Calgary-Based Biotech Founders Announced as Recipients of Canada's Top 40 Under 40® Award for 2026
CALGARY, AB, Sept. 16, 2026 /CNW/ -- Healthcare Innovators Megan Leslie and Julian Mulia, Co-Founders of NanoTess, have been named as honourees in the prestigious Canada's Top 40 Under 40® Awards.
The award recognises the impact their flagship medical device, NanoSALV Catalytic, has had on the lives of Canadians living with wounds, burns, and severe dermatological conditions, and their contribution to the advancement of catalytic healthcare innovation and the adoption of lifesaving technologies globally.
Julian Mulia, Co-Founder and CSO, says NanoTess was founded with one clear purpose – to help people heal.
"We founded NanoTess in 2020 from a deeply personal place. After losing both my parents to complications arising from non-healing wounds, our mission became clear: bring advanced catalytic technologies to the growing number of people living with compromised healing capacity," he states.
Mulia says NanoTess' mission is more urgent today than ever.
"Complex wounds are an escalating health crisis. Canada spends close to $13 billion every year on wound care, nearly as much as the health system spends on lung, breast, colorectal and prostate cancer combined. Yet, unlike cancer, we don't have dedicated wound-care hospitals, centres, or an equivalent national infrastructure built for these patients," he explains.
"And the problem is not simply infection. Products that kill bacteria do not necessarily address why a wound has stopped healing. A clean wound can still be a chronic wound. That distinction matters, especially for seniors and other vulnerable patients who often assume that because a wound has been disinfected or covered, it will heal," he adds.
"This is why we developed a solution that is fundamentally different: a biomimetic technology designed to reactivate intrinsic healing. What we never imagined was how quickly that technology would be adopted, how far it would reach, and how many lives it would ultimately touch."
That reach is reflected in growing access to NanoSALV Catalytic across Canada where it is available in 2,500 hospitals and healthcare facilities and can be ordered by any pharmacist, without a prescription, in 14,000 pharmacies, nationwide.
In Alberta, NanoSALV Catalytic is covered through public programs administered by Alberta Blue Cross, helping expand access for seniors, low-income individuals, unhoused and other vulnerable communities and, in Ontario, coverage through Ontario Health at Home is helping bring catalytic healing into community and home-care settings.
Megan Leslie, Co-Founder and CEO, says the company's ultimate goal is to expand coverage across all provinces, grow internationally, and extend its compassionate reach through humanitarian initiatives.
"Our North Star is a world where healing is possible for everyone - regardless of where you live, your health, age, or circumstances. And we have made meaningful progress towards that goal, but the work is far from finished," she says.
"Across Canada and beyond, significant barriers to equitable access remain. Through our products, distribution partners, clinical advocates, and our social enterprise, we remain committed to reducing the obstacles that stand between people and healing. We're proud of what we have achieved as a team, and excited for the milestones – and the impact – that are yet to come."
NanoSALV Catalytic is powered by CTM, NanoTess' proprietary catalytic technology. CTM's unique copper structures are engineered to create a wound environment that regulates inflammation and promotes re-vascularization, granulation tissue formation, re-epithelialization, and remodeling.
In practice, NanoSALV Catalytic helps shift a disorganized or imbalanced healing environment toward coordinated regeneration across wounds, burns, and dermatological conditions.
For wounds and burns, that means supporting severe, complex, or stalled healing, protecting fragile and at-risk skin, and promoting better-quality tissue repair with fewer complications, and less visible scarring. For dermatological conditions, it offers a safe, effective, non-steroidal approach to managing inflammation and irritation and restoring healthier skin when combined with moisturizers.
For vulnerable and medically complex populations, the impact can be profound, preserving health, mobility, independence, and, in many cases, lives and limbs.
Mulia says catalytic biotechnology in healthcare is both different and exciting.
"Being a healthcare innovation in Canada is both our biggest opportunity and our biggest challenge," he says. "We deliberately chose to build and grow NanoTess in Canada because, at some point, every one of us -- or someone we love -- will become a patient. The standards of care we help shape today will define the care we will receive tomorrow."
"What's more, the opportunity to cultivate a global biotech success story, on Canadian soil, is huge," he adds.
Canada's Top 40 Under 40® alumni include hundreds of nationally and internationally prominent CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs and community leaders in the private, public, and social economy sectors – many of whom are also Canada's most recognizable business leaders and media personalities.
Previous honourees include Tobias Lutke, founder and CEO of Shopify, Joe Mumran, founder of Joe Fresh, Anthony Lacavera, founder of Freedom Mobile, and entrepreneurs Michele Romanow and Arlene Dickinson of Dragons' Den.
Founded in 1995 by Caldwell, Canada's Top 40 Under 40® recognizes the achievements and contributions of outstanding young leaders. Honourees are young professionals from a diverse range of sectors across Canada.
The independent Top 40 Advisory Board, comprising 18 respected leaders from across Canada, met on June 10, 2026 to select the honourees from a list developed by Caldwell. Candidates were assessed on five key criteria: Career Progression, Leadership, Vision & Innovation, Community Involvement & Corporate Social Responsibility, and Impact & Influence.
The 2026 Honourees were announced today in the Financial Post. Recipients will gather this evening in Toronto at a celebratory event hosted by Deloitte Canada. They will also be honoured at the Top 40 National Celebrations in Toronto in October, including the Top 40 Awards Night to be held at Malaparte in the TIFF Bell Lightbox on October 21, 2026.
For more information on NanoTess and NanoSALV Catalytic visit www.nanotess.com
More about NanoTess, CTM, and NanoSALV Catalytic:
NanoTess was co-founded in Calgary in 2020 by Megan Leslie and Julian Mulia with the aim of changing the way physicians, healthcare systems, and patients treat chronic wounds, burns and dermatological conditions.
NanoSALV Catalytic, the company's first commercialized product, is currently accessible across 2,500 hospitals and healthcare facilities and can be ordered by your pharmacist without a prescription across 14,000 pharmacies, nationwide.
NanoSALV Catalytic was authorised by Health Canada in 2022 and has been adopted by some of Canada's biggest healthcare systems including AHS and BC Provincial Health Services Authority. It was added to the Alberta Drug Benefit List for coverage in August 2025 and Ontario Health at Home in August 2026.
SOURCE NanoTess Inc
NanoTess Media Enquiries: Sharon Crowther, Head of Marketing and Communications, [email protected], 4038636414
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