Canadian life sciences is at a “generational moment,” but experts disagree on its future – BetaKit

At MaRS Impact Health in Toronto Thursday morning, industry leaders gathered on stage to share contrasting perspectives on what Canadian governments should—and should not— do to support the growth in Canada’s life sciences sector.
“If I’m ever a patient on the table, don’t give me the best Canadian [option] … I want the best of the world.”
Despite the county’s many successful startups and its general strength in medical research and life sciences innovation, the sector lacks an anchor firm and only contributes about two percent to the country’s annual gross domestic product. Some, including HealthCareCAN president and CEO Michelle McLean, think a more fulsome industrial strategy could be the key to unlocking Canadian life sciences’ full economic potential.
Wendy Zatylny, CEO of the Canadian biotechnology industry association BIOTECanada, argued on stage Thursday that the country is “very much at a generational moment” now. “It’s the first time that I’ve seen a federal government—and with provincial governments, as well—really lean into life sciences and identify it as a key sector for economic growth,” she said.
Zatylny cited the new Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Sector Task Force, Life Sciences Fund via Health Emergency Readiness Canada (which comes as the feds identified medical countermeasures as a priority in its Defence Industrial Strategy), and BDC Capital’s $150-million Life Sciences Venture Fund as positive signals. 
“There’s a lot of good that’s actually already happening,” she added.
Zatylny, who represents 230 companies across Canada, said she would like to see the government unite industrial life sciences policy with procurement. She argued that Canada also needs to reduce regulatory barriers and streamline clinical trial, drug approval, and listing and reimbursement processes, and find a way to “recognize and value Canadian-rooted innovation in the access and pricing decisions.”
“That sounds like a big pharma problem, but at the end of the day, that’s what injects the capital and the capacity into the system to keep growing the other companies,” Zatylny said. “That’s the fuel that keeps the entire ecosystem running.”
Fellow panellist Brian Bloom, the co-founder, chair, and CEO of Toronto-based life sciences investment bank Bloom, Burton & Co, passionately disagreed.
“If I’m ever a patient on the table, don’t give me the best Canadian [option] … I want the best of the world—surgeons and tools and drugs and biologics and vaccines—in my body, so that I can have my best life,” Bloom said. “I don’t want the best Canadian stuff.”
RELATED: BDC launches $150-million life sciences fund
On the regulatory front, Bloom lauded Health Canada, describing it as “a wonderful, world-class agency that goes toe-to-toe with [the US Food and Drug Administration] on every metric,” with “very little to fix.”
He does not think Canada needs a life sciences industrial strategy. “Whenever there’s an industrial strategy, there’s huge waste,” Bloom said, arguing that the private sector is much more efficient at bringing new products and services to market when there is a profit motive. In saying this, Bloom carved out how Canada delivers healthcare—which he characterized as “pathetic and horrible and inefficient”—as a separate issue altogether that needs to be fixed.
As for what he wants to see, Bloom advocated for continued government funding for academic research and education to finance the development of life sciences talent and discoveries.  While he does not believe the feds or provinces should engage in picking winners and losers, Bloom thinks programs like the Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit and Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative fund-of-funds can be beneficial.
Fellow panellists, University of Toronto (U of T) professor of medicine and director Muhammad Mamdani, and BioLabs founder and CEO Johannes Fruehauf, had some other ideas. 
Mamdani said that, historically, academics have been incentivized by publications and grants, noting that patents are becoming more of a focus as of late. He argued that the government needs to concentrate resources on the organizations that drive this sort of innovation, but expects such a cultural shift “to take a bit more time.”
Fruehauf, whose firm recently took over the U of T life sciences lab space vacated by Johnson & Johnson, argued that Canada needs to focus some of its efforts on luring more biotech talent and “take advantage” of recent US research funding cuts and visa changes.
Feature image courtesy MaRS.
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