Progression of Quebec’s world-class Early Clinical Research Ecosystem

Merck Canada provides financial and expert support to CATALIS

MONTREAL, Quebec (May 9, 2018) – CATALIS is proud to announce that Merck Canada confirms financial and expert support for its early clinical research initiative. This support from Merck Canada contributes to the promotion of this world-class field of research in Quebec.

“At Merck Canada, we already work with many of Quebec’s early clinical research centers that collaborate with CATALIS and are renowned for their excellence. With this financial and expert support to CATALIS, we want to help maintain and raise the standards of quality and performance of these government mandated centers”, said Anna Van Acker, President and CEO of Merck Canada.

Launched last summer at BIO, CATALIS is supported by the Government of Quebec and other private companies. Merck Canada will, among other things, collaborate with CATALIS’s three founding academic centers: the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) and the Sainte-Justine Mother and Child University Hospital Center (CHU Sainte-Justine). Other institutions in Quebec will soon join the CATALIS initiative as well.

“Since CATALIS aims to bring together the strengths of the leading life science players in clinical research, we are excited to see Merck’s expertise enriching our network. Merck’s contribution is essential to creating a favorable and highly competitive environment for early clinical research in Quebec”, said Danika Laberge, General Director of CATALIS.

“CQDM has been mandated by the Ministry of Economy, Science and Innovation to start the CATALIS initiative. We are very proud to have contributed to this success and we are delighted to see Merck’s support for CATALIS come to fruition”, said Diane Gosselin, President and CEO of CQDM.

About CATALIS

CATALIS is the materialization of the early stage clinical trials (ESCT) initiative, a vast project initiated by Montréal InVivo and its members to position Quebec as a global leader in clinical research. The CATALIS initiative is financially supported by the Québec government through “Quebec Life Sciences Strategy 2017-2027“, and by the following organizations: GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Takeda, Abbvie, Merck, Servier, The Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS), and Innovative Medicines Canada. In order to achieve its objectives of doubling private investments in early clinical research in Quebec by 2022, CATALIS has developed, with its partners, a 5-year plan that focuses on healthcare institutions operational excellence, as well as promotion of their expertise internationally.

For more information on this vast project, visit www.catalisquebec.com.

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Information

Danika Laberge

General Director

dlaberge@catalisquebec.com

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