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Montreal, the largest city in Canada’s Quebec province, has seen a boom in life sciences over the years. Home to Biotech City, a hub that connects and supports biopharmaceutical companies within the region as well as attracts talent from across the world, Montreal rivals the likes of Vancouver and Toronto in being the leading biotech hub in the country.
As it contributes to most of Quebec’s gross domestic product (GDP), the second largest Canadian city has a competitive advantage in the life science sector due to its significant growth in areas such as pharmaceuticals, digital health, and artificial intelligence (AI).
In this article, we take a look at nine promising biotech companies in Montreal that are advancing preclinical and clinical research.
Table of contents
Ability Biotherapeutics
- Technology: Artificial intelligence
- Top candidates: Leap 1121, Leap 1009, and Leap 1030 for autoimmune diseases and cancer
- Latest news: Closure of $18 million seed funding round in 2024
Situated in Montreal, Ability Biotherapeutics has come up with its discovery engine AbiLeap that combines AI and a database of antigen-antibody interactions in order to develop multispecific antibodies for cancer and autoimmune diseases.
It has four candidates – Leap 1009 and Leap 1030 for autoimmune diseases, and Leap 1121 and an undisclosed candidate to treat cancer, all of which are in the discovery and preclinical stages.
Last month, it announced a collaboration with Inspire Bio Innovations, Quebec’s life science research center, to shift its research and development (R&D) to the hub. It joined forces with AI company Mila Partners in an effort to bring safer and more efficacious antibody therapeutics to the forefront late last year.
Also a year ago, Ability closed an $18 million seed funding round to discover and generate immunomodulator therapies.
Congruence Therapeutics
- Technology: Drug discovery and protein therapeutics
- Lead candidate: MC4R-targeted drug in genetic obesity
- Latest news: Closure of $65 million seed funding round in 2023
Congruence Therapeutics, a biotech company that was founded four years ago in Montreal, closed its series A funding round two years ago, which now amounts to a total of U.S. $65 million. With these investments, the company is advancing its Revenir platform.
Revenir is a computational drug discovery platform to discover and develop drugs that stabilize misfolded proteins. This can then provide a better understanding of how the mutation in those proteins took place and how to correct or reverse it. Once the mutations – that are associated with a particular disease – have been detected and studied, Revenir creates a map of all the druggable pockets, which are then screened and evaluated to eventually aid in drug discovery. The platform avoids the need for high-throughput screening and helps save on time and cost when compared to traditional drug design methods.
Through its Revenir platform, Congruence Therapeutics is developing its pipeline of preclinical drugs. Its lead candidate targets MC4R in genetic obesity – a receptor that plays a crucial role in regulating appetite and energy balance – followed by one for Parkinson’s disease targeting GCase – an enzyme linked to Parkinson’s – and another candidate to treat alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), a genetic disorder that can cause lung and liver damage.
Last year, the young Montreal-based biotech began a collaboration with Japan-based Ono Pharmaceutical to create small molecules for solid tumors.
Cura Therapeutics
- Technology: Immunotherapies
- Lead candidate: CT101 for cancer
- Latest news: Seed funding raised this year
Montreal-based Cura Therapeutics is an immunotherapy startup that has a preclinical program for cancer and infectious diseases. It leverages cytokines and immune receptors to create multifunctional proteins with novel immunomodulatory properties.
Its lead candidate is CT101, a cytokine fusion protein that activates the immune system to destroy cancer cells. The main aims of the drug’s design are to induce immune effector cell activation, reduce the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, and block blood supply to the tumor in order to prevent its spread. The goal is to increase the survival rate and quality of life in patients with cancer compared to the current standard of care. Soon, the company will submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for CT101.
The company is also advancing CT102, CT103, and CT104, which are all in preclinical and discovery stages. Earlier this month, the company raised money for a seed round, according to Crunchbase.
Giiant Pharma
- Technology: Precision medicine
- Lead candidate: GT-2108 for gut disorders
- Latest news: Received $500,000 grant in 2023
Specializing in precision medicine, Giiant Pharma’s lead candidate follows a gut-restricted approach – meaning that the drug stays within the gut with minimal exposure to the rest of the body – to treat gastro-intestinal disorders. GT-2108 is designed to target irritable bowel disease (IBD) – a condition where nearly half the patients do not respond well to current therapies.
The candidate’s mechanism is to inhibit the enzyme phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) – which is highly expressed during inflammation. First, the prodrug is inactive and poorly absorbed and, as a result, remains restricted to the gut. This prevents the systemic exposure of its active form, allowing for safer therapies. It is then activated by the gut microbiome, where it targets the site of inflammation in the intestinal tract. In addition to this preclinical asset, Giiant is also advancing GT-1908, another PDE4 prodrug inhibitor for the treatment of Crohn’s disease.
Founded in 2014 in the Montreal region, the preclinical-stage company has signed a licensing agreement with California-based biotech Palisade Bio for the future commercialization of Giiant Pharma’s pipeline products. Two years ago, Giiant Pharma was awarded U.S. $500,000 from the US Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation through its IBD Ventures program. With the help of this grant, Giiant Pharma looks to pursue GT-2108 and aims to file for its investigational new drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Inversago Pharma
- Technology: CB1 blockade
- Lead candidate: GT-2108 for obesity and diabetic kidney disease
- Latest news: Received $67.94 million in series C funding in 2022
Based in Montreal, the biotech company Inversago Pharma was acquired by Danish multinational company Novo Nordisk for up to U.S. $1.075 billion.
Its lead drug candidate, monlunabant, is a small molecule CB1 receptor (CB1r) blocker that is being developed to treat metabolic disorders like obesity and diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Blocking the CB1r in peripheral tissues like the kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, liver, pancreas, adipose tissues, muscles, and lungs can help regulate metabolism and appetite.
