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OTTAWA — The federal government is not contemplating making an investment in acquiring shares in the nation’s only manufacturer of COVID-19 vaccines, but it is “working on a solution” with Medicago’s parent company.
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, was in Japan for a week, touting Canada as a place for the production of electric cars and the batteries that power them.
During his meeting with the presidents of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma and Mitsubishi Chemical, which has a 79% stake in Medicago, Mr. Champagne said there were discussions about the company’s long-term as a global vaccine manufacturer.
Its biopharmaceutical vaccine was rejected by the WHO because tobacco company Philip Morris is a minority shareholder and the UN firm has a strict policy of engagement with the tobacco industry.
The Covifenz vaccine was licensed through Health Canada in February for adults aged 18 to 64, and the federal government signed a contract to purchase up to 76 million doses with vaccine donation plans to low-income countries.
But donations are allowed without WHO approval.
Champagne says the government is working with the company to make Medicago “a leader in health. “
But that doesn’t come with buying stocks right now.
“In what we’ve been looking for with medicago, as we’ve seen, we’ve already invested in its (research and development) capacity, its production capacity,” Champagne said.
“We’ll see what it would be like to make Medicago a world champion. “
Mitsubishi has approached the Quebec government so that Medicago’s vaccines “can be accepted by the WHO and publicized on a large scale,” according to an access in the Quebec Registry of Lobthroughists.
“The nature, form and amount of the investment is unknown,” the company said in the filing.
Quebec Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon said in June that he was in talks with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma executives to break the deadlock, but that the Japanese company will first have to negotiate to buy Philip Morris’ stake.
This report through The Canadian Press was first published on July 7, 2022.
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