This Week’s Biotech Highlights

This week in biotech was very stimulating, with public funds flowing to a variety of projects.

The Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE) got two new members this week and Minister of Research and Innovation Glen Murray (or @Glen4TC as he’s know to his tweeps) travelled to St. Catharines and Hamilton. ONE is what we’re now calling the network of organizations across Ontario that help innovators commercialize ideas.

The U.S. deployed its $1 billion Therapeutic Discovery Project tax credit/grant stimulus program this week, which was launched just 7 months ago as part of the health reform bill. Interestingly, the list of recipients includes a “foreign” section and sure enough, Canada’s Enobia Pharma, Germany’s mtm laboratories, and Israel’s Pluristem Therapeutics all receive TDP cash. Canadian biotechs with U.S. affiliates also reported receiving grants on the domestic U.S. side.

Meanwhile, other Canadian biotechs sauntered on. Equicom’s report on Q3 201o suggests that bounceback from the 2008 financial crisis may have masked 2009 weakness, making this year look even worse.

Stay tuned for news from 2010’s suspenseful end fourth quarter at The Cross-Border Biotech Blog and @crossborderbio on Twitter.