LEADERSHIP
Albert D. Friesen, PhD - Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Albert D. Friesen is a founder and the CEO of CanAm Bioresearch. He received his Ph.D. in protein chemistry from the University of Manitoba, and his experience in developing a variety of early-stage biotech companies has been fundamental to CanAm’s success. Dr. Friesen’s vision guides CanAm’s focus of assisting small molecule start-up companies in their experience and infrastructure, getting them started with minimal financial resources and rapid medicinal chemistry. Dr. Friesen seeks to assist other companies in accelerating drug discovery, turning ideas into leads, to pre-clinical, and through clinical development.
He is also the founder of Medicure Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company and currently serves as CEO and Board Chair. Dr. Friesen has been instrumental in the founding, start up and development of several life science companies, including ABI Biotechnology (which became Apotex Fermentation), Canada's first profitable biotech company, and the Winnipeg Rh Institute, where he led the development of Canada's first biotech product, WinRho. He has also played a key role in a number of regional and national organizations, including a founder and first Board of Director Chair of the Industrial Biotechnology Association of Canada (now BIOTECanada).
Marcus Enns, President
Marcus Enns is the President of CanAm Bioresearch, a position he has held since 2003. Mr. Enns previously worked in the banking industry before transitioning to the life sciences industry. With a degree in finance from the University of Manitoba, Mr. Enns possesses significant experience in financial management. In his role at CanAm, Mr. Enns seeks to positively contribute to the company’s culture of integrity and works to motivate the chemistry team and support staff.
Mr. Enns also currently holds senior management positions with life sciences consulting firm GVI Clinical Development Solutions Inc., where he oversees treasury and contracting functions and specialty pharma company Medicure Inc., where he plays a major role in corporate governance.
SCIENTIFIC TEAM
The main core of the research team includes all-PhD organic and medicinal chemists, with years of experience in synthetic chemistry and:
Skilled in the art of medicinal chemistry and organic synthesis
Experienced in full-time-equivalent and/or fee-for-service projects
Able to carry out multiple synthetic routes simultaneously, working on multiple target compounds
Able to develop and optimize new synthetic routes, and trouble-shoot potential synthetic hurdles
Work as a team with other chemists within your project, sharing technical knowledge and common intermediates whenever possible in order to gain in efficiency and productivity
Able to communicate fluently in English, presenting directly to you via reports and/or during regular video-conference meetings, and always accessible via email
A PhD analytical chemist with years of hand-on experience in HPLC, LC-MS/MS and skilled in purity determination, impurity identification, solubility testing, stability studies and ADME analysis.
The scientific team is also assisted by a skilled and trained support staff including a lab manager, lab coordinator and lab assistant, tasked to handle logistics and operational support for the laboratory.
