Besides being known for attractions like the CN Tower and Niagara Waterfalls, Canada also boasts of a flourishing healthcare industry, especially in medical technology (medtech). According to MEDEC, the national association created by and for the Canadian medtech industry; over the years, this sector in Canada has established itself as a formidable pillar of the country’s $200 billion healthcare sector with sales of over $7 billion per annum.
Ontario: Land of opportunities
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| Reza Moridi,Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, briefs media over the strengths of Ontario in the medtech sector |
For business leaders with big dreams, bright ideas and innovative concepts, Ontario should be the next big destination. Ontario is home to people from across the world with varied backgrounds. “In Ontario we speak over 150 languages,” informs Reza Moridi, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. He further points out that Ontario has always welcomed collaborations. MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, Health Technology Exchange Funding, Ontario Networks of Entrepreneurs (ONE) and Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR & EDs) are some of the places in Ontario where the worlds of science, business and government come together to drive the innovation process.
| Advanced medtech industry support | |
| Industry support | Role |
| Centre for Imaging Technology Commercialisation |
Accelerates commercialisation of imaging innovations by:
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| Health Technology Exchange | Supports and accelerates growth of the medical technology sector |
| Techna | Techna aims to go beyond research by engineering technology to address unmet clinical needs, engaging academics, clinicians, industry and government as a network of partners in the development and deployment of health technologies. This will result in improved health outcomes and a growing industry sector. |
| Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs | Connects industry to academia, capital and advisory support from product development to market |
| Excellence in Clinical Innovation and Technology Evaluation | EXCITE helps companies accelerate the adoption and reimbursement of innovative, disruptive health technologies through a single, harmonised, pre-market, evidence based process. |
| Industry Association | MEDEC is Canada’s National Medical Device Association |
| Clinical Trials Ontario | Clinical Trials Ontario provides a streamlined approach to multi-centre clinical trials, ensuring ethical standards for patient safety. |
The Ontario government has taken a very pro-active approach and created an environment conducive to growth and progress. They are working with companies and organisations across all sectors of its economy and the research communities to support their innovation activities. Today, Ontario drives about half of all Canada’s life sciences economic activity. Ontario ranks second only to California in the number of medtech firms in North America. Forbes named Ontario as the top destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), job creation, tax reform and healthcare in North America.
Benefits galore
Overall business costs in Ontario are lower than in the US, France, Italy, Germany, Australia or Japan (Source: KPMG, Competitive Alternative, 2012 Edition). Lower taxes is yet another benefit that it offers. The state’s combined general federal-provincial corporate income tax rate of 26.5 per cent is lower than the average of G8 and G20 countries as well as the average federal-state CIT rate in the US.
Canada ranks third in KPMG Economic Competitiveness, behind US and Germany.
Timely access to the market largely decides the success of any business. Total international trade by Ontario companies tops $1 billion per day. Its products have duty free access to the $17 trillion+ NAFTA marketplace if 62.5 per cent of the content is manufactured in Canada. Ontario’s R&D incentives are among the most generous in the world. A $100 R&D expenditure can be reduced to an after-tax cost of about $56 or $38 for small businesses. A broader range of R&D costs qualify for tax deductions here than in many jurisdictions and tax credits can be carried back three years forward for 20 years. Ontario provides a broad and stable economic base. The World Economic Forum ranks Canadian banks as the soundest in the world. Ontario, Toronto in particular, is one of North America’s top centres for sophisticated financial services.
Global connectivity is also a factor that drives many business houses towards Canada. There are five international airports: Toronto, Hamilton, London, Ottawa and Thunder Bay. Toronto’s Pearson International Airport offers same plane service via 75 carriers to 29 Canadian, 50 US and 105 other international destinations.
Canada is the global hub of medical devices manufacturers. As far as Ontario is concerned, it is home to renowned names like GE Healthcare, Baxter, Agfa Healthcare, Nordion and Trudell Medical International. More than 17000 employees work for approximately 900 medical technology firms in this state. 60 per cent of Canadian medical devices R&D spending occurs in Ontario. $1.4 billion exports which is equal to 63 per cent of Canadian medical devices exports. Toronto is also a home to GE’s first Global Pathology Centre of Excellence.
It seems innovation is the norm for the medtech industry in Canada. This sector has come up with different kinds of products for the diagnosis of varied disease types. For example, the greatest challenge in radiation therapy is to accomplish the tumour control and spare healthy tissue. 4D dosimetry system, RADPOSE, handles this challenge quite successfully.
OtoSim has developed a simulation and training platform which has been applied to otoscopy (ear examination) and ophthalmoscopy (eye examination). Abbott Diagnostics develops and markets critical handheld medical diagnostic and data management products for rapid blood analysis. Its i-STAT is a market leading hand-held blood analyser. eSight eye wear has given a hope to low vision patients across the globe. Overall, Canada has established itself synonymous with medical devices industry.
