8 www.lexpert.ca
Feature
"One of the big
things in Canada
in the last two,
three years is really
the opening of an
IPO market."
"A hot cycle can
end abruptly. . . .
It favours those
companies in a hot
sector, but those
sectors can change
quickly."
Charles Chevrette
MCMILLAN LLP
Hector MacKay-Dunn
FARRIS LLP
Canadian ecosystem of tech financing that
was known as sub-optimal in Canada, and
that's in the process of being fixed because
of great transactions like this."
Life sciences tech surging
"e whole vaccine platform has grown,"
says MacKay-Dunn. "ere's a number of
companies that have been in that space
for a long time, but they're really crystal-
lized [now]. ey're the hot space when
it comes to biotech right now," he adds,
citing AbCellera and vaccine makers such as
Moderna and Pfizer.
e upswing in vaccine development is
due to the fight against the novel coronavirus
COVID-19, but the fact there will be other
viruses coming down the pipeline means "it's
not a one-hit wonder," he says. Companies
developing technolog y platforms now
will be ahead in quickly developing new
vaccines for new contagions. "It's now seen
to be more of a longer-term opportunity
with great upside. Biotechnolog y compa-
nies working in the vaccine and antibody
space are easily raising money."
Other life sciences and health-care sectors
that have seen increases in investments
include telehealth/ telemedicine, mental
health, stay-at-home health such as home
fitness apps and self-diagnosis, says Dellelce.
"Health management companies in those
areas are expanding and finding it easier to
attract capital," Dellelce says. "Anything that
lends itself well to staying at home has done
well" in the technolog y capital markets,
including online shopping sites and compa-
nies such as Peloton, which manufactures
high-end stationary bicycles with apps, that
enable activities to be performed at home.
Before the worldwide COVID outbreak,
there was little interest in patients talking
to their doctors online, says Firsten, but
"post-COVID, that will be the norm."
In September, Loblaw Companies Ltd.
announced that its wholly owned subsidiary
Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. would invest $75
million in Maple Corporation, a Canadian
virtual care/telemedicine provider, in
exchange for a material minority stake in
the company. Firsten acted on that deal
and sees it as being the future of health-care
provision.
"Corporations are going to engage these
telehealth companies, and your health bene-
fits are going to go online; you're not going
to go to the doctor anymore." Telehealth
will allow patients to see and talk to doctors
online in a FaceTime-like experience and
get a prescription without ever visiting a
doctor's office, he says.
"ey'll be aligned with a drugstore;
they'll send you the prescription. at's
where the world is going.
. . . at's a post-COVID norm, whereas
pre-COVID, it wasn't necessarily socially
accepted yet."
The psychedelics biotechnolog y
sector is also strong , says MacKay-Dunn.
Psychedelics are compounds to treat
mental illness such as anxiety, post-trau-
matic stress disorder and depression,
using previously illegal substances such
as LSD, magic mushrooms and methy-
lenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA),
a psychoactive drug commonly known
as ecstasy or molly. Companies such as
Mind Medicine (MindMed), backed by
television personality Kevin O'Leary
and trading on the NEO exchange, Mind
