News

CanBiocin wins top Science Award - Dec 18, 2009

CanBiocin Inc.’s first-place finish in the 2009 Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) Awards demonstrates the enduring value of AVAC Ltd. investments that back commercially-viable business ideas with the early-stage funding they need to take quality products to market, says Jim Hardin, an investment manager with AVAC.

Founded in 1998 as a University of Alberta spin-off company, CanBiocin commercializes novel technologies developed from research conducted by its president and CEO, Michael Stiles, a former U of A professor, and current professors Lynn McMullen and John Vederas.

Less than a year after CanBiocin was incorporated, AVAC invested $250,000 based on a CanBiocin business plan to develop and commercialize natural lactic acid bacteria (LAB) for use in food safety and animal health.

AVAC funds and business support helped CanBiocin develop a LAB technology being sold to meat processors through a commercial partnership with a global manufacturer of food products. “CanBiocin is also developing a strategic industrial partnership with a company that will market CanBiocin technology that improves animal health by preventing intestinal problems,” says Stiles.

CanBiocin’s ASTech Award for Innovation in Agricultural Science recognizes groundbreaking work that moved the company’s innovative solutions out of the laboratory and into the marketplace.

AVAC Ltd. is a private not-for-profit company that invests strategically in promising early-stage commercial businesses. AVAC focuses on the expansion of Alberta’s value-added agri-business, information and communication technologies, life sciences, and other industrial technology sectors. It is also Alberta’s leading fund-of-fund investor in early stage venture capital with investments in three active venture capital funds, says Ross Bricker, AVAC President and CEO.

Having taken its first products to market, CanBiocin’s ongoing relationship with the University of Alberta, a world leader in food safety and animal health research, is critical to the company’s continued success, notes Stiles.

CanBiocin is one of several firms to qualify for AVAC early-stage funding after the companies were created from strategic partnerships with University of Alberta researchers, says Hardin. “CanBiocin was one of our very early investments and it’s good to see how the company has moved forward so successfully,” he adds.

Other companies AVAC has invested in that derived from the U of A include CV Technologies (now Afexa Life Sciences Inc.) , Cevena Bioproducts Inc. and BioLipids Inc.

-30-

Contacts:

CanBiocin Inc.

Michael Stiles, PhD.

President, CEO

T: 780-436-5228

C: 780-984-9500

E: Michael.stiles@telusplanet.net

W: www.canbiocin.ca

AVAC Ltd.

Ross Bricker

President, CEO