank Buckley became the president of the company. In the mid-1980s, Frank became spokesperson promoting the "It Tastes Awful. And It Works." slogan, which became, and still is, very successful.

Novartis, the Swiss-based conglomerate with 2005 sales of $32 billion, purchased ownership of the Buckley's brand and formulas in 2002.

Cannasat Therapeutics

Cannasat Therapeutics Inc. (TSX-V: CTH) is a specialty clinical development pharmaceutical company targeting diseases of the brain. Based in Toronto, Canada.

Cannasat is a specialty clinical development pharmaceutical company targeting diseases of the brain. Cannasat has a lower risk Parkinson’s drug candidate, which is a reformulation of an approved drug that can address a moderate to severe patient population. Cannasat also has a proprietary formulation technology for cannabinoid drug candidates, which may be used to treat neuropathic pain associated with multiple sclerosis and cancer, as well as for nausea/vomiting and appetite stimulation.

Cannasat's strategy is to grow its portfolio of drug candidates through in-licensing and acquisitions, and to advance projects to Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical studies. Once the drug candidates are sufficiently derisked, Cannasat intends to out-license the programs to the appropriate Pharma marketing partners for a combination of upfront, milestone, and royalty payments.

Enox Biopharma

Enox Biopharma is a Canadian company developing antimicrobial medical devices coated with Nitric Oxide.

These products include urinary catheters, endotracheal tubes, central venous lines and other short term indwelling devices. Nitric Oxide gas (gNO) is produced in various cell types, has a short half-life of about six seconds and is part of the body’s innate response to inflammatory and immune processes. More specifically, gNO has been shown to play an important role in vasodilatation, neurotransmission, angiogenesis, modulation of wound healing and response to infection. Experimental evidence has demonstrated a broad range of antimicrobial activity against a growing list of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, fungi and viruses.

MDS Inc.

MDS Inc. (TSX: MDS NYSE: MDZ) is an international health and life sciences company that provides products and services for the development of drugs and the management of disease.

MDS is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and generates about 40% of its revenue from within Canada; it was the largest operator of clinical laboratories in Canada until 2007. The remainder of its revenue is generated in 23 other locations throughout the world, mostly in the U.S. and Europe. MDS generated $1.8 billion in revenues in the 2003 fiscal year.

PainCeptor Pharma

PainCeptor Pharma is a private Canadian company focused on the development of drugs that act outside the central nervous system on nociceptors to treat pain. The company's strategic focus on peripheral rather than central acting therapeutics is an attempt to avoid the known side-effects of existing central acting agents. The primary molecular targets addressed by PainCeptor are members of the ASIC ion channel family and nerve growth factor (NGF) and NGF receptors. Though PainCeptor refers to itself as a biopharmaceutical company on its website, its two primary publicly reported drug discovery projects aim to deliver small molecule therapeutics.

Patheon

Patheon Inc. (TSX: PTI) is a contract pharmaceutical company, based in Ontario, Canada. The company undertakes development, manufacturing and packaging of pharmaceutical products, both prescription (Rx) and over the counter (OTC), for a plethora of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, at sites in the USA, Canada, Europe and Puerto Rico.

Patheon's competitors in the contract manufacturing marketplace include Baxter and Cardinal Health, both based in the USA. After the fire to its main plant, Patheon had to relocate to New York.

Pharmascience

Pharmascience Inc. (PMS) is a Montreal-based pharmaceutical company specializing in the manufacturing and distribution of generic and branded products in Canada and worldwide. According to its website PMS is one of the ten largest pharmaceutical companies in Canada and the second-largest Canadian owned company.

Teva Canada

Teva Canada is one of Canada's largest generic pharmaceutical companies. The company was originally founded as Novopharm by Leslie Dan in 1965. After its acquisition by pharmaceutical giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in 2000, it was renamed Teva Novopharm. The Novopharm name was officially dropped in 2010, when it became Teva Canada.

Teva Canada maintains several facilities in the Toronto, Ontario area, including its headquarters in Scarborough, a specialized antibiotics manufacturing facility in Markham, and their main manufacturing facility in Stouffville. Their headquarters is also home to their main laboratory, packaging, and warehousing operations. According to their promotional brochure, their Markham site, which underwent a major expansion in 2004, is the largest antibiotic manufacturing facility in North America.

In addition to the Canadian drug market, products manufactured by Teva Canada are exported worldwide under the Teva name.