Drug development R&D centre gets $25M funding

Vancouver, BC – The British Columbia government says it is earmarking $25 million for the Centre for Drug Research and Development to advance new drug therapies and medicines from the discovery stage to commercialization.

The centre will use the funds for developing, formulating and testing new therapies and drugs, and to bridge the commercialization gap between identifying new treatments and getting them to market.

The non-profit centre assists these new discoveries through the early stages of innovation to commercialization and viable companies. Based at UBC, its facilities will have state-of-the-art equipment and will serve researchers and trainees at universities and associated institutions across BC.

This announcement clearly demonstrates the provincial governments commitment to fostering and accelerating the drug development process in the province and growing BCs biotech sector, says Natalie Dakers, the centre’s CEO. This funding gives [the centre] the green light to act on its plans to bridge the gap between research and the successful development of new medicines.