OTTAWA —
Massachusetts-based drug maker Moderna will build an mRNA vaccine manufacturing plant in Canada within the next two years, CEO Stephane Bancel said Tuesday.
The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government that will result in Canada hosting Moderna’s first foreign operation. It’s not yet clear how much money Canada has offered to Moderna for the project.
“I believe that this technology can allow Canada to be ready for the next virus,” Bancel said at an announcement in Montreal.
“Whether it’s a small outbreak, or a big pandemic, like the one we just saw — God forbid — Canada will be ready. We’ll be ready on Canadian soil to make, in a matter of months, a new vaccine for a new emerging virus to protect the Canadian population.”
The agreement will see Canada gain access to Moderna’s mRNA “development engine” and get priority access to the doses. Bancel said Canada can also ask Moderna to shift its production lines to respond to a new or emerging threat.
It will also include a research and development component for a host of other conditions besides COVID-19, including the flu, heart disease, cancer and rare genetic disorders.
This new technology has already changed millions of lives, Bancel said, but over the next 10 to 20 years he believes it will change millions more.
Canada, whose life-sciences industry has been decimated over the last three decades, wants in on the action.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to rebuild the industry, and the recent budget included a $2.2-billion, seven-year investment to grow the life-science and biotech sectors.
Almost half of that money targets companies that want to expand or set up vaccine and drug production in Canada. None of the COVID-19 vaccines to date have been made in Canada, leaving the country entirely reliant on imports to fill vaccine orders. As a result, Canada was slower out of the gate on immunizations than some of its counterparts who had domestic production. Canada also likely had to pay more per dose for some vaccines as well, although the federal government has not confirmed all details of its contracts.
Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, who announced the news with Bancel in Montreal, said Canada’s new commitment to life sciences and biotech companies is attracting a lot of attention from companies, including Moderna.
“It’s no secret that every country in the world wants a COVID-19 vaccine made in their country,” he said.
Bancel said similar agreements are now being negotiated with other countries as well.
The location of the new facility hasn’t been determined, but Bancel said the availability of an educated workforce will be the main deciding factor. He said the design is done and they’ll need to start hiring very soon so training can begin.
Currently Moderna’s vaccine is made by Swiss drugmaker Lonza, at Lonza facilities in Switzerland and New Hampshire.
Mathew Clancy, a media relations manager for Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, dismissed the announcement. He said the Conservatives have a “detailed” plan to partner with pharmaceutical companies to increase production in Canada.
“Justin Trudeau has repeatedly overpromised and failed to deliver when it comes to domestic vaccine manufacturing in Canada,” said Clancy. “There is no reason for Canadians to believe that this facility will ever be built under Trudeau’s leadership.”
This is the second major deal Ottawa has made to get mRNA vaccines made in Canada in the last three months.
In May, Champagne said Ottawa would provide $199 million to Resilience Technologies in Mississauga, Ont., about half the cost of expanding its existing plant to make up to 640 million doses of mRNA vaccines every year.
Canada has also promised $126 million for a new National Research Council to build a biologics production plant in Montreal, that is set to make the Novavax vaccine, once it is approved.
Canada also promised more than $400 million to help Sanofi complete a $925-million expansion of its vaccine production plant in Toronto. The existing plant mainly makes flu vaccines, and the expansion will focus on that as well.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2021.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
