Building up Biomanufacturing: Investing in Canada for the Future

by Martin Arès, CEO, Pharmascience Inc.

IT’S BEEN THREE YEARS SINCE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC BEGAN AND A LOT HAS CHANGED – both in the biotech and life sciences spaces and more generally. The realities of global supply chains and Canada’s reliance on imports of critical medicines have come to a point where industry, regulators and patients alike are wondering what the path forward is to ensure that Canadians have access to the latest medical innovations at home.

To add to this, the number and the frequency of drug shortages we’re experiencing in Canada is increasing, rising from 1209 drugs in shortage earlier this year to 1885 now, showing the fragility of the supply chain in finished pharmaceutical products. In fact, driven by price erosion, higher inflation and inability for generic companies to increase price accordingly, domestic consumption of pharmaceutical products manufactured in Canada now sits at 12%, down from 34% before the pandemic. This sharp decline should be ringing alarm bells for everyone.

Fortunately, stakeholders in this sector are waking up to the fragility in this sector and are taking steps to make Canada a number one location for biomanufacturing. We’ve seen great steps forward with life sciences strategies tabled by Ontario, Québec and other provinces looking to expand their footprint in the ecosystem. The federal Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy also recognizes the need to build strength in this sector.

From manufacturing solid dosage forms, injectable products, biological therapies and vaccines, Canada should be able to rely on a number of players that can meet the medical needs of Canadians, by Canadians and for Canadians.

This is the time to focus on our strengths here at home in Canada.

We have the recipe for success: high manufacturing standards, amazing researchers and scientists, and the reputation for producing quality products. Morris Goodman and Ted Wise, the founders of Pharmascience, felt the same way in 1983 when they created the company as they do today. That’s why we’re continuing on the work that they started to support Canada’s life sciences sector.

40 years later, the types of treatments may look a bit different, but our ultimate goal is the same at the end of the day, to improve the lives of patients here at home in Canada, and to make quality Canadian-made products available internationally to improve global health.

Building up capacity to manufacture finished dosage forms in Canada also has a positive effect on the startup space and smaller biotechs. While it’s been traditionally very difficult to expand into manufacturing, when extra capacity is created in the traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing space, there are more opportunities for contract development and manufacturing in Canada.

This is a win-win scenario for the sector, for science and for Canada. We believe so strongly in these winning conditions, that we are expanding our manufacturing capabilities in the injectable space to triple our future output of vial, pre-filled syringes and lyophilized products manufactured at our Candiac site, which will allow us to increase our offerings in contract development and manufacturing for the next generation of therapies.

Thinking of the future of the life sciences sector and how to strengthen our own domestic resiliency, our investment will mean that we will be able to meet the manufacturing needs of the next generation of treatments as well as the ability to partner with the biotech sector to help translate their discoveries to finished products. I can’t think of a better way forward.

Martin Arès is the CEO of Pharmascience, the largest privately-owned Canadian pharmaceutical company. For more information about Pharmascience’s offerings and for partnerships, please visit

www.pharmascience.com.