Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> January 10, 2005
GRAEME MCRAE is President and Chief Executive Officer of Bioniche Life
Sciences Inc. Mr. McRae worked in sales and managerial positions in the
pharmaceutical industry, first in Australia and later in Canada. After
spending four years in Canada, Mr. McRae thought that Canada was an
ideal place to start a biopharmaceutical company. He founded Vetrepharm
Animal Health in 1979 to focus on the research and development of
products to improve the health of animals. His keen interest in the
environment was a dominating force behind the founding of Vetrepharm,
where his mission was the development of non-antibiotic solutions for
animal health problems. After 13 years, it became clear that the
technologies that were developed for animal health applications at
Vetrepharm could be used for human health also. Thus, in 1992, Mr. McRae
founded Bioniche Inc. to develop Vetrepharm's technologies for human
health applications. In 1999, all of the McRae-led companies were merged
to become Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., the name by which the company is
known today. Under Mr. McRae's leadership and with his vision, Bioniche
has grown to employ more than 300 qualified personnel through four
operating business units: Bioniche Animal Health, Bioniche Pharma Group,
Bioniche Therapeutics, and Bioniche Food Safety. The company's corporate
head offices and some production facilities are located in Belleville,
and branch offices and/or further production facilities can be found in
Montreal, Quebec; Athens, Georgia; Geneva, Switzerland; Armidale,
Australia; Pullman, Washington; and Galway, Ireland. Mr. McRae has
developed a talent for analyzing technologies at an early stage and
determining their commercial viability. With his team of experts at
Bioniche, he has managed several technologies through the extensive
research and regulatory hurdles involving investments of millions of
dollars to successful conclusion, ending in commercialization. Profile
Mr. McRae: Bioniche Life Sciences is an unusual company in that it is a
biotechnology company with more than one very solid platform in the
cancer field.
