By Joanne Brouard Corbeil

In the past two years, the Canadian biotechnology industry has been healing, fueling and feeding the world against all odds, facing lack of funding and human resources challenges. Our panel is optimistic and finally sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

With this year’s BIO show theme being “Heal, Fuel, Feed the World,” what are you doing in this regard?
Radke: Local companies like Exciton Technologies Inc., SemBioSys Genetics Inc., and Afexa Life Sciences are creating products and technologies that can help heal, while others like Highmark Renewables Research and SciMed Technologies Inc. are working on new tools to fuel and feed the world.

Keller: Genome Prairie is managing large-scale genomics projects, which are relevant to the theme of the conference. Two examples are: a $12 million flax genomics project (TUFGEN – Total Utilization of Flax Genomics) which aims to improve health by promoting properties of oils and other natural bioactive components of flax; an $11 million project on the application of microbial genomics technologies to develop biofuels and bioproducts from agricultural and forest fibres.

Lopez-Correa: Genome Quebec is supporting several projects in the fields of human health genomics. Some aim to provide a better understanding and treatment of complex diseases (e.g. cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer) and to develop personalized medicine strategies. Others use genomic approaches to identify fungal enzymes for industrial processes including production of pulp and paper, ethanol and biodiesel. Last but not least, we support projects that bring comparative genomics, population and functional genomics to identify genomics regions and genes that are essential for crop improvement.

Are you planning to attend BIO in Chicago? What do you hope to achieve?
Radke: We will be at BIO 2010 to market and support companies within our region. BIO is really the premier spot to connect with relevant contacts and create new business relationships.

Keller: We plan to meet representatives from international organizations engaged in genomics R&D and to explore opportunities for research collaboration. We will visit the tradeshow to identify new technologies that may be applicable to our research activities and look forward to generating new ideas for future research projects.

Lopez-Correa: BIO is a very important conference for Genome Quebec’s upper management team. Our main goals at BIO are to get in touch with similar funding organizations, and explore possible collaborations with partners in the U.S. and Europe.

Biotechnology is contributing $78.3 billion per year to Canada’s GDP through its use by other economic sectors.

Meikle: TBI is planning use BIO to further its development by arranging meetings and opportunities to network and expand activities on behalf of members and Ontario in general. We are planning some major announcements that will effectively position TBI as the voice of biotechnology in and for Ontario.

Brenders: We will again be in the Canada Pavilion as an exhibitor. We are also pleased to host the G20 of biotech, an executive reception that will bring together the leaders of the largest biotechnology countries to meet and build connections. And, once again, we will be announcing the winners of the Gold Leaf Awards, the only national Canadian awards that are selected by the industry to recognize our top performers, on the BIO floor.

How does biotech in Canada compare to the rest of the world?
Radke: The current environment is very tough for early and midstage companies. A lack of available financing options has forced companies to make tough decisions and reduce expenditure levels. I don’t think this issue is exclusive to Canada—the global recession has taken its toll worldwide.

Keller: Canada performs internationally recognized research in biotechnology and genomics. With the creation of Genome Canada in 2000 and its funding of many new projects, Canada has moved up in international status and now ranks fifth in terms of impact publications in genomics research. Major areas of strength include agricultural crop technology (first country to commercialize transgenic canola), infectious disease and vaccine (sequencing of SARS viral genome), and human health (stem cell biology diabetes and cancer research). However, Canada is not as effective in commercializing biotech and genomics discoveries. We rank lower than many OECD states in this regard. In particular, there’s a need to create new successful companies to fully realize the benefits of this related research.

Lopez-Correa: Quebec has seen a great development of biotechnology companies in the last 10 years, with many of them working either directly on genomics or in closely related fields. However, due to the economic recession, the biotech industry in the Quebec region has slowed down in the last two to three years. One of our objectives at Genome Quebec is to provide the necessary elements to help the transfer of genomics research discoveries into products that could be used by the local biotech industry.

Meikle: Recent meetings with our national association and the provincial associations indicate that there remains a dearth of available funds to help move good research into development projects. In spite of the difficulties, Ontario-based science continues to move forward and the monies being invested into research will pay dividends in the future. With new programs planned for Ontario, it appears growth in the sector is imminent.

Brenders: Traditionally, Canada has always punched above its weight: at 1.8 per cent of the global economy, we still contribute four per cent of global biotechnology revenues. Looking at our industry, we see continued global presence here with large agribiotech and health and biopharmaceutical presence creating strong partnership and growth potential for our many smaller domestic players. Right now, Canada has the second-largest global concentration of biotechnology firms, with 668 companies working directly in biotechnology.

Considering the recent economic slump, how does this year look?
Radke: Most of our companies have weathered the storm reasonably well. Some downsizing and belt-tightening was necessary to continue operations, but I anticipate that by mid/late 2010 we will see capital markets significantly more active. We have already seen some financings occur—that’s a positive sign.

Keller: There were no new funds for discovery research in biotech/ genomics. However, $2 billion in funding was invested to improve research infrastructure on university campuses. A large percentage of bio-based companies have struggled in the last year with a number going bankrupt. We are expecting to see the beginning of a recovery in 2010 and are hopeful that the federal and provincial governments will take steps to increase bioscience research capacity and to actively promote commercialization of biotech and genomics discoveries.

