CANADA'S R&D DRUG FIRMS BACK IN FAVOR

Canada's embryonic research-based drug industry - including companies such as Cangene, Biomira and Allelix - was full of promise and was well accepted by investors and the stock markets two years ago. However, the failure of Centocor to get US approval for marketingits anti-sepsis drug Centoxin sent the biotechnology sector crashing, despite a bull market.

Companies in Canada saw their market capitalization halved, says Ann Gibbon writing in the Toronto daily The Globe and Mail. However, she says, although investors got badly burnt, they are now cautiously returning, noting that while the sector was being spurned it continued with its developmental work, and several companies are now moving towards regulatory approval of their products.

The back-to-favor movement has been fueled not only by factors which first created interest, like the aging population, consumer demand for the best health care and urgent needs such as AIDS (all of which are still with us), but also events on both sides of the Canada/USA border.