  Photography by: Brock Kryton  Photography by: Brock Kryton When I arrived at the offices of Fedora Pharmaceuticals Inc. for the scheduled face-to-face interview with Christopher Micetich, President & CEO of Fedora Pharmaceuticals Inc. I was greeted by Kelly Alexandra Micetich, Vice President, Operations at Brass Dome Ventures Ltd. Chris’s lovely wife, whom he describes as one of the two most important and influential ladies in his life and who stood by his side through thick and thin; in his published book “One Day You’ll Understand.” The office building is spacious, modern, and beautifully designed. Accentuating the highly innovative and cutting edge nature of this fantastic Albertan business outfit with its highly professional team of people, who are acknowledged by Chris in his book, coining this fact in a potent expression: “When you surround yourself with great people, great things happen.” And great people they truly are who are achieving great things indeed. A world leader in antibiotic drug discovery and development Fedora Pharmaceuticals Inc. is one of the few and most unique worldwide combatants in the last frontier of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics industry; combating Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). The last frontier Jedi in the real sense of the word. An award-winning trend-setter, Fedora Pharmaceuticals was incorporated in December 2011 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta. The company received the Alberta Life Sciences’ "Company of the Year" award and the Alberta Science and Technology Leadership (ASTech) Foundation’s award for Outstanding Commercial Achievement. In 2015 this super Jedi team closed the largest licensing deal in Canadian biotech history. Henceforth, winning them numerous awards. One of which was a special national citation for entrepreneurial perseverance from Ernst & Young (EY), which was awarded to Chris himself in the same year. Being an early stage anti-infective drug discovery company, the primary markets for Fedora Pharmaceuticals are the large pharmaceutical companies that would take a new drug all the way to commercialization and market. What sets them apart from the pack is the team’s collective expertise spanning a century of knowledge, their long-standing track record of success and hands-on experience in the pharmaceutical industry. This powerful team with their diverse and extensive experiences have worked across many therapeutic areas in the field, and are well versed in the complex processes of moving a compound from its early stage right through to the clinic. Many of their competitors simply don't have that rich knowledge and experience. Their wealth of personal contacts and networks, which they built over decades upon decades, intimately connected them with every large pharmaceutical company in the world, forming strong relations with the people of those large pharmaceuticals. from senior management to business development teams to research scientists to everyone else in between. In addition to their on-going proactive and highly energetic business development efforts, it’s their paragon of excellence and stellar reputation that generate a consistent pipeline of business for them. The global repercussions of AMR, if not controlled and beaten, will be devastating to the entire human race. “By 2050, 10 million deaths worldwide would result annually, overtaking diabetes and cancer combined, the global economy could fall between $2 and $6 trillion USD” (Source: Public Health Agency of Canada). Therefore, to say that the whole world desperately needs the super-skilled Jedi team of Fedora, to save us from super bugs, would be, I feel, the understatement of the century. We all need the efforts, patience, and unabated dedication of this highly professional team of Fedora Pharmaceuticals, to persevere and win the war against AMR. Chris summarizes perseverance best in his book: “Perseverance isn’t so much about proving something to others. It’s about proving something to yourself - a vastly different and more difficult endeavor.” Author: Imad-Dean KaddouraManaging Editor at Alberta Business Review  |