BIOTECanada Innovation Agenda Policy Roundtable. BIO 2016, San Francisco June 7, 2016

Transcription

1 BIOTECanada Innovation Agenda Policy Roundtable BIO 2016, San Francisco June 7, 2016

2 BACKGROUND On June 5-8, BIOTECanada led the largest international delegation (over 850 Canadians) at BIO 2016, the biotechnology industry s most important annual business partnering conference. Canada was one of the over seventy nations in attendance at BIO Importantly, the 880 Canadian delegates participated in over 36,000 business partnering meetings through the four days of the convention. In addition, the BIO convention served as the platform for the launch of the first ever Global Biotechnology Week (GBW) 2016, convened by BIOTECanada and modeled after the successful 12 year Canadian National Biotechnology Week program. International partners for GBW will include industry associations from Australia, Europe, United Kingdom, United States, Massachusetts, South Africa and others. GBW will help showcase biotechnology innovation globally and the represents for the world s health, environmental and social challenges. Highlighting this year s BIO was the announcement of a $150 million research collaboration agreement between Merck Canada and BIOTECanada member company, Innovative Targeting Solutions (ITS) of Vancouver, which will advance the development of the company s protein engineering platform. Of note, in 2012, ITS presented at BIOTECanada s annual investor summit which is where it came to the attention of Merck Canada s Director, World Wide Licensing & External Research, Steve Xanthoudakis. Taking advantage of the Canadian presence at BIO, BIOTECanada hosted a policy roundtable which brought the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, together 36 Canadian biotechnology industry leaders representing the full spectrum (investors, incubators, accelerators, contract research and manufacturing, early and mid-stage health and agricultural biotech companies, provincial association heads and multinational pharma) of the biotechnology industry ecosystem attending. In the context of the development of the government s Innovation Agenda, the meeting represented a timely opportunity to explore the opportunities and challenges facing the ecosystem of commercialization that is driving 21st century biology based discoveries into the Canadian and global economy. Canada has been an early leader in the development of biotechnology innovation and the global bio-economy more broadly. From the development of live saving vaccines to the creation of canola- one of the world s most important oil seeds, Canada has positioned its biotechnology discovery and research capacity as a catalyst for establishing a competitive, much respected ecosystem for long term economic and societal value in biotechnology commercialization. Importantly for Canada, biotechnology is an essential part of the transformation of the traditional economic cornerstone and job intensive industries such as forestry, energy, mining, agriculture, aerospace, manufacturing and resource management. Correspondingly, the Biotechnology Innovation Roundtable meeting presented an important and timely opportunity for industry leaders to meet with the Minister and share perspectives regarding the opportunities the sector presents, with an emphasis on how the Government s Innovation Agenda initiative can support the industry s capacity to attract investment, commercialize innovation in Canada and ultimately establish globally competitive Canadian companies which will provide long term, highly skilled employment opportunities for Canadians.

3 BIOTECHNOLOGY INNOVATION ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION Government Perspective To begin the session, Minister Bains provided opening remarks which provided context and a focus with respect to the driving themes of the government s Innovation Agenda. The Minister spoke to: The strong policy commitment the federal government has towards capitalizing on innovation as an economic driver for both competitiveness and growth; Stressed Canada has some established advantages including a strong history of science and innovation, a highly competitive tax environment which is an advantage for Canadian companies, and a significant $800 M investment contained in the 2016 federal budget; The federal government s goal of seeking new, fresh ideas to drive a new bold strategy and an action plan to capitalize on the innovative culture Canada has established to realize long-term economic growth; Science is back! and life sciences represents an important strategic asset for Canada; Supporting and growing capacity for tech transfer is an important objective for success; The need to better identify the value chain, address the gaps and ensure any policy commitments are able to keep Canada at the top of competitiveness. The government is seeking to have a public policy environment dedicated to attracting and retaining talent, building ecosystems of global excellence, leveraging existing tools such as IRAP and SRED, and looking to scale up venture capital access. Establishing government s role will be key to a successful Innovation Agenda. Government alone cannot do this- equally important is the role industry can play in achieving these goals and how will it step into the needs identified for success; The government recognizes Canada is strategically well-positioned to be a global biotech leader. Resolving what realistically needs to be done to take the sector to the next level, to realize outputs, measured over time, is where the policy focus in the coming year will be. The government is looking for input throughout the process as is seeks to leverage the 2017 federal budget towards building a truly innovative economy for Canada; and, The Minister challenged the industry to consider some important questions, namely: How can Canada be better at building on the strong foundation but be better at scaling-up and create globally competitive Canadian companies? Can we/should we create super clusters? If so, would they be regional clusters or sector clusters? What is the role of government? What is the role of the industry and others? What does success look like? How is it measured? Do Canadians understand/appreciate the value of innovation? Following the Minister, industry leaders representing the various stages of the ecosystem provided an overview of the Canadian ecosystem s strengths and the opportunities and challenges companies face in becoming globally competitive and commercially viable biotechnology companies.

