> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Providence Therapeutics - URL: https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/providence-therapeutics/ - Published: 1999-01-02T22:47:00.000Z - Updated: 2025-07-15T23:55:41.000Z - Author: Liam Sturgess - Tags: Profiles, #docs, #organization **Providence Therapeutics Holdings Inc.** is a Canadian biotechnology company based in Calgary, Alberta, with additional operations in Toronto, Ontario. The company specializes in messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines.[\[1\]](#fn1) ## History Providence was founded in 2015 in order to develop vaccines targeting cancer. ### COVID-19 In April 2020, Providence created a fully “made-in-Canada” mRNA COVID-19 vaccine called PTX-COVID19-B.[\[2\]](#fn2) The company collaborated with [Northern RNA](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Northern-RNA), another Canadian biotechnology company, which provided the “basic building blocks” of RNA for Providence's vaccine product.[\[3\]](#fn3) Preclinical trials, including animal trials, were performed by Mario Ostrowski at the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science at St. Michael's Hospital, in collaboration with the University of Toronto.[\[4\]](#fn4) By August 2020, Providence reported positive results from animal trials and urged the Canadian government to provide funding for human trials.[\[5\]](#fn5) On January 21, 2021, Providence and Northern RNA received a $5,050,000 grant from the [Government of Canada](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Government-of-Canada) through the [Global Innovation Clusters](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Global-Innovation-Clusters) initiative to "develop a made-in-Canada COVID-19 mRNA vaccine" and "establish mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity within Canada and build a raw material supply chain that supports an exciting new industry."[\[6\]](#fn6) On January 26, 2021, Providence announced that it had begun Phase I clinical trials for its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate, manufactured in partnership with Northern RNA, which provided the "basic building blocks" of RNA for the product.[\[7\]](#fn7)[\[3:1\]](#fn3) In April 2021, Providence founder Brad Sorenson announced he was fed up with the lack of support from the Canadian government and would be relocating operations overseas.[\[8\]](#fn8) On September 13, 2021, Providence announced that it had entered into two separate contracts with [Everest Medicines](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Everest-Medicines) to license rights to their mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidates to markets in China, Southeast Asia and Pakistan, and to establish a broader global partnership around the mRNA platform.[\[9\]](#fn9) ## Funding Pre-clinical trials for the Providence Therapeutics COVID-19 vaccine were funded by the [National Research Council Canada](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/National-Research-Council-Canada) (NRC), [Canadian Institutes of Health Research](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Canadian-Institutes-of-Health-Research) (CIHR), Ontario HIV Treatment Network, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, and the Juan and Stefania Speck fund for COVID-19 and other virus infections.[\[4:1\]](#fn4) Providence received a $5 million grant from the NRC in 2021, though the majority of its funding has been private.[\[3:2\]](#fn3) Founder Brad Sorenson alleged at the time that the company had already spent $10 million on developing its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. In November 2021, the [Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Bill-&-Melinda-Gates-Foundation) gave $2,118,334 to Providence Therapeutics to develop more cost-effective mRNA vaccines.[\[10\]](#fn10) ## Patents Providence's COVID-19 vaccine is based on patent CA3096009, filed October 9, 2020.[\[4:2\]](#fn4) Listed inventors are Eric Marcusson, Jumai Aeola Abioye, and Natalia Martin Orozco.[\[11\]](#fn11) ## Rumours On February 13, 2022, an article was published on Substack that claimed Canadian Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Justin-Trudeau) was a former or current owner of Providence, and as such, had profited greatly from the worldwide use of [COVID-19 vaccines](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/COVID-19-vaccine). The article alleged that Providence-related patents owned by the University of British Columbia (UBC) had been transferred into Trudeau's name (with the help of [Klaus Schwab](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Klaus-Schwab) and [Bill Gates](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Bill-Gates)), subsequently licensed to [Moderna](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Moderna) and [Pfizer](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Pfizer), and then sold to [Everest Medicines](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Everest-Medicines) in China.[\[12\]](#fn12) ## External links - [Campfire Wiki](https://www.campfire.wiki/doku.php?id=pharmaceutical%5Fcompanies:providence%5Ftherapeutics) - [Website](https://providencetherapeutics.com/) --- 1. *About Providence Therapeutics.* (2022). Providence Therapeutics. [↩︎](#fnref1) 2. *PTX–COVID19–B.* Providence Therapeutics. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from [↩︎](#fnref2) 3. Villani, M. (2021, February 2). *Providence Therapeutics seeking federal support for “made-in-Canada” COVID-19 vaccine.* CTV News Calgary. [↩︎](#fnref3) [↩︎](#fnref3:1) [↩︎](#fnref3:2) 4. Liu, J., Budylowski, P., Samson, R., Griffin, B. D., Babuadze, G., Rathod, B., Colwill, K., Abioye, J. A., Schwartz, J. A., Law, R., Yip, L., Ahn, S. K., Chau, S., Naghibosadat, M., Arita, Y., Hu, Q., Yue, F. Y., Banerjee, A., Hardy, W. R., & Mossman, K. (2022). Preclinical evaluation of a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine PTX-COVID19-B. *Science Advances, 8*(3). [↩︎](#fnref4) [↩︎](#fnref4:1) [↩︎](#fnref4:2) 5. Blanchfield, M., & The Canadian Press. (2020, August 5). *Canadian company urges human trials after COVID-19 vaccine results in mice.* Lethbridge News Now. [↩︎](#fnref5) 6. *Canada’s cluster projects: COVID-19 response.* (2022, August 19). Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. [↩︎](#fnref6) 7. Stephenson, A. (2021, January 26). *Made-in-Canada COVID vaccine to be manufactured in Calgary; clinical trials have now begun.* Calgary Herald. [↩︎](#fnref7) 8. Tasker, J. P. (2021, April 30). *COVID-19 vaccine maker Providence says it’s leaving Canada after calls for more federal support go unanswered.* CBC News. [↩︎](#fnref8) 9. Forester, N., Wong, N., Robinson, D., & Lococo, E. (2021, September 13). *Providence Therapeutics Enters into Comprehensive Agreements with Everest Medicines to Advance mRNA Vaccines and Therapies, including COVID-19 Vaccines, in Emerging Markets in Asia.* Providence Therapeutics. [↩︎](#fnref9) 10. *Providence Therapeutics.* (2021, November). Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. [↩︎](#fnref10) 11. *CA3107232 Compositions and methods for the prevention and/or treatment of COVID-19.* (2022, April 9). World Intellectual Property Organization. [↩︎](#fnref11) 12. bilbobitch. (2022, February 13). *Trudeau Recently Sold the mRNA Patents to China for $500M USD - Trudeau may have won the lottery.* Bilbobitch’s Newsletter; Substack. [↩︎](#fnref12)