The Pulse: March 31, 2023

The $80.5 million in federal money going into the Edmonton-based Canadian Critical Drug Initiative will do more than secure a domestic supply of crucial medications and support the commercialization of new drug discoveries, says the head of Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API).

The investment is also a big step towards attracting more pharmaceutical companies to the region, which would have a profound effect on the diversification of the economy, API CEO Andrew MacIsaac told Taproot.

"This is going to serve as the catalyst of a lot of growth within the sector," he said, suggesting the goal is not so much a drug manufacturing facility as a signal of Edmonton's competitiveness when it comes to attracting life sciences companies. "And then also we'll have a phenomenal increase in the resources that we have to enable the ones that are growing here to succeed and to scale here."

The March 17 funding announcement is unprecedented in its size, MacIsaac said, but it is also just the beginning of further cementing the advantages the Edmonton region has started to assemble when it comes to attracting more companies on the scale of Gilead Sciences, which set up shop here in 2006.

"Edmonton has the makings of a cluster," MacIsaac said. "We just have too few anchor tenants."

The money will go towards a new 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and an upgrade of the 72,000-square-foot Biotechnology Business Development Centre at the Edmonton Research Park. The $175-million project will eventually have the capacity to produce up to 70 million doses per year, API estimates.

Much of that capacity will be used to produce small-molecule drugs, the vast majority of which are currently produced offshore.

In non-emergency times, the production lines will also be able to produce novel drugs for clinical trials, which could help companies such as Entos Pharmaceuticals or Hepion as well as the researchers at the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology, which is partnering with API on the initiative.

That same capacity will be attractive to other drug companies looking for manufacturing facilities, MacIsaac said. In the high-stakes world of patented medicines, where a six-month delay can mean a loss of millions of dollars, having a place where initial production can begin right away significantly lowers the risk of moving to Edmonton.

• City administration has developed an Enhanced Encampment Response Plan to guide the city's approach for the next two years. The plan will be presented to council's community and public services committee on April 11. The city said in a release the plan "builds on past successes while improving effectiveness through process changes and prototypes" and includes the launch of an "intensive and highly coordinated effort to house 100 people from encampments," which administration will test this summer. The release also notes that the number of people experiencing homelessness in Edmonton has more than doubled since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with the By Name List compiled by Homeward Trust identifying 2,843 people experiencing homelessness and 750 classified as "unsheltered."
• The city's spring waste collection schedule will start the week of April 2, at which point green food scrap carts will be collected every week and black garbage carts every two weeks. Recycling will still be collected weekly. A spring yard waste collection day is coming up before the May long weekend, with a second one set for after the weekend. The city's website has more information about yard waste collection and options.
• Bruce Ferguson, the city's branch manager for LRT expansion and renewal, told Postmedia he's hopeful service will begin along the Metro Line extension to Blatchford as early as 2024. He is anticipating construction to be finished this year. The launch would complete the first phase of a three-phase plan to extend the Metro Line to northwest Edmonton. City council agreed in December to put $20 million over four years toward buying land for the second phase to Castle Downs, while the final phase connecting the line to Campbell Road hasn't been funded. Meanwhile, the city is expected to choose the builder for the Capital Line extension to Ellerslie this fall after narrowing the choice down from four competitive bidders to two last summer. Construction on that project is expected to start in 2024.
• Participatory budgeting projects tested by Coun. Keren Tang and Coun. Andrew Knack in 2022 supported a total of 23 projects, which were voted on by the public to receive grants of up to $2,000. Projects include a pride walkway at the Mill Woods Transit Centre, a program that pairs people to do activities in their neighbourhood, a chess event, and a book club focusing on Sikh history. Tang suggested community-based budgeting is a way of "pushing the boundary" when it comes to tackling systemic racism and hopes to work with administration on more community projects as the city continues with its anti-racism strategy.
• Lightspark, a Vancouver software company, released a series of interactive maps that rate energy efficiency for single-family homes in Edmonton and Calgary in order to better inform homeowners and buyers. The ratings are generated using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Mike Mellross with the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation, which contributed funding to the project, said the cities have indicated more than 18,000 dwellings need to be retrofitted annually by 2050 to meet carbon reduction targets. Mellross said the maps are a market-based "nudge" tool, but two net-zero home builders who spoke to CBC News questioned the accuracy of the ratings.
• Duncan Kinney, director of Progress Alberta and a vocal police critic, pleaded not guilty to two counts of mischief and elected to be tried by judge and jury in the Court of King's Bench. In 2022, Kinney was charged with vandalizing a statue of a controversial figure outside the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex and a monument at St. Michael's Cemetery. Kinney's next court date is May 12. Trial dates have not been set.
• The Alberta government announced $211.3 million over three years for investments in campgrounds and trails. The province says the funding will expand access and recreation opportunities, and that 60 campground, day-use site, and trail enhancement projects are currently underway.

This weekend offers a festival of Ukrainian cinema, the largest orchid fair in Western Canada, a couple of handmade markets, and two Easter egg hunts: one in a historic location and the other for children with sight loss.

• March 31-April 2: Ukrainian Film Festival in Edmonton at Metro Cinema
• March 31-April 2: 43rd Annual Orchid Fair at the Enjoy Centre
• April 1, 11am: ACUA Ukrainian Easter Market at the Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts
• April 1-2: Wholly Handmade at the Strathcona County Community Centre
• April 2, 12pm: Easter Eggstravaganza at Rutherford House
• April 2, 1pm: Edmonton Beeping Eggs: Accessible Easter Egg Hunt at Emily Murphy Park

Find even more things to do in the Arts Roundup.

Photo: The Orchid Society of Alberta's annual fair offers a plant sale as well as plant-care sessions, art and photography, and an orchid competition. (Facebook)