2019 Global CEO Excellence Awards

24 CEO MONTHLY / GLOBAL CEO EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2019 , May19454 Canadian Plasma Resources (CPR) is a bio-pharmaceutical company, which collects high quality plasma fromhealthy donors and uses it tomanufactur life-saving therapies such as IVIG, albumin and clotting factors, which are used for treating a variety of health conditions. CEO Barzin Bahardoust talks us through the firmand the life-saving services it has to offer. Best Pharmaceutical Manufacturing CEO - Canada Created by Barzin Bahardoust, CPR uses plasma to save lives and create innovative treatments for patients around the world. Barzin begins by exploring how he came to establish the firm after noticing an issue in the existing plasma collection market. “Personally, I obtained my B.A.Sc. degree in Engineering Science with recognition from association of Professional Engineers of Ontario in 2003, my M.A.Sc. in Electrical Engineering in 2006 from University of Toronto, and my Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering with a focus in materials interface design in 2012 from University of Toronto. “Soon after, I co-founded Canadian Plasma Resources (CPR) to address the huge imbalance between the collection of source plasma in Canada and the patients’ need for plasma protein products. Since its inception I have been CEO and have worked hard to lead the company to constant growth and evolution. My engineering background and my post graduate degrees have helped me greatly with problem solving and improving processes along the way.” Having led the firm since its inception, Barzin understands the market and how his pioneering company is driving change, a topic which he is keen to discuss further. “The plasma protein industry has been expanding very rapidly. The overall market is doubling every 7-8 years reaching almost $45 Billion by 2023. Furthermore, most of this plasma is collected in the US. The US is accounting for almost 80% of all plasma used by the fractionation industry worldwide and this over reliance on one country to supply the rest of the world in our view is not sustainable and is a threat to the long-term security of supply for patients. “As a result, CPR is aiming to change this by collecting our plasma in Canada. Since we are the first commercial Canadian company that has been licensed by Health Canada to collect human source plasma for further manufacturing and enter the almost $2 Billion a year blood/ plasma market in Canada there has been a lot of push back from certain lobbies that would like to reverse these changes, keep the status quo and the monopolies that existed for collection and distribution of blood products in Canada for many years. Therefore, a large part of my work has been involved with creating awareness regarding the need for plasma and having discussions with different levels of the government as well as the media about Canada’s lack of supply. “The opportunities in Canada are enormous. We have some of the safest donors in the world and Health Canada’s high standards mean that Canadian plasma not only can help meet patient demand in Canada, like our neighbors in the US, one day Canada can be huge net contributor of therapies globally and this should be a source of pride for our donors knowing that their contributions are helping save lives around the world and regardless of the patients’ nationality or ethnicity.” Seeking to take advantage of these opportunities, moving forward Barzin and the team at CPR will be undertaking a range of new projects and working to disrupt the existing plasma collection market, as Barzin is proud to conclude. “Overall, the future looks bright for CPR. We have recently been granted an approval to allow donors to safely donate more plasma. For the first time in Canada donors will be able to donate up to twice a week and up to 104 times a year. This change effectively removes the last regulatory advantage the US collectors had over CPR. We are also implementing an entirely paperless blood bank information system which will make the process much more efficient for donors and our staff. “With these new efficiencies and trust in our well trained and knowledgeable team members we are expanding our network of centres in Canada from 2 to 10 in the next 3-4 years. We also plan to partner and execute different plasma collection projects in jurisdictions outside of Canada and in particular in the Americas, central Europe and Asia. These developments will drive my company to even greater success and I am proud to be leading it into a new era for plasma collection.” Company: Canadian Plasma Resources Corporation Name: Barzin Bahardoust Address: 1222 Quebec Ave, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 1V2, Canada Telephone: +1-416-857-7134 Web: www.giveplasma.ca Barzin Bahardoust, Canadian Plasma Resources Corporation