Virica Biotech is leading the charge to make gene therapies and viral medicines more accessible with their breakthrough technology
Ella Korets-Smith is having a hectic morning, busily working on a big grant for Virica Biotech, an Ottawa-based medical sciences startup she cofounded that uses breakthrough biotechnology to enhance the production of viruses for the benefit of disease-fighting gene therapies. And while the company’s goal is simple—they aim to make viral medicines and cell therapies less expensive and easier to produce, which would ultimately see more patients access life-saving treatments—the science can be puzzling, especially when you don’t have a background in biotechnology.
Originally published in Ottawa Founders, Ottawa Business Journal , a column prepared by the Capital Angel Network celebrating CAN Portfolio leaders envisioning the future.
By Suzanne Grant
Virca was founded in 2018 by Korets-Smith, Ken Newport (Virica’s executive chairman) and Dr. Jean-Simon Diallo (CEO and scientific founder), and the premise of the company is based on more than 10 years of research in Dr. Diallo’s lab at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He had been studying oncolytic viral therapies (OVT—oncolytic viruses thrive inside cancer cells, and OVT is an immunotherapy that uses viruses to kill cancer cells) and developed small molecules called viral sensitizers (VSEs) to boost the efficacy of OVTs. He recognized how vital these VSEs could be for gene therapies, and how they could play a role in fighting other diseases.
Although Dr. Diallo isn’t a fan of this metaphor, what the company does is perhaps most easily explained this way: Virica makes fertilizer for viruses. “That’s a visual I like, because everyone knows what fertilizer is, and we’re essentially trying to grow more virus from the same amount of material,” says Korets-Smith. Inactivated viruses stimulate the immune system and can deliver healthy genes into our cells to treat disease. “Our VSEs help cells become more friendly to the virus, so we can get more in both quality and quantity at the end of the day,” she says. “It allows us to make more virus from the same number of cells, and that’s important, because the cost of producing gene therapies and vaccines is extremely high, and the scale at which they need to be produced is not enough to supply the world. The sheer amount of material you need for these treatments is huge, and if we can make them more efficiently in less time, more people can be treated. We’re trying to improve the world’s ability to utilize these therapies.” Virica’s solution to “democratize gene therapy” will benefit countless patients, including those with rare hereditary diseases like hemophilia B, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and sickle cell disease.
Viruses and vaccines have been even more relevant over the last four years with the onset and progression of COVID-19, not just with the public, but also with the government and investors. “The pandemic educated everyone about vaccines, biotechnology and pharmacology in a way that hadn’t been done before. It changed public perception, increased awareness about the value of vaccines and reinforced why we need to fund important research when it comes to viruses,” she says. In 2022, Virica announced a collaboration with the Government of Canada, and last year, the company confirmed its involvement in the Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Hub (a federal-government-funded multidisciplinary research hub created to grow a strong biomanufacturing sector). They have also benefitted from the upswing in interest from investors exploring biotech startups, and have already raised millions to scale its technology. “We raised our series A and B rounds with large venture groups, but before that, we were just three founders trying to get the company off the ground. That’s why the support of angel groups like Ottawa-based Capital Angel Network (CAN) has been so instrumental,” she says. “Angels have played a really important role—they’re what gave us the working capital to get going. Without that, we wouldn’t have gotten our first customers, we wouldn’t have been able to supply them with material and we wouldn’t have been able to close our series A. Angels have made introductions and have offered to meet and help wherever they can as we close our current financing round. Engagement is there, and we’ve made many personal connections.”
Korets-Smith says Virica is now at the point where customers (they currently have more than 50) are starting to scale and use their products. “We’re seeing VSEs do what we thought they’d do, and I’m looking forward to some of our clients taking the product through regulatory agencies (like Health Canada) and into the clinic this year. That would validate the regulatory path for our clients going forward and it’s a big step—it will be a milestone for us.” In the meantime, the demand for this exceptionally crucial technology is growing, and so is Virica. With a team of 30 (and growing), the founders are showcasing their VSE platform across North America and overseas, plus they’re expanding their labs in Ottawa. “It’s a great time. As an entrepreneur, it’s all about working with likeminded people who are passionate about what they do. With Virica, the technology is there, and I trust what I’m selling,” she says. “I love building things—it energizes me, and so does the creativity that comes with uncertainty. Seeing this grow has been really exciting.”
Suzanne Grant is an entrepreneur who has built bootstrapped and equity-financed businesses in Canada, Australia and Qatar. Today, she supports business growth and positioning while sharing insights to demystify early-stage fundraising. Grant leads the Capital Angel Network as executive director.