4 Early stage catalysts and incubators Catalyst/incubator organizations have responsibility for identifying and supporting very early stage companies, providing them with the foundation for the next phase of investment attraction. Leaders (including Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) and Accel Rx) highlighted: The significance of Canada being home to anchor companies, along with partnerships with international pharmaceutical operations will drive the growth of super clusters. The importance of developing, retaining and attracting top skilled talent to the industry in Canada was identified as an important priority for the innovation agenda. Building operational capacity with secure investment, capital that understands the full lifecycle of biotechnology commercialization, allows for early failures but can absorb the risk is key to the long term objectives of the industry. Reward early stage companies for attracting foreign investment by adjusting foreign content regulations identified as a competitive advantage needed to support the establishment of viable anchor companies. Ensuring innovation is welcomed into the Canadian healthcare system was cited as not only addressing health care needs of Canadian citizens, but identifying Canada as a marketplace for innovative products was seen as key to the volume of collaboration required to secure early stage companies from academic or research institutions. Investment Ultimately, investment capital is required to move an idea from the lab closer to commercial success. In this context, representatives from Canada s biotech investment sector (included CTI Life Sciences Fund, Teralys Capital) spoke to the role venture capital plays in the next phase of development of biotech companies. Key points raised were: The significant positive impact the federal government VCAP (Venture Capital Action Plan established in 2014) program has had in supporting the deployment of capital by attracting upwards of three times the original amount slated for life sciences. It has now established important value (the life sciences industry saw more than $700 million of VC investment in 2015) and the value needs to be maintained with next round of capital if we are to build on where we are. Follow-on capital rounds will need to be larger than early stage, and on average fall into the $25 million plus range for viable development cycles. Next phase of VCAP funding must recognize the uniqueness of the life sciences investments and ensure the sector can access the VCAP; How to keep Canada a destination for smart, innovation focussed capital is at the core of the challenge for the biotechnology industry. Understanding where that capital emanates from, what it needs to be maintained, and what it is attracted too will drive Canadian competitiveness.

5 Early Stage Companies Canada is home to over five hundred early stage biotech companies. While there exist many business strategies unique to each, there is agreement that for the ecosystem to remain healthy, a key objective should be to ensure that a number of early stage companies succeed and become Canadian-based global players. SME leaders highlighted: Ambition to create globally competitive Canadian companies that will generate more innovation and highly specialized, well-paid jobs for Canadians; Attracting investment and talent remain significant challenges for early stage companies; Need to stop best Canadian talent from moving outside Canada for the skilled jobs- creating Canadian companies will be an important way to achieve this goal; Partnerships with multinational pharma companies is essential to support the growth of early stage companies. Pharma are required to be investors and/or partners. Several companies noted that it was their partnership with pharma that took them to the next level; Establishing a buyer capacity in Canada would help keep companies/jobs in Canada- avoid the export of companies to other jurisdictions; Innovation Agenda should look for mechanisms that will attract and reward investment in early stage companies. Collaboration/Partnership With financing in place, as early stage companies progress collaborations and partnerships with multinational pharma and biotech companies become a n important next step for many companies. Collaborations are significantly impacted by the marketplace and commercial climate in Canada. Greater understanding/ appreciation of the essential partnership role large pharma/ biotech plays in supporting a healthy and vibrant ecosystem; For instance, the Canadian healthcare system can serve as a vital catalyst in helping to make Canada a destination for global research, clinical trials and attracting funding from commercialized companies seeking to build their product pipelines with some of the best health research in the world; Contract manufacturing and research companies are becoming an increasingly important players in supporting the growth of Canadian companies into commercial enterprises while also providing highly skilled job opportunities and partnerships for post-secondary students and institutions. This in turn supports commercial partnerships and drives more innovation; Executives (of global commercialized operations) outlined how the business model to drive successful innovation is constantly changing. Partnerships and collaborations are now key to pushing research out into development and commercialization. Participants explored how governments can set the conditions for success. Driving partnerships from throughout the global bio-economy is a defined goal of the industry. Collaborations are driven by 3 key elements: the technology, geography, and sector (specialities). These three elements need to be integrated with federal regulatory capacity and efficiency, treatment of intellectual property (from both the courts and international trade agreements) and a multidisciplinary skilled work force. All stages of the biotechnology industry, be they globally commercialized entities or start-up companies, is able to generate and compete for investment. Keeping that investment working in Canada will be key to establishing anchors for super clusters.

