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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1477631
BCBUSINESS.CA E N T R E P R E N E U R O F T H E Y E A R 2 0 2 2 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 BCBUSINESS 61 difficult for me to make the same particles day after day, or for someone else to make the particles that I was making. If we were really going to advance the field, we'd have to find a better way of discovering, de- veloping and manufacturing these particles." Enter Taylor. Taylor and Carl Hansen (co- founder of biotech firm AbCel- lera Biologics) tried applying a technology called microfluid- ics—the celebrated espresso machine—in making nanopar- ticles. All of a sudden you could basically press a button that made particles as good (if not better) than anyone with a PhD or postdoc could create. "James and I started to work together around concepts of using technology to help drug development," says Ramsay. Taylor had just completed his PhD in genetics from UBC and Seattle's Institute for Systems Biology a year prior. In 2010, when the CDRD de- cided to focus on drug develop- ment instead of the technology that supports drug develop- ment, Ramsay, Taylor, Hansen and Cullis launched Precision NanoSystems. The company, which now has over 200 staff on board, specializes in the creation of genomic medicine, or nanopar- ticle-delivered RNA drugs—like COVID vaccines. Precision provides companies around the world with the technology and support needed to develop genomic medicine for cancer and all kinds of diseases, effec- tively reducing the barriers for scientists to become genomic medicine developers. Closer to home, the com- pany is actively working to bring bio manufacturing to Vancouver, and has partnered with the Canadian government to develop a COVID-19 vaccine that's still in progress. "The ability to make medi- cines through these technolo- gies is potentially much faster, more precise, and many more things that we couldn't do be- fore," says CEO Taylor. Today, hundreds of com- panies looking for solutions to diseases depend on Precision's technology. Over the last five years, it's been progressing at a compound annual growth rate of over 50 percent. Preci- sion will soon move into its new headquarters—including a biomanufacturing centre—to expand its presence in the city to 100,000 square feet. —R.R. F U N F A C T S NA M E ON E T H I NG P E OP L E WOU L D B E S U R P R I S E D T O L E A R N A B OU T YOU. My real name is Bobby-Jim. – James Taylor W H AT WA S YOU R F I R ST S U M M E R JOB ? Worked in a cake fac- tory. – Euan Ramsay HOW WOU L D YOU DE S C R I B E YOU R L E A DE R S H I P ST Y L E ? Create an important vision and recruit and empower awesome people. – J.T. W I N N E R Tom Madden P R E S I D E N T A N D C E O , A C U I T A S T H E R A P E U T I C S T here were two risks that president and CEO Tom Madden took with Acuitas Therapeu- tics: The first was the decision to be a private biotech company. The second was to shift its molecular focus to messenger RNA (mRNA). When Madden came to Vancouver in 1980, he wasn't interested in entrepreneurship. He arrived with a PhD in biochemistry from the University of London, thinking that he'd go into academia. However, when he started working as a postdoctoral fellow at UBC with Pieter Cullis and a number of others in the biotechnology space, one thing became clear: "We recognized that the microscopic particles that we were studying could be used to deliver conventional drugs," Madden recalls. And, suddenly, he was presented with opportuni- ties that he never imagined. Over the next few decades, he co-founded various companies in Vancouver that dealt with different as- pects of drug delivery, such as INEX Pharmaceuticals.