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Contract Services

Contract Services

Canada has it down to a science

Canada’s top-notch contract services firms backstop some of the world’s top pharmaceutical and medical devices manufacturers. Specialized Canadian service providers offer these businesses extensive experience and technological know-how at an affordable price, generating cost savings and accelerated outcomes for their clients. Canada’s life sciences contract services firms have earned an international reputation for consistently delivering quality, on time and on budget. They can be counted on every step of the way – from discovery to design to commercialization. Given that human health represents over half of all life science companies in Canada, 70% of all revenues and close to 90% of all R&D, the potential for profitability in the contract services industry is as enormous as the country itself.

Look what Canada has to offer:

  • Leads the G8 in the growth of health research patents
  • Canada has the highest rate of increase in the G7 in life sciences R&D workers, external patent applications and business expenditures on R&D, and the lowest life sciences labour costs
  • A $19 billion domestic biopharmaceutical market with exports of $6.3 billion – 80% to the US
  • Most major pharmaceutical companies have manufacturing and R&D facilities in Canada – including small molecule and biologics facilities from pilot to commercial scale
  • In 2007, over $1.3 billion was spent on biopharma-related R&D in Canada
  • One of the most attractive and consistent R&D tax incentive systems in the world

Canada’s Life Sciences Contract Services strengths:

  • Drug formulation & delivery systems
  • Pre-Clinical research & development
  • Clinical trials
  • Manufacturing & packaging
  • Design & manufacturing of high value medical devices
  • Analytical services

Canadian areas of expertise:

Discovery – Canada’s contract service providers are renowned for their expertise in drug targets and response indicators, including biomarkers for genomics and proteomics as well as bioinformatics. Private companies, such as Caprion Proteomics, offer its CellCarta® technology that enables the discovery of novel targets for therapeutics development and the identification of novel protein biomarkers while Zymeworks Inc., focuses on optimizing therapeutic antibodies and other protein-based therapeutics. Non-profit organizations, including the Centre for Applied Genomics in Toronto and the Centre for Drug Research & Development in Vancouver, also provide platform technologies to identify candidate drug targets and diagnostic markers.

Drug design and synthesis – Canada has numerous service providers with proficiency in chemical synthesis and characterization that enable pharmaceutical companies to identify, validate and optimize their discoveries. Canadian leaders include NAEJA Pharmaceutical, Alphora Research, BRI Biopharmaceutical Research and Elucid Pharma.

Pre-clinical testing – From in vivo or animal studies, to toxicology, pharmacology and kinetics, Canada’s life sciences service providers are specialized in advance trials. Some of the leading names include CanTox, LAB Research, CTBR and Nucro-Technics.

API synthesis and manufacturing – Canada’s cGMP-compliant service providers are leaders in process design, scale-up and commercial manufacturing of synthetic chemicals and biologics. Well-known names include Apotex fermentation, QSV Biologics and Therapure Biopharma.

Dose formulation and manufacturing – From dose stability to process development, scale-up and validation, Canada’s contract service providers can do it all. They manufacture a broad range of formulations, from common oral doses, to specialized injectables, to value-added formulations such as depots and modified release. Some of the best known names in the business operate in Canada, such as CPL, Confab, Wellspring Pharma and Draxis Pharma.

Clinical trials - Canada is the location of choice for trials by multinational pharmaceutical companies, attracted by Canada's diverse, multi-ethnic population which creates opportunities to study clinical outcomes across a variety of unique populations. Service providers can conduct trials from Phases I through III and IV. Canada’s contract research organizations offer services ranging from trial management to full service in areas such as safety, toxicity, dose, efficacy, post marketing as well as specialized analytical testing. Sector leaders include Allphase Clinical, Global IQ, ASKA Research and Biovail CRO.

Clusters of Excellence

Canada’s bio-pharma and medical devices clusters all have major research institutes and universities in close proximity that provide access to publicly funded equipment, services and expertise. Almost 10% of Canadian medical device companies are spin-offs of universities, other firms or laboratories. These business incubators also ensure cooperation and joint development work across sectors to take innovations quickly from the lab to the marketplace.

Montréal ranks 1st in Canada in contract services – a reflection of the fact that it is also home to major manufacturers of both patented and generic bio-pharma products. The city is an international hub for genomics development, with more than 630 public and private companies employing 41,000 workers. Annual foreign direct investment projects totalled more than $700 million between 2000 and 2005. Montréal’s booming medical technologies industry includes companies focused on radiology, cardiology, orthopedics, oncology, obstetrics, clinical decision assistance, dentistry and remote surgery. The city also hosts premiere research centres including McGill University, the Genome Québec Innovation Centre, the Biotech Research Institute, the Centre Robert-Cedergren and the Québec Proteomics Centre. The cosmopolitan centre boasts world-class industry clusters, 11 institutions of higher learning, well-connected, well-educated workers and exceptionally competitive costs.

Toronto, the 4th largest Life Sciences hub in North America and Canada’s largest pharmaceutical centre, is home to more than 140 public and private companies. Toronto’s life sciences cluster is centered in the downtown core, close to the University of Toronto, numerous research hospitals, and specialized institutions such as the Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and the Medical and Related Sciences (MARS) Discovery District. Toronto hosts subsidiaries of major multinational medical device firms specializing in medical imaging, robotics and e-health. The city is also the financial and business capital of Canada, home to the Toronto Stock Exchange, a major financing centre for biotech firms, and headquarters for six of Canada's top insurers managing over 90% of the industry's assets.

Vancouver is Western Canada’s largest life sciences hub – the fastest growing biotech centre in Canada and 7th largest in North America. The biopharmaceuticals sector’s 91 companies employ 2,200 highly-skilled workers. Medical device manufacturing and distributing companies based in Vancouver specialize in interventional and implantable cardiology, diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound, diagnostic testing and analysis, as well as orthopedic and device design and development. The firms are fuelled by collaboration with internationally respected research institutions, such as the Life Sciences Centre at the University of British Columbia, the Centre for Drug Research and Development, and Simon Fraser University’s 4D labs, which conduct research on advanced materials and nanoscale devices. Companies can also take advantage of tax advantages specific to life sciences firms that provide one of the best returns on investment per research dollar in the hemisphere.