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Western Canada's Biotechnology Advantage

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"Canada provides broad access to early-stage capital, world-class scientific research and progressive universities. This combination offers all kinds of opportunities for entrepreneurship in biotechnology." — Ian McBeath, President and CEO, Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Richmond, British Columbia

Biotechnology, whether used to create new vaccines, improve crop varieties or create alternative fuels, is breaking ground around the globe. Canada is ranked second only to the United States for biotechnology. In Western Canada, the biotechnology sector has expanded rapidly in the last decade in revenues, new companies and the diversity of products. Currently Western Canada biotech revenues stand at $656 million from 190 biotech companies, with more than 3,000 employees.

Competitive Strengths

Pharmaceuticals and Human Health

  • British Columbia ranks as one of the top 10 locations in North America for the size of its biotechnology cluster. The majority of its biotechnology companies are engaged in health research including QLT and Angiotech, which are among the world's first profitable biotech companies.
  • Manitoba is a hub for biopharmaceutical manufacturing activity and, along with British Columbia, has one of the fastest growing biotechnology sectors in Canada. The province is home to several industry-leading firms including Cangene and Biovail, and is supported by research labs like the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health, which is located in Winnipeg. Key focus areas include cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, neuroscience, metabolism and nutrition, cell biology and gene therapy, infectious diseases, diagnostics and contract research.
  • Alberta's biotech sector is widely recognized for research excellence in genomics and proteomics, bioinformatics and immunotherapeutics, and includes firms such as BioMS Medical, whose lead technology for the treatment of multiple sclerosis is currently in a Phase 3 clinical trials across Canada and Europe, and Isotechnika Inc., which is developing therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and for use in the prevention of organ rejection in transplantation.

Additional Benefits of Western Canada's Biotechnology Industry

  • Extensive government and industry support
  • BIOTECanada, a national association representing the broad spectrum of biotech constituents
  • Leading-edge industry associations in each of the western provinces

Agricultural Biotechnology Facilities

  • Saskatchewan is one of the world's leading research centres in agricultural biotechnology with recognized capabilities in agricultural genomics, new crop varieties, nutraceuticals and functional foods, and animal health. For example, the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon has a unique capacity in protein identification that has applications in seed development and structure assessment, and in animal feed and health areas.
  • There are several new ethanol plants either in the planning stage or currently under construction. Husky Energy of Calgary recently built a new $145 million facility on its existing site in Minnedosa, Manitoba, and new plants are expected to start operations in 2006 in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, and Lloydminister, Alberta.

“The science and the initial infrastructure were here, and Calgary is where we laid down our roots…. We have been able to recruit the necessary talent locally almost without exception…. Alberta is a great strategic location for us and our success proves that.” — Andrew Baum, President and CEO, SemBioSys Genetics

Why Invest in Western Canada's Biotechnology Industry?

Cost-Competitive and Trade-Friendly

Canada ranks first among G7 countries as the most cost-competitive investment location for biotechnology with a 10.1  point advantage over the United States, 18.3 point advantage over Japan and a 23.4 point advantage over Germany. Western Canada provides an even greater advantage with 11.8 points over the United States and 20 points over Japan. Canada also offers the lowest labour and benefits costs and the lowest corporate income tax rate in the G7. (Source: 2006 edition of KPMG's Competitive Alternatives, a guide to international business costs)

Solid Research and Development Infrastructure

Most of Western Canada's biotechnology companies have been built on discoveries in the universities, research hospitals and government laboratories. 

Most of Western Canada's biotechnology companies have been built on discoveries in the universities, research hospitals and government laboratories.

The Canadian government invests more per-capita dollars on education than any other country in the world. More than half of all adult Canadians have been educated at a university, college or technical school. Canada has also implemented a fast-track immigration system for skilled workers, helping universities and firms to attract top talent from around the world.

There are more than 30,000 investigators in 16 Canadian universities affiliated with a network of some 100 teaching hospitals and research institutes. Additionally, each of the four western provinces has a network of first-class local and national government R&D facilities such as the Plant Biotechnology Institute in Saskatoon and Winnipeg's Institute for Biodiagnostics and the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health, the only facility worldwide with Level 4 biocontainment labs for humans and animals.

Public Investment in Western Canada's Research and Development

Most of Western Canada's biotechnology companies have been built on discoveries in universities, research hospitals and government laboratories. The University of British Columbia, for example, has spun off 117 different companies since 1984 while the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization is credited with five world first animal vaccines and has more than 70 patents in the United States with more than 30 pending.

Over the past several years, the Government of Canada has substantially increased its support for R&D, and funding for individual biotech firms. For instance, Genome Canada's three western regional centres—Genome BC, Genome Alberta, and Genome Prairie—are currently funding and managing 45 large-scale genomics and proteomics research projects.

The provincial governments of Manitoba, British Columbia and Alberta also play a significant role in facilitating the development of the industry through enhancing research capabilities and integrating the industry into their investment attraction activities.

Extensive Federal Support

“The Government of Canada's focus is making sure that the business environment is supportive of biotechnology industries. We want to encourage stronger partnerships among industries involved with biotechnology and between those firms and public research institutions, as well as attract more foreign investments and funding R&D.” — Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry

Strategic Alliances and Commercial Successes

Many Western Canadian biotech companies have forged strategic global partnerships and attained extraordinary commercial success.

  • TAXUS, a coronary stent system developed by Vancouver's Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, has been implanted in more than a million patients worldwide and is the most successfully launched product in medical history with sales totalling US $2.14 billion in 2004 enabling Angiotech to achieve the status of World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and BIOTECanada's 2004 Biotech Company of the Year.
  • In 2003, Calgary's SemBioSys Genetics acquired technology assets and intellectual property related to the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals from Syngenta, a world-leading agribusiness. It has also forged partnerships with Dow AgroSciences, Arcadia Biosciences, Martek Business Corporation and Lonza in the United States. With revenues of more than $2.4 million in 2005, Sembiosys was named BIOTECanada's 2005 Biotech Company of the Year.
  • Winnipeg's Cangene is a world leader in the development, manufacture and distribution of specialty hyperimmune plasma and biotechnology products. One of Canada's largest and most profitable biotechnology companies with headquarters in Manitoba and a facility in Baltimore, Maryland, Cangene uses patented manufacturing processes to produce plasma-derived and recombinant therapeutic proteins and is a key supplier of biodefense programs in the US, Canada, and the UK.
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Date Modified: 2011-06-14

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