On May 31, 2024, a national research coalition led by the University of British Columbia (UBC) announced a $140 million Federal investment in Canada’s Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub (CIEBH) that will bolster domestic biotech sector, readiness to respond to future health threats.  

Collectively, the projects aimed to establish an end-to-end drug development pipeline that will enable Canada to mount a rapid 100-day response to emerging pandemic threats and other health challenges.

The CIEBH projects included: The creation of a new Advanced Therapeutics Manufacturing Facility on UBC’s Vancouver Campus — the first facility of its kind in Western Canada; AVENGER, an end-to-end drug development platform for RNA vaccines, based at UBC; PROGENITER, a development pipeline for antibody therapies, based at UBC; and The Bridge Research Consortium (formerly called the Social Sciences and Humanities Consortium), based at Simon Fraser University.