Life
Sciences

LIFE SCIENCES IN TORONTO: A ONE-STOP-SHOP FOR RESEARCH, CLINICAL TRIALS AND COMMERCIALIZATION

The Toronto Region is a rare global location where innovative medical products can be built from idea to commercialization all in one place - shortening the development lifecycle to get new therapies to patients faster

Tap above to reveal

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.

Contact us for your customized business case

Contact Us

Want to see what we did for Amazon?

 

Sitting adjacent to the United States with a single payer healthcare system, the Toronto Region offers significant cost savings to your business.

 

Johnson & Johnson established its first JLabs location outside of the U.S. in Toronto.

 

With fewer regulatory roadblocks and streamlined processes, you can reduce clinical trial applications to just 30 days, compared to 52 days in Europe and 62 days in the APAC Region.

 

The Toronto Region is home to 250 ethnicities – that means you can conduct a globally diverse pool of trials from one location.

 

Scientists at the University of Toronto were the first to extract insulin and successfully treat diabetes in the 1920s. Four decades later, the discovery of stem cells came from a similar team effort at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital.

financial services

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

RECENT INVESTMENTS:

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. 

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.

State-of-the-Art Facilities

  • Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness (2018): The new $500-million facility, located in downtown Brampton, brings together a broad spectrum of health care providers to provide specialized health care services – both traditional and alternative. The health centre offers innovative approaches to services, including high-tech diagnostics, an urgent care centre, rehab and wellness services, as well as mental health programs. 
  • Lakeridge Health Bowmanville Hospital (2018): The Ontario government is supporting the redevelopment and expansion of the Bowmanville Hospital. The project will replace the hospital’s old north wing with a new patient tower, which will house a new emergency department, new surgical services, a critical-care unit and in-patient unit as well as diagnostic imaging.
 

Major Players in the Toronto Life Sciences Industry:

  • Amgen, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Teva, Johnson & Johnson. From ’Pill Hill’, the go-to destination in Mississauga for pharmaceutical companies, to leading biotech research firms in Halton Region to high-tech digital health in York and Durham Region, the Toronto Region has asserted itself as a leading location for the world’s largest and most innovative healthcare multinationals.
 

better return on investment


Thrive in a high quality, cost competitive business environment. From highly educated talent and efficient clinical trials infrastructure to the most generous R&D tax incentive programs on the planet, get a better return on your investment in the Toronto Region.

Best in Class Clinical Trials: Canada offers lower R&D costs, robust infrastructure and favourable regulations to conduct clinical trials, helping to advance innovations to market.

Submission Filing Requirements

Guidelines and Performance Standards
 
  Health Canada FDA
Class II 15 days 90 days
Class III 75 days 90 days
Class IV 90 days 180 days
 

Advantages of the toronto region

 

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

 
 

talent:

The Toronto Region has 44,000 students enrolled in a life science or health care degree program
17,500 graduate students in a range of life science-related disciplines in 2016-17
University of Toronto graduated 3,300 life sciences PhD graduates in life sciences between 2000 and 2015, including 550 in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals
The Toronto Region provides access to the volume and caliber of talent your business needs to succeed, with over 40,000 STEM graduates each year
 

Did You Know?

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.