6 Canada s Innovation Agenda and biotechnology Industry leaders expressed considerable support for the Government s Innovation Agenda. Canada is already home to a vibrant, diverse and national biotech ecosystem that is grounded by historical success, strong science and research capacity, post-secondary institutions with leading medical, chemistry, biotechnology, business and legal faculties. Building from the strengths already recognized, the Innovation Agenda can leverage existing programs and identify new measures that will help establish Canadian-based, globally competitive commercial companies that drive further science and innovation while providing significantly valuable, high skilled employment for Canadians. More can be done to draw together industry and government to identify the People and Partnerships, Financing, and Regulatory initiatives needed to support Canada s biotech community. This can be done using some existing public policy levers such as those listed in this report. Some of the recommendations put forward at the Policy Roundtable have been discussed at length at the BIOTECanada policy tables. They have been identified as a result of some top line comparisons within key jurisdictions where biotechnology and the bio-economy have been identified directly as an economic driver. They include: i. Re-finance the federal Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP) and ensure it is structured to support the unique investments required for life sciences; ii. Establish a Patent Box in Canada aimed at enhancing the global competitiveness of early stage companies as they establish their IP and attract investment; iii. Maintain existing programs (eg: IRAP) and tax measures (eg: SR&ED) as important mechanisms for attracting foreign investment and supporting early stage innovation development; iv. Ensure Canada s regulatory capacity and intellectual property frameworks are equal to those in other international jurisdictions; v. Reinstate Statistics Canada s capacity to compile industry statistical data to be used for measuring the progress of industry operations and competitiveness. Conclusion The Policy Roundtable discussion highlighted the significant opportunity the biotechnology sector provides for Canada in a global context. With a well-established history of innovation and science, Canada is well positioned to be a top three nation in the development of biotech innovation. The Innovation Agenda provides an important opportunity for industry and government to work together to improve enhance this country s capacity for commercializing and creating globally competitive biotechnology companies. BIOTECanada greatly appreciates Minister Bains leadership of the Canadian delegation at BIO 2016, and specifically for his participation at the Innovation Roundtable.

7 Roundtable Participants Name Title Company City Navdeep Bains Minister of Innovation, Science Innovation, Science and Economic Ottawa and Economic Development Development Canada Cédric Bisson Partner Teralys Capital Montreal Ron Boch Vice President Industry Affairs BIOTECanada Ottawa Dianne Carmichael Managing Director MaRS Discovery District Toronto Neal Carter President Okanagan Specialty Fruits Summerland Andrew Casey President & CEO BIOTECanada Ottawa Bonnie Crombie Mayor of Mississauga City of Mississauga Mississauga Natalie Dakers President & CEO Accel-Rx Health Services Vancouver Paul Drohan President & CEO Life Sciences BC Vancouver Jason Field Executive Director Life Sciencs Ontario Toronto Rory Francis Executive Director PEI BioAlliance Charlottetown Chris Gardner Co-Founder and COO Sequence Bio St. John s David Gauthier Vice Chair Ag-West Bio Saskatoon Chirfi Guindo President & Managing Director Merck Canada Montreal Chris Halyk President Janssen Toronto John Helou President Pfizer Kirkland Rafi Hofstein President & CEO MaRS Innovation Toronto Dina Iezzi Director Marketing Therapure Mississauga Claude Jodoin Partner Fasken Martineau Dumoulin Toronto Vandana Kattar-Miller Director of Policy Regional Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science Ottawa Economic Development and Economic Development Joe Knott Managing Director Pangaea Group Oakville John Knubley Deputy Minister Innovation, Science and Economic Ottawa Development Canada Stefan Larson CEO Northern Biologics Toronto Stephane Lassignardie General Manager Abbvie Canada Saint-Laurent Martin Leblanc President & CEO Caprion Biosciences Montreal Brandon Lee Consul General Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco San Francisco Marc Lepage President & CEO Genome Canada Ottawa Mike Luksic Vice President Intrinsik Health Sciences Mississauga Tim Maloney President Novartis Canada Dorval Gord McCauley A/President & CEO CDRD Vancouver Cate McCready Vice President External Affairs BIOTECanada Ottawa Bruce McManus CEO PROOF Centre of Excellence Vancouver John Norman Partner Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP Ottawa Fred Ors CEO Immunovaccine Halifax Peter Pekos President & CEO Dalton Pharma Services Toronto Anie Perrault Executive Manager BioQuebec Laval Oliver Technow CEO BioVectra Charlottetown Shemaine Tilley Managing Partner CTI Life Sciences Fund Montreal Eric Tse VP & General Manager Shire Pharma Canada Saint-Laurent Dan Wattier CEO ImStar Vancouver Warren Whitehead Chairman PlantForm Corporation Toronto Mel Wong President BioAlberta Edmonton Nathan Yoganathan President & CSO KalGene Pharmaceuticals Kingston

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