P.E.I. bioscience industry answers call to battle coronavirus

Bioscience companies and their employees are flexing their research, development and manufacturing muscles to help in the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain).

P.E.I. companies and research teams are developing protective equipment and medical devices, products to strengthen human resistance to diseases, technologies to test if someone is or has been infected by coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) and technologies to give specialists an online view for remote diagnoses.

“Islanders will be amazed at the range and sophistication of the technologies that our bioscience companies are using to assist in the fight to detect, contain and treat the virus and its impacts,” said Rory Francis, P.E.I. BioAlliance CEO.

“While it's not business as usual for any business owner, our bioscience cluster members and other specialized manufacturers are not only maintaining their regular operations but are literally part of Canada’s response to the crisis.”

There are several P.E.I. companies helping in the fight, including BioVectra, which is manufacturing critical ingredients necessary for COVID-19 diagnostic kits across Canada and are producing surface and hand sanitizer for the province’s health system and other essential services in need;

Summerside's Quannessence Skincare, which has created QuannShield, a pocket-sized hand sanitizer that's a Health Canada-compliant sanitizing spray and Charlottetown's Somru BioScience, which is drawing on its antibody platform technology to assist in developing therapeutic and diagnostic solutions for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

The P.E.I. BioAlliance has reported that more than 1,300 of 1,500 private sector employees in the sector are working, as essential businesses in the bioscience sector have carefully developed protocols and screening tools that have allowed their workforce to continue to work safely on the job.

"Islanders can be proud of the collective efforts of P.E.I.'s bioscience community in helping Islanders and Canadians get through the current COVID-19 situation and better prepare us to prevent and respond to future infectious disease outbreaks," said Francis.

To learn about more Island companies lending their assistance to fighting coronavirus, visit theguardian.pe.ca.