F
or Dr. Allen Eaves,
it took mandatory
retirement to kick-
start the growth of
his company, Stem-
cell Technologies,
into one of Canada's largest
biotechnolo‹y companies.
Formerly the founding direc-
tor of the BC Cancer Agency's
Terry Fox Laboratory and
head of clinical hematolo‹y,
Eaves was required under
B.C. law to step down at the
age of 65. "I wasn't really
interested in retiring, so I
just moved down the street,"
says Eaves, now 76.
Stemcell makes a
"cement-like ready-mix"
for media and culture—the
ingredients for stem cells—to
be used in research hospi-
tals, universities, laborato-
ries and corporate campuses
around the world. In total,
the company makes around
2,000 di™erent types of
tissue culture media, used
in health-care research for
diseases from cancer to
Parkinson's. While his prod-
ucts are not directly used on
patients—thereby avoiding
the "big regulatory cost of
producing them" borne by
most pharmaceutical compa-
nies—they save researchers
the time and money it would
take to produce quality cell
cultures.
For Eaves, science runs
in the family. His father,
a botanist, pioneered
controlled-atmosphere
research that is used to store
apples today. But it was the
experience of growing up in
1950s Nova Scotia and watch-
ing a neighbour die of cancer
that spurred Eaves toward
cancer research. After
completing his MD at the
University of Toronto, and a
decade of cancer research,
he relocated to British
Columbia where he founded
the Terry Fox Laboratory in
1981. Then, in 1993, Eaves was
asked by the administration
if he would be interested in
spinning o™ the 10-employee
lab into a business.
Seeing an opportunity to
launch a successful side busi-
ness—Eaves would remain
at his research position full-
time for another 13 years—he
took out a second mortgage
on his house. Eaves would
spend another decade at
the head of the institution,
playing a hands-o™ role in
Stemcell's a™airs—at least
until his retirement, at which
point he shifted the bulk of
his attention to the ¢edgling
company. Stemcell hit its
stride by 2007, growing 20 to
30 per cent a year, as Eaves
came on board full-time and
as breakthroughs in stem
cell research put his prod-
ucts in high demand. Today,
Stemcell has 850 employees
in Vancouver, 150 of them
with post-doctoral degrees,
and in 2015 had revenues of
$150 million.
Despite all the recent
nancial success, Eaves
remains a researcher at
heart—and his goals for
Stemcell re¢ect that. "I really
have no desire to make
money. I just want to make
really great products that
help cancer researchers
do their jobs better," he
says, before adding with a
laugh: "Except maybe world
domination." — Jacob Parry
bcbusiness.ca october 2016 BCBusiness 37
Dr. Allen Eaves
President and CEO,
Stemcell Technologies Inc.
b u S I n E S S -T O - b u S I n E S S P r O d u C T S a n d S E r v I C E S
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