OBIO® Paves the Way for Companies to Succeed in Canada as a Stepping Stone to New Global Markets

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TORONTO — OBIO^®, a not-for-profit, membership-based organization offering programming and infrastructure to support early-stage and venture-backed companies, announces the launch of its Health Commercialization Access Program to accelerate the growth of Canadian biotechnology and health technology companies. The Program is supported by the Government of Canada, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), as part of a $5-million investment in OBIO^®.

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FedDev Ontario has long championed OBIO^® to assist high-potential health and life sciences companies to grow, scale up and attract global investment. Over the past decade, OBIO^® has enabled over 350 companies to generate in excess of $150 million in sales and $200 million in foreign direct investment. Through its Early Adopter Health Network (EAHN^™) and by accelerating technology commercialization, post-seed financing and strategic partnerships via its Capital Access Advisory Program (CAAP^®), OBIO^® has been helping Canadian innovators establish a beachhead in our publicly-funded healthcare systems.

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Through its programming, OBIO^® identifies early-stage companies that are well-positioned to develop their businesses in Canada and expand to countries on other continents. OBIO’s EAHN^™ program, which includes more than 80 healthcare organizations and health systems across Canada, has developed a pipeline of companies selling their products successfully in the Canadian market. Commercial success in Canada puts companies in a prime position to sell to international jurisdictions. Many OBIO^® affiliated-companies have already gone on to export their technologies to Europe, Indo-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa.

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OBIO’s Health Commercialization Access Program provides integrated CAAP^® and EAHN^™ programming for early-stage life sciences and health tech companies. This enables OBIO^® to provide its technical expertise to advise companies and allow them to leverage OBIO’s extensive and expanding network of industry and health science ecosystem partners in Canada. By gaining a foothold in the Canadian market, OBIO^® enables innovators to meet the growing demand for quality, home-grown medical products and lay the foundation for a healthier future.

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“Congratulations to OBIO^® on the launch of the Health Commercialization Access Program,” said the Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. “This program is a powerful catalyst for Canadian innovation. OBIO^® plays a critical role in helping homegrown health tech and biotech companies turn breakthrough ideas into real-world impact. Our government is proud to support the talent, ingenuity, and ambition of Canada’s innovators as they develop cutting-edge technologies that improve lives and strengthen our health system.”

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“We are thrilled to support early-stage life sciences and health tech companies to build a beachhead in Canada and diversify their target markets at this time of changing global trade relationships,” said Dr. Maura Campbell, President and CEO of OBIO^®.

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The precision psychiatry company, Mobio Interactive, has benefited from OBIO’s programming to support commercialization in Canada and beyond. “Our mission is to help create a world where anyone who is living anywhere with mental health issues has the opportunity to access clinically meaningful support,” said Dr. Bechara Saab, Mobio Interactive’s CEO & Chief Scientist. “OBIO’s CAAP^® provided us with key introductions to investors whose support enabled us to lengthen our runway and scale our business. Later, we took part in OBIO’s EAHN^™ to collaborate with Canadian healthcare organizations to gather real-world data on the effectiveness of our technology. Those collaborations led to sustained revenues and also provided the proof cases we needed to build partnerships in Singapore and other Asian countries.”

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Flosonics Medical is a venture-backed start-up that develops and commercializes wearable sensors to improve the clinical management of critically ill patients inside and outside the hospital. “EAHN^™ gave us the opportunity to evaluate our novel ultrasound technology in a real-world setting,” said Joe Eibl, CEO of Flosonics Medical, which partnered with Health Sciences North in Sudbury to conduct an accelerated study on the use of FloPatch. “Our successful participation in the program was a pivotal moment that accelerated our path to a North American launch. Trying to raise funds and prepare for commercialization during a period of uncertainty is always challenging. Our involvement in both CAAP^® and EAHN^™ signaled to current and prospective investors that we were not only building momentum but doing so with validated clinical impact.”

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About OBIO^®

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Founded in 2009, OBIO^® is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization engaged in strategy, programming, policy development and advocacy to address the needs of the next generation of companies developing innovative human health products. OBIO^® supports early-stage and venture-backed life sciences and health tech companies enabling them to raise capital, hire and train industry-ready talent, facilitate the commercialization and market adoption of their technologies in health systems, and access infrastructure. OBIO® advances this goal through collaborative partnerships with industry, the investment community, academia, the healthcare system and government. For more information, please visit obio.ca and follow OBIO^® on LinkedIn and X.