How does a university spin-off company turn a vision about the potential of natural therapeutics into Canada’s most popular cold and flu remedy?
Ask Dr. Jacqueline Shan and she’ll have one word: evidence, evidence and more evidence. Dr. Shan is the Co-Founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Afexa Life Sciences Incorporated (formerly CV Technologies Inc.), a spin-off company from the University of Alberta in 1992. She presented the company’s story – and the phenomenal growth of its lead product, COLD-FX®, which she co-discovered – as part of the MaRS Peer-to-Peer series in spring 2009. “An evidence-based approach is what sets the company apart and Dr. Shan is the architect of that core strategy,” said Veronika Litinski, who works with dozens of promising life sciences companies as a MaRS advisor. “Dr. Shan not only believed in the product and the company’s technology for extracting and preserving the active ingredient in COLD-FX® but she really worked hard to gather the evidence to support the clinical effects.” Dr. Shan helped Afexa set the original vision: to be the leader in discovering, developing and commercializ
