Spotlight on Québec
The changing face of R&D in Québec québec
Over the past few years, the pharmaceutical landscape has been changing. Consequently, the ways in which pharma companies conduct research are also changing, as they deal with economic and market challenges and a rising cost for drug discovery.
Québec’s life sciences industry is facing a number of challenges, including the trend of companies outsourcing more R&D, and a lack of resources for carrying out research. To better adapt, the industry is seeking new approaches to R&D, including a focus on partnerships. There is emphasis on collaboration and building strategic relationships with government, academia and industry to better stimulate R&D and to advance drug discovery. Biotechnology Focus takes a look at what pharma titans Pfizer Canada and Merck Canada are doing to adapt with the times, and how they are helping Québec stay in the lead in the constantly evolving world of pharmaceuticals. Pfizer Canada: putting Québec in the driver’s seat Along with tackling industry-wide challenges concerning R&D, Pfizer is dedicated to helping Québec remain a strong leader in the pharmaceutical industry. By far Canada’s largest pharma company in terms of employees and sales, Pfizer has 2,700 employees at eight sites across Canada, with 1,800 alone in Québec. While over the past 10 years the company has merged at the global level, each time Pfizer Canada has kept its head office in the Montréal area. Over this time period there have been several expansion projects, including a recent major investment to renovate and update the Pfizer Canada head office. “We went from a traditional organization where they had a Country
manager to one of business units,” says Ghislain Boudreau, vice president of Public Affairs at Pfizer Canada. “We took this as an opportunity to really shape our business around our customers, be more entrepreneurial and collaborative..” In addition to revamping the work premises, the renovations have facilitated collaboration and provide the flexibility needed to react to internal changes, which will be needed as Pfizer Canada adopts the new R&D business model. “There is a paradigm shift happening within the industry, where more and more we are externalizing our R&D,” says Boudreau. “While we continue to do some R&D at Pfizer global research sites around the world, more and more we are partnering with Centres of Excellence, academia and biotechs. We’re entering into risk sharing agreements to do R&D and new product development. Pfizer is one of the pioneers in this area, and many companies are following this model.” On June 28, 2012, Pfizer Canada and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS) announced the creation of the Pfizer-FRQS Innovation Fund for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders, thanks to $4.5 million in funding from Pfizer Canada. This FRQS-managed research grant program will be available to Québec’s research community. There are two parts to the Innovation Fund: one involves the creation of a consortium of Québec researchers, the other is devoted to funding high-risk, high-spinoff-potential projects to enable researchers to explore new research avenues.
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