When speaking with Glycovax Pharma’s CEO, Mr. Dany Valiquette, we immediately understand that the biotech company, specialized in vaccine research and with operations in Montréal, Cuba, France and India, is driven by an undeniable desire to find an effective vaccination against today’s invisible enemy.

From the outset, Mr. Valiquette mentions that he is proud to count on the expertise of Dr. René Roy, an organic chemist specializing in glycobiology and carbohydrate chemistry and considered one of the best in the world in the field of
glycochemistry. Among his many achievements, he was involved
in the development of the world’s first semi-synthetic vaccine to fight bacterial infections causing meningitis in young children. This vaccine helped eradicate the disease in Cuba and has been administered to more than 65 million children worldwide. Dr. René Roy’s team has the expertise required to create glycoconjugate vaccines, which are of rare complexity. In fact, of the 125 or so vaccines in development worldwide, no glycoconjugate vaccine has yet been developed.

The company has been working on these types of vaccines since 2017 and may have found a way to fight COVID-19 without knowing it, should future test results come back positive. “In fact, it’s as if we started working on COVID-19 in 2017. We’re very confident that our vaccine will be effective, and we’ll soon know if our efforts can help on a larger scale,” he says.

Given that many of the world’s greatest discoveries have been made by chance, Glycovax Pharma could become internationally renowned and make history if the vaccine, once tested on humans, yields convincing results.

The COVID-19 experience

Unlike other companies interviewed in the context of the pandemic, Glycovax Pharma has continued the expansion already initiated prior to the health crisis. Indeed, their growth continues with the opening of a second laboratory in Montréal and the planned recruitment of eight to ten scientists in the upcoming months