Biotechnology Focus Podcast

Ahead on Biotechnology Focus Radio : Bellus Health back in the game with a new therapeutic asset, BC Cancer Agency scientists make two breakthrough discoveries, and RepliCel Life Sciences gets by with a little help from its friends. We have this and more in store for you on this week’s show. Welcome to another episode of Biotechnology Focus Radio. I’m your host Shawn Lawrence, here to give you a rundown of this week’s top stories on the Canadian biotech scene.   Our first story this week takes us to CALGARY, AB where a team of Canadian physicians and researchers are believed to be the first in the world to have used gene therapy to treat a patient with Fabry disease, a rare inherited enzyme deficiency that can damage major organs and shorten lifespan. Specifically, people with the disease have a gene called GLA that doesn’t function as it should; as a result their bodies are unable to make the correct version of a particular enzyme that breaks down a fat called Gb3. A buildup of Gb3 can lead to problems in th