Thomas Madden (Acuitas) interviewed on Global TV
Acuitas Therapeutics, the Vancouver, BC-based biotech company co-founded by NMIN research leader Dr. Pieter Cullis, has been granted a Global Impact Award by Life Sciences British Columbia, in recognition of the company’s “extraordinary leadership and efforts they made in the development of COVID-19 vaccines.”
Acuitas partnered with Pfizer and BioNTech in the development of their highly effective mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine. Acuitas specializes in the development of delivery systems for nucleic acid therapeutics based on lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), a technology developed through over 40 years of research in the UBC lab of Dr. Cullis.
I am incredibly proud of the work done by the Acuitas team… We are humbled to know that our LNP delivery system is helping to save lives all over the world.
One positive outcome from the pandemic was the opportunity to tell Canadians how Canadian scientists and companies were playing key roles in the development of vaccines… and for Canadians to recognize and take pride in our industry and its global impact.
Hear the President & CEO of Acuitas Therapeutics, Dr. Thomas Madden, speak about his company’s involvement in the development of COVID-19 vaccines in the awards presentation video by Life Sciences BC, below.
Other honours are being bestowed upon the scientific pioneers whose work contributed to COVID-19 vaccine technologies. Dr. Drew Weissman, a colleague with whom Dr. Cullis has collaborated on vaccine development, was recently awarded both the 2021 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research and the 2021 Horwitz Prize for his pioneering research into RNA vaccines. Dr. Weissman and Dr. Cullis have also been posited as future recipients of a Nobel Prize.
Hear Dr. Weissman’s keynote presentation at the NMIN-sponsored 2021 Vancouver Nanomedicine Day.
Life Sciences BC is a not-for-profit, non-government, industry association that supports and represents the life sciences community of British Columbia through leadership, facilitation of investment and partnering, and promotion of BC’s science and industry.
For more on global recognition for the role of LNPs in COVID vaccines, and for Dr. Cullis’s role in developing this technology, see previous NMIN reporting on this topic.