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PlantForm Corporation is a Canadian company formed in 2008 to commercialize a low-cost, plant-based manufacturing platform for monoclonal antibodies, protein drugs and vaccines for cancer and other critical illnesses.

The company’s technology platform provides several advantages over mammalian cell culture and other fermentation systems used to produce most biologic drugs on the market today: it’s fast, efficient, highly versatile (for new product development) and easily scalable. Best of all, it’s capable of reducing manufacturing costs for life-saving drugs by up to 90 per cent.

PlantForm licenses its technology from the University of Guelph, where it was developed by Dr. J. Christopher Hall, a PlantForm founder and the company’s Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Hall held the Canada Research Chair in Recombinant Antibody Technology from 2002 to 2014 and is a leading authority in the field. All relevant intellectual property is protected by patent filings.

PlantForm’s pipeline features both innovator and biosimilar products, including:

• biosimilar trastuzumab, a plant-produced version of the $6-billion breast cancer drug Herceptin® (animal studies successfully completed, human clinical trials scheduled for 2014, market entry anticipated 2017)

• biosimilar versions of two additional oncology drugs with combined annual global sales of $11.4 billion (2010)

• innovator antibodies for HIV/AIDS, funded by the Government of Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

• recombinant butyrylcholinesterase (rBuChE), an enzyme used as preventative medicine for people vulnerable to attack by nerve agents, organophosphates or other stimulants ($1.8-million contract with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and $800,00 contract with Defence Canada)

Precision NanoSystems Inc. (“PNI”) has developed proprietary technology (NanoAssemblr) and companion Reagent Kits (SUB9KITS) that enable the simple manufacture of novel nanoparticles that are used to delivery genetic and small molecule medicines (nanomedicines). Nanomedicines are the "FedEx" of the health-care industry and are used for cell-specific delivery of research tools, diagnostic imaging agents and drugs to study, diagnose and treat disease. PNI's products are commercialized and in high demand from many of leading RNA and small molecule therapeutic biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.  http://www.precisionnanosystems.com/products/

ImStar Therapeutics is a private biotechnology company headquartered in Vancouver that is developing new approaches to treat patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

The company is developing compounds directed at a proprietary new therapeutic target for ALS discovered by co-founder Dr. Jean-Pierre Julien called TANA (i.e. TDP-43 Associated NF-kB Activation). The lead drug candidate, IMS-088, is a novel small molecule compound targeting the NF-kB activation pathway currently in preclinical development for ALS.

IMS-088 is the first in a series of novel compounds derived from withaferin A (WA), a natural withanolide isolated from the leaves of the winter cherry plant (withania somnifera).  In preclinical animal studies, WA showed promise but lacked suitable pharmacologic characteristics to be developed as a therapeutic drug.

Therapeutics targeting the TANA pathway could treat multiple neurodegenerative diseases expressing TDP-43 pathology such as ALS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Dementia.

TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) was recently identified as a major disease-associated protein in ALS. Under normal conditions, TDP-43 regulates RNA and is predominantly localized in the nucleus. However, in ALS-affected neuronal cells the protein is misprocessed resulting in aggregation in the cytoplasm and a loss of motor function.

A recent discovery has shown that, in patients with ALS, TDP-43 unexpectedly associates with and activates nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), an inflammation-regulating protein. This leads to exaggerated immune responses and motor neuron destruction. Inhibition of the pathway in an ALS disease model produced substantial improvements in disease and motor function illustrating this is an important new drug target.

Novel Withanolides

ImStar chemists have designed novel withanolides related to WA that have superior drug like properties. IMS-088 is the lead drug candidate in this series that is currently being developed for ALS. These compounds are covered by a new composition of matter patent filing.

TANA Inhibitors

ImStar is also developing various approaches to block TDP-43 activity and has identified novel single chain variable domain antibody fragments (scFv) that inhibit TDP-43 and block it's associated NF-kB activation. 

Immunimed Inc is a clinical-stage Biopharmaceutical company developing innovative egg-derived, oral potclonal antibody therapy to treat gastro-enteric infections/diseases. Our lead product IMM-001 targets super bug, Clostridium difficile, leading cause of hospital-acquired infections.

Currently is Phase II ready with remarkable clinical response in Proof on Concept multi-center clinical studies.  Phase II clinical study is planned for Q2 2015.