New $701 million biotech campus for clinical trials planned for Vancouver

A new $701 million biotech campus is being planned in Vancouver for antibody drug development and clinical research.

B.C. Premier David Eby and François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, made the joint announcement in Vancouver on Wednesday.

The federal and B.C. governments will provide the biotech firm AbCellera $300 million ($225 million from the feds and $75 million from the province) to help build the company’s state-of-the-art biotech campus equipped with a new preclinical antibody development facility. Some of the money will also go to upgrades on existing AbCellera labs in Vancouver.

Eby said the project, which will create 400 new jobs, will strengthen B.C. and Canada’s role in antibody drug development and contribute to clinical trials.

“It’s going to enable locally developed drugs to treat things like cancer and autoimmune diseases, including arthritis, to be trialled and produced right here in British Columbia,” said Eby. “When we do research here, when we develop promising new treatments to be able to bring them all the way to clinical testing and produce them here in Canada. That is a massive economic benefit for all British Columbians and Canadians.”