A Perfect Setting

By Chris Rogers

Ontario is ready to accept its place as a leader in life sciences

As we rode the fi ve fl oors up to the OICR (Ontario Institute for Cancer Research) offi ces it was easy to get excited. MaRS, the centre of Toronto’s research initiatives and arguably the heart of Ontario’s Innovation Agenda sped by, and the glass walled elevator rose up over the offi ces revealing the Ontario legislature, Queen’s Park and beyond that the bustling University of Toronto.

The lift slowed and we made our way into the OICR laboratories to meet Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation, John Milloy. Scouting the best possible places for our cover shoot we were shown around the busy labs - brimming with the state-of-the-art technology that graces the New Product section of Biotechnology Focus each month. Researchers hopping from station to station, collecting data.

This is where innovation happens.

Snapping a few quick pictures, I immediately felt like I was holding everyone up, like I was delaying some massive discovery. The researchers asked if they were getting in the way of a good picture. “I’m the one getting in the way,” was all I could think.

As the Minister arrived he was immediately just as interested in the happenings around the labs as we were. As we set up for pictures, he eagerly began asking questions of the staff about the data they were collecting; about the research going on.

We made our way from the labs to a board room overlooking MaRS and U of T, a perfect setting considering the tone of the conversation. I was expecting a 10,000 metre overview of the province’s research infrastructure and a slew of lofty goals but what I got was an honest appraisal of the province’s innovation landscape and realistic assessment of the life science climate in Ontario.

Lofty goals? Sure, those were there too, but Milloy and his team at MRI understand where the potential lies and are poised to make Ontario live up to these expectations.

“We have an outstanding healthcare system here,” said Milloy. “We have one of the most diverse populations on earth which every researcher I meet tells me is amazing.”

Holding concurrent positions as Minister for MRI and TCU (the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities), has given Milloy a fi rm understanding of Ontario’s major research areas and strengths.

“We have incredible strengths in many of the issues related to aging and neuroscience is our theme at BIO this year. There is important work going on in colleges in terms of healthcare delivery related to aging. We have the strength here in Ontario – just look at U of T, the University of Western Ontario, and Baycrest – we have this wonderful healthcare platform,” Milloy boasts. “These are incredible strengths that we can use to not only solve our problems here at home but also to deal with effi ciencies in the healthcare system and issues around patient care. Why can’t we export our technologies and products around the world? I think Ontario is poised to be a global leader.”

It’s a fair assessment of Ontario’s strengths, but this industry has been rocked by a lack of investment in recent years and MRI had just announced it was no longer accepting applications for one of its more lucrative, albeit contentious programs, the Biopharmaceutical Investment Program (BIP). Criticisms levied against the program included being narrow in scope with funds that were almost impossible to access. While not a failure, the short-lived program did fund a number of initiatives and there are still promises of more to come as the fi nal applications are reviewed.

“BIP was a successful program and although we’re not accepting new applications we’re still in the process of evaluating some applications that are still outstanding,” Milloy explains. “It provided much needed support and led to the creation of 1,400 jobs.”

That’s acceptable, but in a gesture that really shows they’re listening to the concerns of the industry, MRI is rolling out a new program which will broaden the scope of the initiative. Hopefully allowing many more start-up companies access to the funding they desperately need.

“Even though [BIP] was important and it had a very positive impact on the sector, we want to roll out something

that’s a bit broader in terms of life sciences. We have indicated to the sector that we will be coming out with a life sciences commercialization strategy in the near future,” he says.

“The new strategy will build on Ontario’s strengths in terms of life sciences. We obviously want to look at marketing and how we can pull in new investments. We want to build our academic excellence because we have some outstanding researchers here in Ontario. How can we attract more researchers, how can we nurture those researchers, how can we work with the industry and the academic community and bring them together? Those are the pillars of our strategy.”

Given our physical setting, in a place where academia and industry are driving remarkable breakthroughs, it’s hard to disagree. But I was curious what it meant for fledgling biotech companies struggling with finances.

“I think start ups in the biotech field have a different challenge,” Milloy says. “Quite frankly, they’re on a different trajectory than start ups in a lot of other industries. They have different challenges and different time frames. In bringing forward this strategy we’re trying to answer the question – how can we make our programs a little more friendly to the biotech world? There are issues around clinical trials and having a more appropriate or enhanced infrastructure for clinical trials. We’re also going to be paying special attention to medical devices. That’s another piece of the puzzle in the life sciences field. Finally we will look at genomics and commercialization opportunities.”

With the promise of a new program to help start ups in the industry, the focus of the conversation shifts to commercialization. Without the proper commercialization strategy, Ontario could not expect to complete at the towering levels it strives for. Yet, the province already has a firm foundation in this area which is being fleshed out by the new Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE).

Already, Ontario has a number of regional innovation centres which attempt to foster innovative new products by guiding them down the commercialization path. While they do an exceptional job, the new ONE network holds the promise of a new era of commercialization strategies for Ontario start ups. The biggest push for the new program is the focus on making geographic challenges a thing of the past.

“Whether you’re in the farthest reaches of Northern Ontario or downtown Toronto, you’re going to be able to access the full range of services from the local organization in the network,” he says. “We want to look at various technologies to link people together and we want to create a true network because there has been a certain unevenness up until now.”

It’s the recognition that perhaps services like commercialization assistance aren’t as easy to access for some that adds a tone of optimism to the rest of the conversation because at the same time, the ministry wants to make sure that its services are available to a much broader spectrum of innovators.

“There’s a lot to celebrate in Ontario in terms of the supports that exist,” Milloy says. “If you look at the continuum in both directions – for researchers that are looking at commercialization opportunities [and] at the same time, for industry that’s looking to get a hold of the best research to deal with some of their problems and challenges…there is good infrastructure, but it’s not as connected as it should be. There are, quite frankly, some geographic challenges. I think a researcher in one part of the province might have better access to programming than a researcher in another part of the province. We have a number of outstanding regional innovation organizations, the question is: how can we link them together? How can we link them to anchors like MaRS and OCE and create a network which covers every inch of the province?”

As the interview winds down, it’s reassuring to hear that Milloy and his team are not naive to the challenges they face; this is a fiercely competitive field but they believe now is the time to act.

“We’re not the only place thinking this way, but we’ve got some real strengths and we have to take action right now. That’s why our [focus is on] life sciences and commercialization,” he says. “A real focus on commercializing this research in the life science industry is going to be very important for us, but we know there is a lot of competition out there.”

Leaving MaRS, I couldn’t help but feel Ontario has big expectations and goals for the life sciences industry. But this is a sector that’s been clamouring at the door, crying for the opportunity to prove themselves and Ontario’s new initiatives, are going to give them a chance to succeed. Coupled with some changes to federal tax reporting laws (the infamous Section 116), removing what most in the industry and venture capital saw as impediments to Canadian companies getting proper international funding, Ontario may have the answers many in this industry are looking for.