 |
| Leona discusses the McGuinty government's investment with Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, and Graeme McRae, President and CEO of Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. |
Production of innovative cattle vaccine will create jobs, enhance food safety
BELLEVILLE — The McGuinty government is investing $10 million in Bioniche Life Sciences Inc.’s expansion of its Belleville facility to a state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing plant, Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Economic Development and Trade announced today with Leona Dombrowsky, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
“Today’s announcement will help Bioniche bring animal-vaccine expertise to Ontario,” said Dombrowsky. “That is good news for our agri-food industry, for our economy, and for our environment.”
Bioniche Life Sciences Inc.’s E. coli vaccine prevents the colonization of the bacteria in the digestive system of cattle and substantially reduces the amount of E. coli shed in the environment through waste, potentially reducing the contamination of water supplies and commercially sold beef. The company will invest $107 million to expand its Belleville facility to manufacture its bovine E. coli cattle vaccine and other animal vaccines.
The new facility will be built to handle highly infectious organisms, such as avian influenza, and have the capacity to increase production of vaccines in times of emergency.
“We’re celebrating another first for Ontario,” said Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Economic Development and Trade. “This investment will help Bioniche Life Sciences become the first company in the world to produce its unique cattle vaccine and deliver it to national and international markets. This is a great success story for Bioniche, and is another major win for Ontario’s life sciences sector.”
“We can’t eliminate infectious bacteria from our environment entirely, but we can help reduce the harm that E. coli O157:H7 causes to people’s health and Ontario’s food industry,” said Graeme McRae, President and CEO of Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. “We are the first company in the world to produce and distribute this vaccine, and manufacturing it in large scale wouldn’t have been possible without the support from the Ontario government.”
The $10 million Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. investment is provided under the Ontario government’s Advanced Manufacturing Investment Strategy (AMIS). The $500-million strategy provides repayable loans, interest free for up to five years, to support investments in technology and innovation. The innovative projects supported by this strategy will generate more than $720 million in new investment and support the creation or retention of about 3,500 jobs.
