TORONTO – Vaxil Bio Ltd., the first Israeli biotech company to list on the TSX-Venture Exchange, rang the opening bell at the Toronto Stock Exchange Monday, with some help from Consul General DJ Schneeweiss.

Issac Maresky, executive director of the cancer biotechnology company, was also in attendance at the Exchange Tower in Toronto for the event.

Vaxil (VXL) is an Israeli biotech company focused on cancer immunotherapy, and is based out of the Weizmann Science Park in Rehovot, Israel. Its  primary immunotherapy product is the ImMucin signal peptide cancer vaccine, which demonstrated very encouraging results in a recent study on fifteen Multiple Myeloma patients.

Vaxil has already received Orphan Drug Status from both the FDA and EMA for ImMucin, and is currently in the process of planning its submissions to receive approval for a larger Phase II study with ImMucin in Multiple Myeloma patients.

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Ontario-Israel collaboration has been prevalent recently. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is set to embark on a trade mission to Israel later this spring, an Ontario Representative Office is reported to open soon in Tel Aviv, and now Vaxil has made history as the first Israeli biotech company to list on the TSX.

“This listing is a great example of the complementary strengths that are drawing Israel and Ontario closer together in the life sciences – innovative technologies emerging from Israel’s word-class start-up eco-system merging with Canadian financial and management capacities to create new opportunities for investors, health administrators, and patients alike,” said Consul General Schneeweiss. “We’re very proud of this first Israeli biotech listing on the TSX Venture Exchange and we’re sure it will be a model for many more.”

According to the IVC-KPMG high-tech 2014 Survey, Israeli high-tech companies attracted $3.4 billion worth of investment in 2014, an all-time record, spread over 688 companies.