Published January 15, 2024

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Ten months after the sudden shutdown of vaccine manufacturer Medicago, two Quebec biotech companies are bringing new life to some of the defunct company’s abandoned facilities.

Last week, the federal government announced a deal to secure Medicago’s technology and research from its Japanese parent company, Mitsubishi, and transfer it to a new company formed by 14 former Medicago employees.

The deal also includes $40 million recovered from Mitsubishi from the $170 million the federal government had contributed to building the huge new facility for Medicago in Beauport.

According to a news release, the deal with the new company, Aramis Biotechnologies, will “maintain Medicago’s intellectual property and critical research assets in Canada; ensure a Canadian company retains the technology platform, talent and expertise; and identify third-party investors that could help maintain and expand Medicago’s platform capabilities in-country. This is to enhance domestic pandemic preparedness capabilities and ensure that a promising technology platform remains in Canada.”

Aramis president Frederic Ors told the Journal de Québec, “If all goes well, in three years we will have 130 or 150 employees. We have set up a business model which ensures that future employees will also become shareholders. We also have private investors because we could not have done this alone. With private investors and employees, we will invest nearly $40 million in the coming years.”

Aramis will resume operations at Medicago’s former facility in the city’s industrial park, which, according to Ors, could be expanded.

Meanwhile, Montreal-based Linearis Labs Inc., which bills itself as “an innovative company at the intersection of AI and biomarker analysis,” has taken over the laboratory space formerly occupied by Medicago on Route de l’Eglise.

In a Nov. 28 release, Linearis said it has acquired “over 650 scientific instruments and hired some of [Medicago’s] most seasoned specialized personnel in mass spectrometry, quality assurance and laboratory management.”

Company president and CEO Alexandre Le Bouthillier said, “[We] are grateful for the support from Medicago during this transaction enabling the creation of this innovative and collaborative laboratory. The identification of disease signatures not only makes prevention accessible, but it also contributes to improving the prevention, screening, discovery of treatments, and acceleration of precision medicine.”

In a Journal de Québec report, Le Bouthillier said the company may eventually be interested in taking over some space at the now vacant, newly constructed facility in Beauport.

A spokesperson for Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne had not replied to an inquiry about the future of the Beauport facility by press time.

Medicago ended operations in February after its COVID-19 vaccine failed to make it to market before the end of the pandemic. The federal government had approved the vaccine, but the World Health Organization refused to authorize it because of Medicago’s association with tobacco giant Philip Morris.

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The future is still uncertain for the shuttered Medicago facility in Beauport.

Photo from QCT archives via CBC

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