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Local tech firms big players at conference

You might think a small contingent of 35 members of Manitoba's technology sector would get lost in the shuffle of the 17,000 impossibly smart and successful people attending this year's annual international BIO International convention in San Diego.

But in keeping with the province's aspirations of hitting above its weight, Manitoba's delegation has become a regular presence at the major international industry event, showing up in numbers larger even than British Columbia's.

You don't hear about blockbuster deals getting done at BIO or major venture-capital investments, but over the years, Manitoba companies have used the opportunity of having potential partners, investors and collaborators in one place at one time to their advantage.

Gord Froehlich, the CEO of Kane Biotech, swears by the benefits of the conference.
His company has developed an antibiofilm technology that breaks down biofilms to allow antibiotics to kill bacteria.

Kane is a very small company that cannot fund on its own all the development the technology needs for it to become commercialized. So it needs to partner with other larger players who can do some of that work, which then can lead to commercial partnerships in the future.

"We're looking for distributors or companies to license our technology," he said. "We are a small company, but this event gives us the chance to fluff our feathers a bit and talk one on one with business-development people from larger companies who might be looking for a unique technology to fill a particular hole in their own portfolio."

Kane has already commercially released an oral-pet-care formulation of their technology, but Froehlich also knows the technology can be used for wound care, hard-surface disinfection and human oral care.
The progress of development of Kane's technology is an interesting snapshot of the maturation the provincial biotech sector has experienced.

for more information, go to:  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/local-tech-firms-big-players-at-conference-264696371.html

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