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Fast-growing Edmonton startup helps get new drugs to market sooner
An Edmonton startup has become the world’s largest pharmaceutical knowledge database, through research that began at the University of Alberta.
DrugBank offers a one-stop shop for curated scientific data on thousands of drugs, including molecular details, chemical structures, targets and proteins, as well as clinical information on side-effects, interactions with other drugs, allergies, synonym names, availability and more. The company already has more than 20,000 drugs in its database, with a focus on approved drugs or those in clinical trials.
In just five years, the startup has become one of the fastest-growing in Edmonton, going from two employees in 2016 to a current count of 43. Revenue has increased 300 per cent and—despite the uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic—DrugBank’s fundraising round last year ended 20 per cent above target, with financial support from venture capitalists and angel investors.