Currently in phase 2 studies for obesity and DKD, the drug recently completed a phase 2 trial in obesity, wherein it achieved a statistically significant weight loss compared to placebo.
Focused on developing CB1r blockers, the pharmaceutical also has INV-347 and the INV-300 series in the mix. INV-101 is currently in preclinical stages for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Set up in 2015, Inversago Pharma last raised funds in 2022 when it secured $95 million CAD ($67.94 million) in a series C round.
Laurent Pharmaceuticals
- Technology: Small molecule
- Lead candidate: LAU-7b for cystic fibrosis COVID-19
- Latest news: Health Canada approved long COVID phase 2/3 trial for LAU-7b in 2023
Established in 2012, Montreal-based Laurent Pharmaceuticals is advancing its sole candidate LAU-7b, which has been in clinical development for more than a decade.
The candidate is an oral formulation of fenretinide, a derivative of retinoid – a substance related to vitamin A. Laurent is developing it to treat breathing disorders, such as cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that causes the body to produce thick, sticky mucus in the lungs. The abnormal form of the CFTR protein is implicated in cystic fibrosis. This causes lung inflammation, which leads to tissue damage. LAU-7b is designed to control inflammation by stabilizing the CFTR protein.
LAU-7b increases the production of fat molecules called phospholipids, which are linked to the reduction of inflammation. While a phase 2 trial did not meet the endpoint, the drug candidate will continue to be developed in the clinic for cystic fibrosis.
Meanwhile, LAU-7b is also being evaluated to treat COVID-19. Currently in phase 3 trials, the once-daily drug reduced progression of the disease in patients hospitalized with moderate-to-severe COVID-19.
It bagged approval from Canada’s regulatory body, Health Canada, to begin a phase 2/3 trial for LAU-7b in long COVID two years ago.
Modulari-T Biosciences
- Technology: cell therapies
- Lead candidate: GT-2108
- Latest news: Raised $500,000 in pre-seed round in 2023
The company’s co-founders David White and Stephanie Mok’s interest in cell therapies during their PhD days led them to found Modulari-T Biosciences in 2021, a Montreal-based biotech focused on cell and gene therapies.
The oncology startup is working on creating chimeric antigen T cell receptors that are capable of reprogramming cells, in a bid to engineer immune cells to identify and attack cancer cells, as well as potentially aid in the production of stem cells to be able to regenerate tissues. The receptors are built using a modular scaffold as the therapies aim to decrease side effects and enhance potency.
In a pre-seed funding round, the company obtained funding from startup accelerator Y Combinator and raised a total of U.S. $500,000 in 2023.
Nomic Bio
- Technology: Protein profiling
- Platform: nELISA
- Latest news: Secured $42 million in series B round in September
Involved in the field of proteomics, Nomic aims to profile proteins through its nELISA technology, a modified version of the famed ELISA tests that uses DNA nanotechnology.
Pairs of target-specific antibodies are assembled prior to assaying at the surface of every bead. Target proteins are then identified by the capture and detection antibodies, which together form a sandwich complex, with the detection antibody bound to the bead, which is then labeled with a fluorescent dye. The company uses the nELISA platform to help researchers who want to profile proteins faster and more precisely, while using a simple workflow based on commercially available instrumentation.
Having been around since 2017, the Montreal-based biotech company has raised a total of U.S. $18 million over six funding rounds. The latest round bagged $42 million to boost protein profiling technology in September.
This was also around the time Nomic joined hands with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) to profile blood samples using the nELISA platform to assess the levels of inflammatory and cancer-related proteins and explore how well patients respond to therapy, survival rates, and likelihood of developing immune-related adverse events.
Nospharma
- Technology: Small molecules
- Lead candidate: NOS-01 for fragile X syndrome, SYNGAP1-related disorder, and GRIN disorder
- Latest news: $25,000 partnership with cureGRIN Foundation in 2024
Based in Montreal, preclinical-stage biotech Nospharma wants to make a difference in the field of rare genetic diseases, particularly those that affect the brain and the nerves, by creating small molecules to treat them.
One of the disorders it is keen on targeting is fragile X syndrome. It arises from a mutation in the FMR1 gene present on the X chromosome and causes neurodevelopmental delay and several neurological symptoms.
Two other disorders Nospharma specializes in are SYNGAP1-related disorder, a rare genetic condition where patients have developmental delay and often have severe epilepsy, intellectual disability, autism, ataxia, apraxia, and sleep disorders, as well as GRIN disorder, which belongs to a large family of rare neurological disorders where patients present with developmental delay, intellectual disability, autism, speech deficiency, inability to walk, gastrointestinal issues, visual impairment, and epilepsy.
Nospharma strives to address all these conditions with its candidate NOS-01, which is now in preclinical studies. It has collaborated with McGill University, a public university in Montreal, on all these studies.
Last year, the Montreal-based company partnered with the cureGRIN Foundation to advance research in GRIN disorders and received $25,000 as part of it. Previously, it was awarded $150,000 in grant funding from McGill University’s Bowie Lab in 2022.
Montreal aspires to lead North American life science sector
Montreal aims to be one of North America’s leading life science markets, according to a report by CBRE. The Greater Montreal Area (GMA) has 5.6 million square feet of lab space, half of which is distributed across hubs including the Laval Biotech City. The report stated that the province has pledged $569 million to support $2 billion in direct investment in the industry to meet its life science sector goals.
The presence of nonprofit organizations like Montreal InVivo that mobilize a cluster of over 600 organizations, as well as several universities like the University of Montreal and McGill University, touted as top institutions for graduating with a life science degree in the province, attracts researchers to the region.
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