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SPRING 2018 43 Botulism, Anthrax, Ebola — most of us don't spend much time thinking about such perils. But at Emergent BioSolutions, developing and manufacturing products to protect global populations from biological, chemical and infectious disease threats is all in a day's work. The Winnipeg facility, formerly Cangene, specializes in plasma-derived products called hyperimmunes, relying on a patented manufacturing process developed in the 1960s by Dr. Bruce Chown and Dr. Jack Bowman to treat hemolytic disease of the newborn, which occurs when mothers with Rh- negative blood are carrying Rh-positive babies. Using plasma collected from donors who have been stimulated to have an immune response and develop antibodies to fight specific diseases, Emergent creates therapeutics to treat patients who are suffering from those diseases. Chown and Bowman were named officers of the Order of Canada after they created a prenatal blood product called WinRHO — the Win stands for Winnipeg — that is administered to pregnant women in Canada and other countries to safeguard their babies from the potentially fatal disease. While relatively few Manitobans are aware of its history, the treatment has impacted multiple generations of families, a fact that was brought home to Emergent BioSolutions Winnipeg vice-president and general manager Mark Lobe fairly recently. He says a high school student contacted the company when she was working on a class report about science in Manitoba. "It turns out that her mother was a WinRHO baby, meaning her grandmother was treated with WinRHO to give birth to her mom, who subsequently gave birth to her. And the grandmother knew Dr. Bowman, so I thought it was a really hit-home full circle," Lobe says. "We still use that platform today to make all of the other products that we make … anthrax and smallpox products and a modified platform to make the botulism product." It's the same platform the company is using to develop two new hyperimmunes, for flu and mosquito-borne Zika virus. In theory, plasma from donors who receive an annual flu vaccine could be used to create a therapeutic to alleviate the severity of the illness, a development that would be particularly welcome in the case of a flu pandemic. Since there is no vaccine for Zika — Emergent is working on one — plasma must come from donors who have been exposed to the virus naturally, and who have developed antibodies to fight it. Named the Bioscience Association of Manitoba (BAM) Life Science Company of the Year, Emergent has a goal to protect and enhance 50 million lives by 2025. Founded in Michigan in 1998, the company started out with one product, an anthrax vaccine, and now has 13 global locations and eight products, thanks to an aggressive mergers and acquisitions strategy that led it to Winnipeg in 2014. Emergent had long been interested in Cangene, which was founded in 1984. Through the acquisition, it was able to enhance its manufacturing capabilities and diversify its product line. In turn, the Winnipeg facility has benefitted from significant investments in new equipment, technology and talent. Since the acquisition, the number of local employees has grown from about 250 to 350. Most are born-and- raised Manitobans and they play a multitude of roles, from engineers and scientists to accountants, human resources and information technology specialists, PROTECTING THE WORLD Emergent BioSolutions targets threats on a global scale CONTINUED >>

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