How to boost Canada’s life science industry

Canada has world-class science researchers, hospitals and health data. But it has struggled to commercialize and scale up its life sciences industry.  

Important discoveries are made, but too often the manufacturing moves elsewhere in the world and the economic and health returns don’t materialize.  

In short, we’re good at making start-ups, but not the so-called anchor companies that drive domestic industries.  

At a recent PPF member event, expert presenters and attendees looked at what it will take to create a booming domestic life science sector. The event followed the release of PPF’s latest report on this subject The Cutting Edge.  

The members-only discussion featured Dr. Stéphanie Michaud, President & CEO of BioCanRx, Cate Murray, President & CEO of Stem Cell Network, PPF Fellow Pierre Sabourin and was moderated by Jay Khosla, Executive Vice-President of Strategy and Policy at PPF. (Held under Chatham House Rule, the session gave PPF members the opportunity to engage in candid conversation. Attendees are not quoted by name in this story.) 

As one member in attendance noted, 80 percent of the capital that commercializes Canada’s roughly $4-billion-a-year in life sciences research comes from the United States. “We miss out on huge economic benefits and Canadian patients lose out on innovation and wait longer to access these therapies.” 

READ MORE: The cutting edge: How to build a future-proofed, made-in-Canada health and life sciences 

The health and life sciences sector, however, is quickly being transformed by things like mRNA research and personalized precision medicine — and that presents huge opportunities for Canada to catch up, and even leap ahead.  

As one participing member explained: “Regenerative medicine, including cell and gene therapy activity is one of the major keys that will change the face of health care into the future… If we’re going to capture the results of what regenerative medicine has to offer, then we need sophisticated clinical networks, we need the specialized manufacturing.” 

Other countries including Japan, the U.S. and China, are successfully building life sciences industries (from clinical trials through to manufacturing), noted one member around the table. 

“They’re using expedited reviews and unique pathways to encourage domestic growth, domestic manufacturing, supply chain resilience and national security. It’s imperative that we do the same.” 

China, in particular, offers an important example, explained one attendee. In just over a decade, it went from virtually zero pharmaceutical and licensing deals with big pharma to about 50 percent of new products coming from there. “They have learned from the best internationally; they have fine-tuned their manufacturing; they’ve taken a look at the regulatory system; they’ve trained their scientist; they have supported and invested in a major way with a made-in-China strategy and set guideposts of direction and goals. And this is also what we need to do.” 

Australia offers yet another example. In the 90s, it decided to focus on cancer clinical trials, leading to what is now a $2-billion-a-year industry in Australia.  

As PPF’s Cutting Edge report outlines, Canada has what it needs to get started: Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver have some of the key ingredients, including proximity to elite research universities, pools of life-sciences venture capital, major academic hospitals with reputation for innovative patient care.  

LISTEN: How to get investment flowing back to Canada 

Canada also has the advantage of being able to generate highly valuable health data at a national scale. 

What’s missing is a coordinated strategy if we want the sector to be globally competitive, attendees heard. It should include ways to strengthen domestic scale-up pathways and promote leadership in regenerative medicine and stem cell research. 

Canada will also need more highly trained workers in manufacturing and regulatory expertise. And it needs to happen with urgency. “These therapies are starting to come fast and furious. We need our regulators to have the capacity to assess these therapies,” said one attendee. 

Success will require a certain amount of risk in a country that is generally risk adverse, noted another member. “It’s an uncomfortable thing for us, but it’s something that we need to start to conquer.” 

Want a seat at conversations like this? PPF membership offers exclusive access to members-only events, trusted policy insights and a national network of leaders shaping Canada’s future. Become a PPF member. 

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