In 2003, Dr. Jacqueline Shan was President and Chief Scientific Officer of Afexa Life Sciences, a company that had sales of $1.5 million, a market cap of $5 million and a balance sheet in the red. Dr. Shan was the co-discoverer of the company’s lead product, COLD-FX^®. That was the year she was promoted to Chief Executive Officer * with a mandate to turn the company around.

In just two short years, under her leadership, the company posted sales of nearly $32 million in 2005, profits of $10 million, saw soaring stock prices and commanded a market cap over $400 million. COLD-FX is now the # 1 selling cold and flu product in Canada and Afexa Life Sciences was named 2005’s Marketer of the Year by leading industry publications Marketing Magazine.

That’s a long way from a city in southern China in the turbulent times of the Cultural Revolution where Dr. Shan grew up. Her intellectual curiosity and passion for science quickly propelled her through the academic system so that at the age of 15 she entered university. It was a time when capitalism was against the law, but within her was an entrepreneurial spirit which would one day emerge.

Today she holds doctorates from two countries – one in pharmacology and the other in physiology, holds 10 patents, is the author/co-author of 50 peer-reviewed papers, is recognized by universities in 2 countries, is an internationally noted speaker and is a past or present member of 20 government, industry, science and research bodies.

It all began in 1987 when Jacqueline Shan bought an airline ticket with borrowed money and left China for Edmonton and the University of Alberta. Five years later in 1992, now armed with a doctorate degree, Dr. Shan joined with a university colleague to take the risky step of starting Afexa Life Sciences Inc.

The company’s long term goal was to discover and commercialize safe and effective natural therapeutics for disease prevention and health maintenance. It would do this by utilizing western medical research approaches coupled with traditional herbal medicines.

Afexa Life Sciences began its life as a contract research company but with ambitious dreams. It was never easy keeping the company afloat. And there were frustrating days when the research led to a dead end. There were times when office furniture was earmarked for sale to help make ends meet. But, with determination and tenacity and some belt tightening, Dr. Shan and her highly experienced team persevered.

Colds and flu are estimated to cost the North American economy over $45 billion per year in lost productivity and medical costs. For decades, science has pursued a cure for those twin maladies without success. The breakthrough discovery of COLD-FX made by Dr. Shan and a team of 25 scientists she headed may represent the most promising development in that pursuit.

So far COLD-FX has successfully undergone 10 clinical trials in both Canada and the United States. One trial, regulated by the U.S. FDA, demonstrated that COLD-FX reduces the chance of getting a cold or flu by 89%. Another trial, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in October 2005 showed that COLD-FX reduced the incidence and frequency of recurrent colds by more than half and also cut the duration of colds and significantly reduced their severity. COLD-FX is the first natural health product in the world to have successfully passed an FDA Phase II regulated trial.

Afexa Life Sciences is a true Canadian success story and co-founder Dr. Jacqueline Shan is at the centre of it all. She’s the one who has propelled it forward at an amazing speed to recognition as a global leader in its field of medicine.

*Dr. Shan currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer of Afexa.