In 1922, Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered how the protein insulin could be successfully used as a medication to treat the sugar highs associated with diabetes. This discovery’s impact on those with the disease continues to be monumental in controlling high blood sugar, but insulin use is limited by a dangerous side effect: hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.

If you’re unfamiliar with hypoglycemia’s dangers, symptoms can include confusion, clumsiness or fainting. In severe cases, it can cause seizure, comas and even death. On average, people living with Type I diabetes experience at least two asymptomatic incidents per week. Some can have at least one severe hypoglycemic incident per year, and one in 20 people with Type 1 diabetes under the age of 40 die of hypoglycemia each year. Hypoglycemia requires daily vigilance for patients and can interfere with exercise, driving, sleeping and other normal daily activities.

Dr. Mladden Vranic, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, began his academic career as a post-doctoral student with Charles Best in 1963. He has since devoted his life to studying diabetes. Together with Dr. Michael Riddell of York University and in collaboration with Dr. David Coy of Tulane University, Vranic has continued the legacy of Banting and Best by pioneering a new drug therapy to prevent hypoglycemia. In 2016, Zucara Therapeutics was incorporated to bring this discovery to market. 

“Zucara’s research pedigree in the diabetes space is unique,” says Michael Midmer, Zucara’s CEO. “Dr. Vranic and his collaborators discovered that somatostatin is deregulated in diabetes, and targeting this cellular pathway can prevent hypoglycemia before it becomes dangerous. We’re currently working to move our lead drug candidate into clinical trials within the next two years.”

Zucara Therapeutics is a strong example of Canada’s collaborative approach to drug development, which is taking place across the life sciences sector. The inventors disclosed the technology to MaRS Innovation, a federally-funded Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research (CECR) in Toronto that counts both the University of Toronto and York University among its 15 member institutions. MaRS Innovation, which specializes in early-stage commercialization, assessed and patented the technology before providing pre-seed funding for proof-of-principle development.

“Developing a new drug can take over a decade and cost over $1 billion dollars, but raising the first $500,000 to fund preclinical work as quickly as possible is crucial to a company’s long-term success,” says Judith Blumstock, senior director of strategy at MaRS Innovation, which is located across the street from the site of Banting and Best’s historic discovery and attached to the original Toronto General Hospital building where the first clinical trials for insulin were conducted.

Our role is to pick the strongest technologies emerging from our portfolio and find creative ways to get them to market where they can grow and scale,” says Blumstock. “Zucara is a great example of the strength of our model for biotechnology opportunities.”

MaRS Innovation partnered with the Centre for Drug Research & Development (CDRD) in Vancouver, also a federally-funded CECR that specializes in early-stage commercialization for therapeutics, to incorporate Zucara as a company, develop new molecules based on the founding team’s research and hire Midmer as the company’s first CEO. Midmer has a range of professional experience in venture capital, business development and science.

“Canada’s venture capital resources have improved in recent years, but financing a high-risk life sciences company remains a challenge in this economic climate,” says Midmer. “We’re meeting with venture partners here, the United States and Europe for our Series A investment. Partnering with a pharmaceutical company to co-develop the technology is also high on our priority list, and there are many Swiss companies that would make ideal collaborators.”

Toronto—a global city with a cosmopolitan, multicultural population and reasonable cost of living—is home to world-class universities and research institutes. The Canadian government also offers attractive R&D tax credits for companies setting up North American subsidiaries, and the country’s comparatively lower dollar means that foreign investors can buy into Canadian opportunities at a comparative discount.

“Canadian scientists played a key role in defining diabetes treatment a hundred years ago,” says Midmer. “We’re optimistic about building on Banting and Best’s legacy of scientific discovery into the twentyfirst century to solve the challenge of hypoglycemia.”