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From discovery to adoption, the Toronto Region is home to a life sciences ecosystem that can help your business develop exciting new products, run them through clinical trials, and bring them to market – all in one place and at a lower cost than other major life sciences hubs. Toronto’s life sciences sector is one of the largest in North America, rivalling Boston and San Francisco in employment.
Toronto’s Discovery District, a 2.5km2 downtown research park and health innovation hub, is comprised of 7 million square feet of facilities representing Canada’s largest concentration of hospitals, research institutes, business incubators, and venture capital organizations, along with the University of Toronto. Within a 15-minute walk, 10 different clinical trial sites can be reached. The Discovery District invests over $1 billion annually into public and private medical research.
Our universal healthcare system is a boon to researchers using deep learning and biological data sets to solve problems in health. The Toronto Region is a leader in advanced imaging diagnostics and stem therapies.
Home to 53 of the world's top 100 life sciences companies and 16 of the top 25 global medical device companies, the Toronto Region has a critical and growing mass of top research talent, backed by our 37 research institutes, nine teaching hospitals, and the world-renowned University of Toronto. That's just one reason why we're excelling in growing fields like regenerative medicine and artificial intelligence for healthcare
Sanofi Pasteur (2018): French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur expanded its Canadian footprint with a $500 million investment in a new Toronto manufacturing plant. The facility will focus entirely on producing vaccines —particularly a five-component acellular pertussis antigen that’s seeing increased global demand.
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BlueRock Therapeutics (2016): Bayer and Versant Ventures have invested $225M toward the creation of BlueRock Therapeutics, a stem cell therapy company, using technology from Toronto’s University Health Network and the McEwan Centre for Regenerative Medicine. As Canada’s second largest biotech underwriting, this investment is establishing the Toronto Region as a global centre for the commercialization of regenerative medicine therapies.
Biolab Farmaceutica (2017): The Mississauga centre will initially be staffed with 16 to 20 specialists – primarily scientists and pharmaceutical specialists. The facility is an extension of Biolab’s Brazilian R&D centre, with a focus on research, development and innovation. One of Brazil’s largest pharmaceutical firms, Biolab specializes in prescription drugs for cardiology, dermatology, gynecology, orthopedics, rheumatology and pediatrics.
Genco (2016): A new logistics, distribution and transportation warehouse for healthcare manufacturers in Milton. The warehouse features state-of-the-art infrastructure, has support to store and distribute virtually all classes of healthcare products and includes advanced warehouse, labour and quality management technology.
Leo Pharma (2016): Opened a $100-million North American innovation lab in Markham – its first innovation lab globally – to develop new, non-pharmaceutical solutions for people living with psoriasis. Leo Pharma is partnering with the startup community to foster innovations in apps, web platforms, wearables, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, tele-medicine and other advanced technologies.
Quality – Canada is a world leader in developing and implementing quality standards, and clinical trial sites are regularly monitored by Health Canada, the US FDA and industry sponsors to ensure compliance.
Speed – Fewer regulatory roadblocks and streamlined processes, reducing clinical trial applications to just 30 days.
Diversity – The Toronto Region is home to over 250 ethnicities and nearly half of its population is foreign born, providing an exceptionally diverse patient pool allowing you to conduct global trials from one location.
Value – More cost-effective location than most major countries, including the U.S. and the U.K. Canada has the second-lowest cost among G7 nations in the management, design and coordination of clinical trials
Toronto is at the forefront of research in regenerative medicine. In 1961, stem cells were discovered right here in Toronto by Drs. Till & McCulloch. Over 160 researchers in the Toronto Region are working in the field of regenerative medicine, aided by our highly collaborative research culture and scientific leadership.
Toronto’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is the largest integrated cancer research, teaching and treatment centre in Canada, and is a world leader in stem cell research. The University of Toronto ranks 2nd in the world in terms of stem cell publications, while Mount Sinai Hospital ranks 4th. The Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine recently opened the Centre for Cell and Vector Production, a GMP facility to manufacture clinical-grade cells for Phase 1 and 2 trials.