Lopez-Correa: The biotech sector in Quebec, as many others in
the world, has been strongly impacted by the economic recession. Many companies have closed in the last two years and some others have been acquired by larger companies based in the U.S. Hoping to improve this situation, the Quebec government announced last year a stimulus package to help the pharma and biotech industries in the region to cope with the actual economic situation. However, the impact of this strategy is still to be seen, as it is mostly a long-term strategy. We still see scientists who have to find private funds to provide cofounding to the projects financed by our organization and by Genome Canada.

Meikle: All sectors of bio did not fare the same. With the diversity we have in Ontario and in Canada, sectors like therapeutics felt the slump but this doesn’t mean that new companies did not emerge, even in this sector. In other sectors, there remained some very positive developments and in sectors like green technologies, funding continued to be available. Reports on 2010 suggest that the bottom has been reached in areas like therapeutics and, although it may not be a robust year, it’s looking reasonably good.

Brenders: There is no question the industry went through a difficult time over the last 12 months. The Canadian sector has always been incredibly outward-focused, deriving its growth potential with either partnerships or financing from foreign players. Over the last 12 months, firms were forced to make tough decisions and we saw many restructure and adapt their operations. Companies coming into 2010 are stronger than they’ve been in the past 18 months. The challenge will be to build our Canadian environments to enable companies to grow in Canada rather than in other countries.

How do you move the bio agenda forward in Canada?
Radke: By increasing awareness of our companies and the sector in general, we are driving people to think about biotechnology in their everyday lives. This sector will drive most of the major innovations of the next 10 years. We are working to ensure people understand that opportunity and participate in it.

Keller: Our organization is responsible for building capacity in genomics sciences in the province of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. We are working actively with governments in both provinces to implement a competitive genomics and bioscience strategy. We are pursuing relationships with key public and private sector organizations to establish new initiatives and projects to address priority objectives in the health, agri-food, energy and environment sectors. As a regional genomics centre, Genome Prairie will work with other centres and our national organization, Genome Canada, to establish national and international projects.

Lopez-Correa: Genome Quebec is working on many fronts to advance the bio agenda. We have projects that promote the interaction of academic groups with the private sector in order to facilitate the translation and commercialization of genomic discoveries. Most of these projects have been focusing on human health applications with special interest in the field of infectious and complex diseases . Our partnership with Genome Canada has allowed us to launch several projects in the field of applied bioproducts and crops, which is a new but very promising field for Quebec’s scientists.

Meikle: Within Canada, we have our policy and advocacy team holding meetings with the federal government, working with BIOTECanada and other national groups. These are in a supportive role. Within Ontario, TBI is much better positioned and holds regular meetings with the Ministry of Research and Innovation, providing feedback from our members and community that is designed to help provincial programs and cash-poor companies. In addition, we are striving to assist all bio companies in Ontario to create market opportunities, which will assist in job creation for the sector, especially for new university graduates. TBI makes regular pre-budget submissions to Finance and is involved in the Drug System Review that is cur rently underway.

Brenders: We are very focused on coming out of a transformational period, to really focus on building our domestic regulatory and financial structures to enable long-term success and growth for biotechnology in Canada. As a G-7 economy, Canada has some strong fundamentals. Looking at our sector, biotechnology is already contributing $78.3 billion per year to Canada’s GDP through its use by other economic sectors. This represents an emerging economic shift that is taking place globally.

As identified by the OECD, this bioeconomy could, within the next 10 to 20 years, be responsible for much of the output in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and plastics. Canada has an opportunity now to set an overall strategy to guide our growth of the bio-economy. And we are leading this with our Canadian Blueprint: Beyond Moose and Mountains. This strategy will be the focus of our federal provincial roundtable at the BIO convention, where we look to advance the dialogue on how we can collaborate to reach our potential, at the federal and provincial levels.

What are your current challenges and what’s on the horizon?
Radke: One challenge we face today is ensuring there are support mechanisms in place to help companies navigate the current economic environment. We have a wealth of outstanding ideas and technology in Canada and we need to ensure the good ideas are commercialized and brought to market.

Keller: Our major challenge relates to securing funds for strategic operations (e.g. project development) as well as for support for new projects. We see many new opportunities on the horizon. These include the improved performance of crops and livestock to meet future demands, the diversification of biological systems to develop new, environmentally friendly bioproducts, and the application of genomics to develop greener technologies in the energy, oil and mining sectors.

Lopez-Correa: Our major challenge is to keep Quebec and Quebec’s scientists highly competitive in the international arena of genomics research. This field is evolving rapidly and many countries (e.g. U.S., China, Europe) are investing heavily in order to provide their scientists the necessary tools to become international leaders.

Meikle: TBI has emerged from the economic slowdown in sound financial shape and is now focusing on becoming an even larger player in Ontario, with plans to establish a staffed office in 2010. Also on the horizon, TBI will be talking to its members about changing the TBI name to be more representative of Ontario while maintaining a regional responsibility to individual members.

Brenders: We have a great opportunity now to tackle the issues of financing for emerging companies as well as enabling the operating environment for commercial success. These challenges involve market access for biotech products in a timelier manner, creating a policy for orphan products in Canada, ensuring the new regulation for subsequent entry biologics protects public safety, and creating a framework for the introduction of novel substances in agriculture. We are also making progress with a new Biorefineries Knowledge Network that links key players within bioprocessing and bio-energy to help biorefining grow as a Canadian capability.