UHN partners with Providence Therapeutics to develop new mRNA medicines

(Toronto, June 2, 2023) - University Health Network (UHN), Canada's largest research hospital and medical innovation centre, today announced a drug discovery partnership with Providence Therapeutics, a leading Canadian biopharmaceutical company developing messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines and therapeutics.

UHN and Providence will partner to develop novel mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics for those living with difficult to treat cancers and infectious diseases. The partnership will draw on UHN's renowned clinical research and discovery capabilities, as well as Providence's proprietary, clinically validated mRNA platform technology, with commercialization efforts led by Commercialization at UHN. The product development and subsequent manufacturing will be done in Canada, thereby directly benefiting Canadian patients.

This collaboration will also help position Ontario as a major hub for the development of new mRNA-based therapeutics. Programs developed through this partnership aim to produce affordable medicines for Canadians.

"Our partnership with Providence demonstrates the strength of discovery research at the University Health Network and our potential to fuel innovative therapeutic options for patients, addressing some of today's top health concerns," says Brad Wouters, Executive Vice President, Science and Research, University Health Network. "This partnership will help us get homegrown treatments to patients faster and is a key path forward for research discoveries to evolve into new medical therapies."

"This partnership will allow us to continue to develop immunotherapy as a breakthrough strategy in cancer treatment, and paves the way for new therapeutic options for other diseases," says Pamela Ohashi, Director, Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network. "mRNA technology is a novel and powerful tool to improve cancer therapies and we expect to be able to test initial impact of new therapeutic options in clinical trials as early as next year."

"The launch of this collaboration marks an important milestone for our company, as we work with the top research hospital network in Canada to demonstrate the potential of our mRNA platform technology and develop novel cancer and infectious disease vaccines and therapeutics for patients," says Brad Sorenson, MBA, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Providence Therapeutics. "We are proud to have support from UHN as our partner and draw upon their renowned clinical research and discovery expertise and resources. We look forward to bringing safe and effective treatment options to Canadians."

About University Health Network

University Health Network consists of Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospitals, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and The Michener Institute of Education at UHN. The scope of research and complexity of cases at University Health Network has made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. It has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in cardiology, transplantation, neurosciences, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. University Health Network is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. For more information: www.uhn.ca

About Commercialization at UHN

Enabling and leading industry partnerships at UHN, Commercialization at UHN is UHN's catalyst for accelerating its world-class research and innovation into medical products, devices and therapies that improve care for patients around the world. This is how we create a healthier world. For more information: www.uhncommercialization.ca

Watch our commercialization success story: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYMSkVYMEJlLGAikS-qhhFw

About Providence Therapeutics

Providence is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering mRNA therapeutics and vaccines with a focus on infectious diseases and oncology. Initially founded as a cancer vaccines company in 2015, in response to a worldwide need for a COVID-19 vaccine, Providence expanded its focus beyond oncology therapies to develop an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. Providence works with multiple industry collaborators, universities, nongovernmental agencies and multiple arms of the Government of Canada to discover and develop vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases and cancer. This has resulted in the development of an mRNA vaccine platform that includes a proprietary design algorithm and proprietary, scalable manufacturing processes. For more information: providencetherapeutics.com