Sherry Romanado, Member of Parliament for Longueuil-Charles-LeMoyne, is proud that a South Shore company will be receiving up to $54.2 million in federal funding to help advance made-in-Canada vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19 and strengthen Canada’s biomanufacturing capacity.

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced last week major investments in Canadian firms through the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), which will collectively serve to strengthen biomanufacturing and drug development capacity in Canada.

KABS Laboratories Inc. will receive a contribution of up to $54.2 million for the expansion of its Saint-Hubert facility and the establishment of a new facility in Val-des-Sources, both in Quebec. The expansion of its Saint-Hubert facility will allow for additional fill and finish capacity to exceed 30 million vials per year. Meanwhile, the new facility in Val-des-Sources will house bioprocessing and testing equipment to offer new antibody manufacturing capacity. As a result, KABS Laboratories will be able to produce monoclonal antibody therapies in Val-des-Sources and then fill and package them in Saint-Hubert.

The SIF investment in KABS Laboratories will help support an $84.8-million project and create 40 new highly skilled jobs while maintaining 140 existing jobs.

“I am very happy that a local business is receiving this financial assistance from our government. An investment like this will create new jobs and accelerate the development of medical countermeasures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies, such as KABS Laboratories, have demonstrated a remarkable capacity for mobilization in response to COVID-19 and I am very proud of that,” said Ms. Romanado.

To date, the Government of Canada has invested approximately $1 billion to advance industrial research and development in vaccines and pharmaceuticals, as well as biomanufacturing capacity.