#AccessAlberta Original Stories: Tevosol CEO Ron Mills
In our #AccessAlberta Interview series we chatted with transplant industry leader Ron Mills, CEO @ Tevosol. Ron discusses his decision to move from Chicago, a life sciences hub in the US, to Edmonton, Alberta to join a startup in the transplant industry.
Tevosol’s scientists have designed a new transplant machine that will not only transform the industry, but the entire out-of-body experience between donor and recipient. They have created a platform to keep donor lungs “alive” outside the body, increasing organ quality and availability for lifesaving transplants. The technology opens up the opportunity for regenerative medicine to deliver an endless supply of manufactured organs. Lab-grown. Bioprinted. Cryobanked. Transgenic.
Q: Can you go over a little bit of background on Tevosol, where did it all start, how did you end up at the University of Alberta?
Dr. Jayan Nagendran and Dr. Darren Freed met when they were both surgical residents at UAlberta. Following graduate and postgraduate studies that took them to Stanford (Nagendran), Cambridge (Freed) and elsewhere, they were attracted back by UAlberta’s transplant program.
Q: Where does Edmonton and the University of Alberta fit in the global transplant community?
Edmonton is a global leader in transplant. I've been in the transplantation industry for 20 years and had been to Edmonton half a dozen times before I came to work with Tevosol. Outside of Edmonton only Toronto is close, but in the world, even in lung transplantation, there is a long history of leadership and research here and we're in the top 10% in terms of volume.
“The University of Alberta Hospital is one of the largest multi-organ transplant programs in the world, not just in Canada,” said Freed. “As a consequence of being a very large-volume centre, there’s tremendous expertise that’s been established and there’s a rich history of research.”
Q: As a leader in the transplant industry, what made you make the move to Edmonton?
For me it was two things, the technology and the people.
I'm very familiar with existing technology in the industry and was looking for something transformative which Ex-Vivo Organ Support System (EVOSS) is. But more important were the two co-founders. Dr. Nagendran and Dr. Freed have a rare combination of talent. They have the clinical talent in terms of being great surgeons, they are brilliant clinician scientists and they understand the business/market/landscape and the gaps in the industry.
Q: Can you become a globally competitive company in the transplant industry in Edmonton? Have you considered having your technology manufactured in Alberta?
Edmonton has everything we need - research, engineering, design, leadership and support for commercialization. The ecosystem here has the talent and resources all the way through to assembly, packaging and exporting within the city limits.
A healthy startup ecosystem revolves around a great research university, supportive industry partners and robust government programs. UAlberta has a significant Life Sciences focus, and the life sciences community in Edmonton, and across the Province has allowed us to use our resources very efficiently. We have outsourced industrial design, engineering, software development, manufacturing, contract research etc. Our local manufacturer, Mountain Integrated Medical Devices, not only had the kind of expertise and manufacturing capabilities we needed, but they brought globally competitive insight into regulatory, quality and certifications that we didn’t have internally.
“Mountain Integrated Medical Devices (MIMD) is very excited to be a part of a growing medical device industry in Alberta. Companies like Tevosol, who are innovating and working hard every day to commercialize medical devices, are making great strides in building amazing life-saving technologies in our province. MIMD’s unique combination of manufacturing facility and our team’s expertise in all aspects of the device development lifecycle allow us to help our customers in any way that they may need to bring their medical device to the market!” - Jennifer Bisson, CEO @ MIMD
Q: Have Provincial and Federal government programs and Alberta Health Services (AHS) helped give Tevosol a competitive advantage?
Yes, absolutely. I come from Chicago's life sciences startup community and I am familiar with Houston’s, as well as some other hubs in the US. Alberta in comparison is amazingly generous, with incentive programs and support you really need early on. Tevosol has benefited from being a spin-out of UAlberta and the TEC Edmonton incubator. The University Hospital Foundation and AHS have allowed us to do things in the clinic early with prototypes, and supported work that our co-founder says is almost an ‘unfair advantage’ compared to other jurisdictions.
Additionally, provincial and federal tax credits and grants that we have accessed from the start have all added up and allowed us to get as far as we have with very little capital.
Q: What kind of challenges has Tevosol faced in Alberta?
Nothing that we wouldn't have faced cross-border. A lot of the capital for life science companies is in the US or elsewhere. Once you tell your story, once people get into the details, it's not a problem, but there is an initial barrier for a Canadian company trying to raise capital in the US. That's not an Alberta problem though that's a Canadian problem.
Having observed these things over the years though, funding is the last piece to fall into place in an emerging startup ecosystem, Alberta and Canada are getting there.
Q. What can we expect to see from Tevosol in 2021?
2021 will be a transformational year for us. The EVOSS Lung will complete product testing and certification and the EVOSS Heart is entering accelerated development. We will add engineering and tech staff for perfusate development, device assembly, and trial logistics and service. We expect to receive FDA Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) to commence our RECLAIM pivotal clinical trial. We also expect EVOSS Lung to receive Breakthrough Device Designation from FDA, and Edmonton (UofA) and Houston (TMC) organ preservation teams will start training and setting up for clinical trials and commercial pilots.
Tevosol will have more news mid-year about new funding and partnerships for 2022 product launch and global scale-up!
Mountain Integrated Medical Devices (MIMD) is a medical device subcontractor in Edmonton that was established in 1997. They offer a wide range of manufacturing, assembly and packaging capabilities for sterile and non-sterile product in controlled environments that range from warehouse to ISO Class 7 cleanrooms. They offer services such as prototyping, materials and parts sourcing, sterilization validation, & multiple levels of support for regulatory and quality requirements for medical devices.
Jennifer Bisson, CEO @ MIMD, has been in the medical device industry for over 20 years, with her background in engineering she has designed and built devices, worked with many start-up’s to commercialize new devices, and with the Notified Body – GMED in France for 15 years as a Lead Auditor, auditing medical device companies around the world.
If you are interested in hearing more about scaling startups in Alberta, please feel free to contact us at christy@newwestnetworks.ca or subscribe to our AccessAlberta newsletter here.