MaRS EXCITE
It enables better health technologies to get to market faster for improved health outcomes. Excellence in Clinical Innovation and Technology Evaluation (EXCITE) moves Ontario’s traditional post market health technology assessment (HTA) and comparative effectiveness review (CER), into the pre-market and harmonise it with Health Canada regulations. EXCITE transforms HTA/CER from a punitive gate of reimbursement to a product optimisation tool, in collaboration with a world class customer, the Ontario Health System. (See Fig.1)
Lion’s share for life sciences
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| Media briefing at one of the radiology equipment manufacturing units |
About 58 per cent of Canadian life sciences R&D spending occurs in Ontario. There are about 1000 life sciences firms in Ontario. Thus, it is no wonder that the life sciences sector here alone employs about 38,000 people. Ontario also has the distinction of being second in North America in terms of the number of life sciences establishments. Ontario has a very strong research base with 44 universities and colleges producing approximately 30000 skilled graduates in science, engineering and mathematics each year. Four of the top ten Canadian research universities are located in Ontario. 46 per cent of Canada’s bibliometric output is being produced by Ontario and it accounts for 45 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD).
Many giants from the life sciences sector have established themselves in Ontario. GE Healthcare’s global pathology imaging centre of excellence at the MaRS Centre in downtown Toronto. The $10 million centre focuses on developing innovations in digital imaging, work flow and computer aided diagnostics to improve patient care and reduce healthcare costs. There is GlaxoSmithKline, which has undertaken a $33.6 million expansion of its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Mississauga and launched the $50 million GSK Canada Life Sciences Innovation Fund to invest in early stage Canadian research. Novartis Pharmaceuticals has partnered with the Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton, for a $100 million global clinical study of a new high blood pressure drug that will involve more than 11000 seniors in 20 countries. Novocol Pharmaceuticals has invested $54 million to expand production and R&D capacity at its Cambridge facility. Roche Canada has invested $190 million to establish a new global pharma development site in Mississauga to manage all stages of global clinical trial research. Teva Canada launched a $56 million expansion of its High Potency Manufacturing Centre of Excellence in Stouffville. Ontario ranks third in North America as far as the number of pharma and medical manufacturing establishments are concerned.
The MaRS Centre works with partners to catalyse, accelerate and amplify innovation, its phase 2, a 20 storey state-of-the-art facility is nearing completion in downtown Toronto. It will be more than double the current size of MaRS, upto 1.5 million sq ft, making it one of the largest urban innovation hubs in the world.
Ontario also has significant presence of contract services that include leading contract research and manufacturing organisations such as Kendle, Patheon and Canadian-based Therapure Biopharma, Nucro-Technics and Gamma-Dynacare. Contract services in Ontario offer lowers clinical trial management costs, an added benefit.
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| MaRS Innovation | Advanced medtech instruments are being used at the hospitals in Ontario |
Ottawa’s lure
Ottawa, a G8 capital, is a progressive centre of innovation. With almost 2000 knowledge-based businesses, 44 federal laboratories and research organisations and four post secondary academic institutions, Ottawa ranks as one of the top three research communities in Canada. It is one of North America’s fastest growing economies and one of the world’s most progressive centres of innovation. For that reason Ottawa offers great opportunity for international expansion in knowledge-based business.
Part of Ottawa’s economy’s strength is the diversity of its knowledge-based industries. With over 2000 companies and nearly 80000 people, this sector is one of the largest employers in Ottawa. Ottawa has one of the highest levels of R&D spending per capita in North America and, not surprisingly given the number of federal and private sector research labs housed in Ottawa, one of the highest concentrations of PhDs per capita in North America.
Ottawa’s diverse economy navigates global fluctuations with stability and purpose. Unemployment rate continues to be one of the lowest in Canada, while its rate of business growth eclipses many North-American cities. Ottawa is the home to almost 2000 knowledge-based companies representing diverse sectors. Ottawa is widely known for its proactive approach to development and business support. Several incubators and accelerators operate throughout the city, including Invest Ottawa, designed to fortify the wealth, connectivity and entrepreneurial momentum of Ottawa’s business community. Canada’s largest research facility, the National Research Council, is based in Ottawa, pioneering more than 50 years of support for startup and spin-off companies across the city.
Ottawa has more than 130 embassies and consulates, giving local companies front line access to worldwide trade and investment opportunities. Ottawa’s international airport, voted the best in the world for its size, connects Canada’s most luxurious and affordable workplaces to flourishing global markets. Local business leaders prosper from this geographical advantage, making Ottawa one of the most competitive cities in North America for global trade and connectivity.
Its strong pool of researchers, coupled with advanced research facilities and incentives offered to propel the growth of the medical devices industry, make Canada a key destination for the Indian companies to collaborate, invest and grow. For a country like India, where a large chunk of medical devices are being imported, such collaborations matter even more. With international experience in hand, such associations may even pave the way for Indian companies to become indigenously capable of manufacturing such products in their own country. Fortunately, India also has a large resource of skilled researchers, which can be utilised to achieve this aim. Becoming indigenous also means creating job opportunities in the country. However, easier said than done. Currently, Canada rules the market of medical technology. As quoted by JF Ware, ‘The future is an opportunity’ and Canada is the land of opportunities. It’s high time that Indian players cashed these opportunities and reaped the benefits in the form of technology and experience that can be put to good use in their homeland.
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