The Medicago complex is sold for $17M

Abandoned for almost two years, the stillborn complex of the defunct pharmaceutical company Medicago, in Quebec, has just been sold to a group of investors from the province for $17 million, we have learned The Journal.

Announced with great fanfare in 2015, the construction of this factory, worth $245 million in Beauport, was originally intended to accommodate the company’s vaccine research and manufacturing activities.

This was before the World Health Organization (WHO) caused a commotion by rejecting its Covid-19 vaccine, Covifenz, and that its controlling shareholder, the Japanese Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, announced the complete end of its activities, thereby causing hundreds of layoffs.

According to the deed of sale, signed before a notary on 1^is last November, the brand new building, with an area of ​​700,000 sq. ft.² on a plot of land of almost a million square feet²was sold for $17 million, following an offer accepted on August 29.

The complex, located at 2300 avenue D’Estimauville, was purchased by a newly formed limited partnership (2300 Estimauville SEC), controlled by two entrepreneurs: Hugues Harvey, president of Harvey Corp, and Marc LeBel, founder of Anapharm and former president of NuChem Sciences.

Their objective: to bring this building back to life by attempting to create a new life sciences hub, capable of hosting multiple companies in the field (pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical equipment, incubators and public organizations in the health field) .

In an interview, Hugues Harvey confirmed the news, while being relatively sparing of details regarding the names of the companies that could decide to establish themselves there. “We are having serious discussions with several customers. But I can’t tell you more at the moment.”

However, the entrepreneur said he planned “tens of millions of dollars” of investments to carry out work and ensure that the project as imagined comes to fruition. This redevelopment work will be launched at the beginning of 2025 with a view to welcoming the first tenants from 2026.

Finally, the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, said he could only applaud this outcome. “I am delighted that the efforts of recent years are bearing fruit. […] The City will actively support the investments necessary to revive activities and stimulate this sector of the city.”

The end of an era

The sale of this important building completes, for all practical purposes, the transfer or distribution operation of Medicago’s remaining assets in Quebec.

For the record, we will remember that a little over a year ago, the former Médicago head office, in the Québec-Métropolitain technology park, was sold for $1 to Aramis Biotechnologies, a holding company owned by investor Frédéric Ors.

At the same time, the main laboratory run by Medicago, on the Route de l’Église, and more than 600 of its scientific instruments, were sold to Linearis, an investment fund in artificial intelligence in the health field, owned by Alexandre Le Bouthillier.

► The land on which the Medicago facilities were built in Beauport was sold to the company by the City of Quebec in 2015 for $4.66 million. On the last municipal assessment roll, the same property – including buildings – was assigned a value of $47 million, down 40% (or $32 million) compared to its previous assessment of 79, $1 million.

With the collaboration of Philippe Langlois, from the Bureau of Investigation, and Diane Tremblay, Le Journal de Québec.

THE MEDICAGO SAGA IN A FEW DATES

1997

■ R&D in the laboratories of Laval University and Agriculture Canada.

1999

■ Constitution of the Medicago company.

2003

■ Quebec grants a loan of $15.3 million to Medicago.

2006

■ Medicago completes its initial public offering and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.

2011

■ Medicago creates Medicago USA and builds a factory in North Carolina.

2013

■ Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma buys Medicago for $357 million. The company is privatized.

2015

■ Quebec grants a $74.5 million loan to Mitsubishi for the construction of a new factory in Quebec.

2020

■ Quebec awards a $7 million grant to Medicago for the development of a vaccine against COVID-19.

2020

■ Ottawa provides $173 million in funding to Medicago for the production of 76 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

February 2022

■ Health Canada approves the Covifenz vaccine.

Mars 2022

■ The World Health Organization rejects Medicago’s vaccine.

September 2022

■ Tobacco company Philip Morris sells its 21% stake in Medicago.

February 2023

■ Medicago closes its doors. Hundreds of workers are losing their jobs.