Starting small with incentives and significant hardship, much needed medical devices and technology companies struggle to gain a foothold.

Publication: Buyside

Publication Date: 01-MAR-02

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COPYRIGHT 2002 Adams Business Media

Because of its relatively small size, the Canadian medical devices market hardly qualifies as a separate sector. It tends to be followed, almost as a sideline, by biotech analysts.

Much of Canada's biotech and medical device activity is clustered near universities in such cities as Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, mirroring a U.S. pattern of academically rooted entrepreneurialism.

Sheila Broughton, CFA, an equity analyst with Pacific International Securities, in Vancouver, says that such "centers of excellence" as the University of British Columbia have contributed valuable ideas and technology. "A lot of our companies still spin off from the universities," she says.

Vera Belaoussoff, a biotechnology analyst for Harris Partners in Toronto, notes that in Quebec there is additional incentive in the form of support from the provincial government for research-based companies.

The small size of the Canadian medical device and technology sector makes analysts cautious about making recommendations. So small are the companies. Broughton says, that they may...

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