BIOZYMES
ITS DISCOVERY WILL SCATTER ITS ENZYMES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

by Carole Towner

 
Second to the Scientific American Laboratories in North America, Biozymes is the sole company in Canada that produces pancreatine, but the only one in the world which knows the "recipe" of the manufacturing process that revolutionizes this product. Because of its discovery, this young Sainte-Foy SMSE has been awarded the Grand Prize "Relève et innovation technologique " and a grant of 15 000 $ during the Gala de l'exportation of the Salon international "Le Monde des Affaires" in September 1997.

Manufactured from animal biomass, the enzymes are sold as active ingredients for medication and natural products to be used in case of digestive problems. With this new technology perfected by two Doctors in microbiology, Moushine El Abboudi and Martin Beaulieu, they can now sell a high quality product. A Canadian and American scientific patent has been taken out in the Spring of 1997. Ecologists will be happy since, unlike the usual method of manufacturing, Biozymes uses no organic solvent (a toxic and explosive material). "It reduces the risk of leaks and emanation in the atmosphere", Dr. Abboudi says. "It's therefore more secure for the employees and the environment".

Associated with a third shareholder, Françis Bellavance, V.P. Marketing, the two researchers have a promising future before them and remain convinced that they will not be hurt by competition.

Normally secreted by the human body, pancreatine is essential to food digestion. Persons suffering from a lack of pancreatine, for instance those afflicted by kystic fibrosis, must absorb this substance daily in the form of medication. The product that Biozymes markets is indeed the active ingredient which is part of these medication found in the pharceutical sector (two-thirds) and the same ingredient included in natural products (one third). 80 % of the total production is exported. "We have already started to export in small quantities (a few hundred kilos), particularly in the United States", F. Bellavance says. He has, through IDEe-PME and the embassy network, began to hire international distributors and clients.

The domestic market -Canada - is too small to insure profitability when we are dealing with products intended for the manufacturing of medication.

 In the biotechnological sectors especially, we must aim at a more important market : export or perish! And the product needs to be quality made. It must respect the strictest of norms, particularly those of the United States implemented by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the equivalent of Health Canada. Once approved by the FDA, the product therefore becomes more credible, namely to the Europeans.

Specialized in the enzymes, Drs. El Abboudi and Beaulieu initiated their research in 1994 in a small laboratory rented at the Pavillon Comtois of Laval University. Thus "incubed", they had access to expensive equipment that a small enterprise starting in business would not have been able to afford. This project earned them a 5 000$ grant in expert advising by Samson, Bélair, Deloitte & Touche at the 1995 Gala Entrepreneuriat Laval. They also benefited from an office at the Centre de Recherche et de Développement agro-alimentaire de St-Hyacinthe (CRDA) where they were able to prepare the scaling of the product, that is to go from a hundred grams to many kilos thus assessing the product for commercial purposes. Holder of a degree in international business management, Françis Bellavance has joined the duo to start up the marketing strategy and the financing plans of the new SMSE.

Since the project's second phase (sell pancreatine commercially) had already began , the time had come to test the market so as to establish a pharmaceutical plant and to choose for that purpose a strategic site. The company has now decided to establish itself in Bernières, in the industrial park of St-Nicolas on the South Shore of Québec, in early 1998. The plant that will be built this Fall will follow financing that is currently in the final negotiating phase. "With the plant, we will be able to provide the equivalent of 75 metric tons, that is 75 000 kilos of pancreatine and pancrelipase yearly. We will begin with quantities of 20 to 30 tons for the first year to thereafter adjust production according to the needs of the market ", Mr. Abboudi says. Five employees will be added to the team soon and we can only hope that other enzymes will be produced and marketed by this young enterprise.