The city is saving a local medical start-up from bankruptcy the mayor says.
City council agreed to a $500,000 emergency grant for Lake Superior Centre for Regenerative Medicine to help the not-for-profit company continue its business plan. Right now the company’s seven employees are making $200 a week and its CEO isn’t getting paid at all mayor Keith Hobbs said.
"If this infusion didn’t happen I think they’d be looking at bankruptcy," Hobbs said.
The company’s plan, which could see them harvest up to 200 donors a year for bone and tissue, has the potential to make millions of dollars. But the process to register and certify the company took three years. The province eventually approved the idea but it took too long, which Hobbs said was disappointing.
"It was a little bit too late. Their cash flows just weren’t there to keep afloat so they needed bailing out," Hobbs said.
The city will receive monthly updates on the company’s progress.
"We’re going to keep a real close eye on this," Hobbs said.
The tissue bank received its designation to harvest bodies in Ontario in March.
