Op-Ed: Canada has invested in science. Now it must capture the economic benefits.

By Cate Murray, Maura Campbell, Jeff Smirle and Penny Walsh

What if a child born with a faulty electrical system in her heart could one day receive living heart cells instead of relying on a battery-powered pacemaker for life?

In Toronto, stem-cell scientist Dr. Stephanie Protze is working toward that possibility. Her team is developing specialized heart cells from human stem cells that could one day restore the electrical signals that make the heart-beat. It is extraordinary science. It is also Canadian science.

The question is what happens next.

Canada has built a world-class life sciences sector, with leading researchers, leading-edge innovations, promising biotechnology companies, highly skilled talent and new biomanufacturing capacity. The challenge now is to turn those strengths into globally competitive companies that retain more intellectual property, jobs and economic value in Canada.

And there is urgency. Canada’s share of the global clinical-trials market has declined from six per cent in 2021 to four per cent. The federal Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Sector Task Force estimates that decline represents $2.5 billion in forgone investment and approximately 20,000 jobs.

Other countries are not standing still. Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Spain and the United States are using targeted regulatory, commercialization and industrial tools to move advanced therapies toward patients and markets. Canada is competing with them for talent, investment and the companies and health innovations of the future.

Trade uncertainty, geopolitical instability and competition for strategic technologies are reshaping the global economy. Canada is rightly focused on economic resilience, attracting investment and strengthening critical supply chains. Health resilience must be part of that conversation, but it cannot begin only at the point of scale.

Since 2020, the government has invested more than $2.5 billion across 43 biomanufacturing, vaccine and therapeutics projects. But facilities alone do not create an industry. They need products, skilled workers, companies ready to use them and health systems ready to receive them.

If Canada wants anchor companies tomorrow, it must begin today by supporting early-stage companies.

The good news is that we do not need to create another system, program or institution. We already have organizations with expertise in research translation, company building, manufacturing readiness, capital attraction and workforce development. What is missing is a mechanism that connects those capabilities around promising Canadian companies as they move from science to scale.

That is what our proposed Advanced Therapeutics Industrial Acceleration Partnership (ATIAP) would do. Stem Cell Network, Capital BioVentures, OBIO and CASTL are ready to integrate their existing capabilities into one national, milestone-based pipeline. No new institution or infrastructure is required.

The economic opportunity is meaningful. A medium-growth estimate suggests a $75-million federal investment could help pre-commercial companies generate approximately $315 million in Canadian economic activity over 10 years. ATIAP could also help attract an estimated $180 million in private and strategic financing, including approximately $108 million in foreign capital flowing into de-risked Canadian assets. These are estimates, not forecasts, but they show the potential leverage of helping Canadian companies become more investable.

We know targeted support can work. A $500,000 Stem Cell Network investment helped de-risk work with Vancouver-based Aspect Biosystems on a 3D-bioprinted cell therapy for Type 1 diabetes. That work contributed to a subsequent Novo Nordisk partnership, while Aspect is now undertaking a $280-million Canadian expansion expected to maintain 117 jobs, create 283 and support 268 co-op placements.

Government does not need to finance every stage of biotechnology development. Targeted early support can reduce risk until larger pools of private capital can take over. The goal should be to attract global capital to Canadian assets, not push Canadian assets to move to where the capital is.

Canada has already invested to build much of the scientific foundation. Now we need to empower the organizations that know how to turn that science into companies and give them the tools to do it together. Our choice is whether Canadian innovations simply contribute to the global life-sciences economy, or whether we keep more of that economy here at home.

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