Last week (11 Jun 2001), The Swiss pharmaceutical company Debio group established North American operations with government partner SGF Sante to form H3 BIODE (H3), a pharmaceutical products development company in Montreal, Canada. H3 will specialise in pharmaceutical products and medical devices through the identification, purchase, development and assignment of licences. This new company is valued at CND $50 million. The Debio group will be injecting up to CND $5 million in financing and sharing revenue generated by products developed for the North American market. President of the Debio group, Dr Rolland-Yves Mauvernay, said that establishing H3 in Montreal was a natural step for the development of the Debio group in North America. "This is an important phase in the company's expansion in North America. It is no accident that H3, a Debio group subsidiary, has chosen Montreal as its base of operations in North America, notably to take advantage of Quebec's pool of research scientists and dynamic biopharmaceutical sector." Claude Blanchet, president of the SGF, affirms that the interest is mutual and that Quebec's biopharmaceutical industry will benefit from the activities of H3. Visit:

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