When you’re in this type of business – or maybe any other business – in your mind you have Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and I’m not sure you’re limited to 26 letters of the alphabet. You need to generate a lot of ideas, because that’s what will hopefully enable you to be successful. And it’s not a one-person show. If you want to win that Stanley Cup – which is like getting a drug developed and approved – you need to have a great team.
Dr. Robert Foster of Edmonton is a globally recognized pharmaceutical scientist, as well as an internationally celebrated researcher, professor, entrepreneur and founder of successful biopharma companies. His ground-breaking research, drug development and dedication to improving the standard of care in medicine have improved the lives of thousands of people around the world.
Robert Thomas Foster was born on June 10, 1958, in Edmonton, the middle child between Cherise and Douglas. His father, Frederick, was from Manitoba and served in World War II, including the Normandy invasion. After the war, he moved to Alberta to own and operate sawmills and heavy equipment. Robert’s mother, Deloyce, was a musician from Smoky Lake, where her family had lived since 1899 after immigrating from Ukraine.
Robert was an active child. He started playing trumpet at six and the piano before that. He loved hockey, his trail bike and conducting his own experiments with his chemistry set. When he turned 13, his father put him to work at one of his sawmills, and Robert has been working ever since.
“While at my dad’s mill, lying on my back in mud and freezing rain, fixing a forklift transmission with oil dripping into my eyes, I quickly learned problem solving. When a problem arose, we needed to find a fix because we needed to get back to work,” he says, speaking about self-sufficiency learned on the job.
Robert continued to work at his father’s mills in Winterburn and Nordegg until he enrolled at the University of Alberta at the age of 18, dreaming of a music career. But his plans were dashed in his 20s after throat surgery. Thankfully, he rediscovered chemistry. “I’ve always really liked organic chemistry. It seemed to fit my way of thinking,” he says.
Robert completed a B.Sc. majoring in chemistry in 1979, the same year he met a nursing student named Caroline Savage. In 1982, Robert completed his B.Sc. in Pharmacy, Caroline completed her B.Sc. in Nursing, and they married. In 1985, Robert completed his Doctorate in Clinical Pharmacy (PharmD), the first person in Canada to do so. Three years later, he completed a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences specializing in Pharmacokinetics. Meanwhile, their family grew as Erin, Sean, Hugh and Carrie came along.
In 1988, Robert became an assistant professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Alberta, soon becoming an associate professor in 1993. He challenged and inspired his students, becoming a catalyst in the development of many of their careers.
Meanwhile, in his lab, Robert turned his attention to cyclosporin, the standard-of-care drug at the time for organ transplant patients. Cyclosporin ironically walked a fine line between helping the body avoid rejecting a new organ and developing side effects that ultimately damaged the same organ. He recognized the urgent need for new drugs that were kinder and gentler, and wanted to make a difference.
Although he enjoyed academic research, Robert never lost the desire to pursue something more entrepreneurial. So, in 1993, he formed his own biotech company Isotechnika Pharma where he could apply his scientific and clinical background to the business world. He eventually resigned from his tenured faculty position in 1997 to completely dedicate his efforts to drug development. “I had seen my father take massive risks in his businesses, so perhaps it was something in my DNA,” he says.
Robert became part scientist, part businessman. He’d work in the lab to create a unique molecule that would become the foundation for a new drug that could benefit organ transplant patients around the world. Then he’d travel the world to entice potential investors and present at medical, scientific and banking conferences.
Robert also had to assemble a team that could help achieve his dream. “Without a doubt, the team we built was world calibre,” he says. He looked no further than the talent pool of top-tier graduates coming out of the University of Alberta.
“A lot of people were naysayers. Nobody believed that we could make a drug here in Alberta, that we should leave something like that up to the big pharma companies. I intended to change that,” he says.
Robert’s instincts were right. In 1997, his team discovered voclosporin. In 2002, he made the largest licensing deal at that time in Canadian history ($215 million US) with Hoffman-La Roche in Switzerland for voclosporin to be used for kidney transplant immunosuppression. The deal put Edmonton on the global map in the pharmaceutical industry. Then Roche pulled out of the deal, citing lack of commercial potential, despite voclosporin’s therapeutic potential. Thankfully, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, based out of Victoria, B.C., embraced the promise held by voclosporin and expressed a keen interest in joining Robert. Together, they continued clinical trials for autoimmune disease with lupus nephritis as the lead indication. Soon thereafter, Isotechnika Pharma acquired Aurinia, and Robert became founding CEO, and subsequently CSO after changing the name of the company from Isotechnika to Aurinia.
By 2021, a full 28 years after Robert created Isotechnika, voclosporin was approved as LupkynisTM, the first oral medication for treating patients with lupus nephritis. Robert is one of very few Canadian scientists in the nation’s history to have discovered a drug that received approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In addition to voclosporin, Robert developed a diagnostic kit – called HeliKit® – that works as a breathalyzer to detect the presence of a bacterium – Helicobacter pylori – that causes stomach ulcers. If the bacterium is detected, patients can quite readily receive treatment with a short course of antibiotics. The test was a welcome alternative to other diagnostic tests, including endoscopy procedures which can be time-consuming, invasive and expensive. HeliKit® has been used for several years in a number of countries.
But Robert still wasn’t finished innovating. In the early stages of developing voclosporin, he and the Isotechnika team discovered chemically related molecules that showed great potential for treating fibrosis, certain cancers and viruses. To explore the potential of what would become known as rencofilstat, he left Isotechnika Pharma in 2014 to create Ciclofilin Pharmaceuticals, which was subsequently acquired by Hepion Pharmaceuticals. Robert became the company’s CEO from 2018 to 2023. While the clinical development of rencofilstat is currently uncertain, “the drug still has significant potential to treat a number of diseases.” Hepion had been focusing research programs on liver fibrosis and liver cancer with human clinical trials in mid-stage development.
All told, Robert has published 228 (and counting) papers, abstracts and book chapters on drug analysis, development and pharmacokinetics. He is named on 207 patents.
In addition to his long history of pharmaceutical development, Robert has found time to serve on industry boards, including BioAlberta’s Association for Life Sciences Industry, Edmonton Science & Technology Hotline Institute, and Edmonton Space and Science Centre Foundation. His public service has included working with Alberta Economic Development Authority, Alberta Premier’s Advisory Council on Health, University of Alberta’s Industry Liaison Office, and Alberta Science and Research Authority. He currently serves as a board member of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Transcriptome Sciences Inc.
Robert received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Alberta in 2024 for his outstanding dedication to mentoring and inspiring the next generation of scientists through his work at the university and his globally recognized achievement in pharmaceuticals. He has also received a Distinguished Alumni Award (2022) from the university, as well as an Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (2018).
Many prestigious organizations have celebrated Robert’s work, including Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society, American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, BioAlberta Achievement Awards, Economic Development Edmonton, Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Awards, Smart City Awards, American Society of Hypertension, and Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. He was voted one of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People in 2002.
“I know it may sound cliché, but I wanted to do something that most other people thought was ‘impossible.’ I ultimately wanted to leave a mark on the world I live in and contribute something that could change lives.”