On March 31, 2022, Ontario announced its life sciences strategy, "Taking Life Sciences to the Next Level," together with a press release detailing a $40 million loan through Invest Ontario to build a $580 million commercial scale cell and gene therapy contract and development manufacturing facility at (CDMO) McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton, Ontario. The investment in OmniaBio Inc., a subsidiary of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) is part of Phase I of Ontario's two phase life sciences strategy.
The goals of Phase I, as set out in the strategy are:
- To grow Ontario's biomanufacturing footprint;
- To build domestic resiliency in PPE and critical medical supplies;
- To boost commercialization capacity of Ontario companies and startups; and
- To adopt Ontario-made innovations to improve healthcare.
Phase II will build on the goals of Phase I, to help Ontario become a leader in next generation life sciences technology.
Historically, Canada has been a great place for life sciences research and development, but a difficult place for a life science company to reside for sustained growth and commercialization. Companies often have to initially commercialize their products elsewhere before obtaining procurement opportunities in Canada. The Ontario life sciences strategy, along with the recent launch of Intellectual Property Ontario on March 3, 2022 (which is part of Ontario's implementation of the Intellectual Property Action Plan), marks a major boost for Canadian life science businesses, encouraging research and development, global and local investment, and procurement in new technologies to enhance patient outcomes.
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