U of T receives funding to establish national hub, advancing Canadian life sciences sector
Article by The Varsity. Full article is available here.
___
On January 15, U of T announced that it would be receiving $4.25 million in funding over the next five years to establish a national hub for advancing entrepreneurship and innovations in the life sciences. The hub will focus on commercializing life sciences research and delivering programs to help student- and faculty-led startups overcome challenges in developing healthcare businesses.
The grant aims to expand Lab2Market: a national network that trains graduate and postdoctoral students in entrepreneurial skills by helping researchers develop ideas and connecting them with support to launch their businesses.
U of T’s hub will serve as the national centre for this program and it will be located at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Health Innovation Hub (H2i). H2i is a healthcare startup accelerator, supporting early-stage health and life science companies on campus.
Challenges faced by the Canadian life sciences industry
Canada has historically had a thriving life sciences sector. Groundbreaking discoveries like insulin at U of T helped attract more research funding through patent royalties, which are payments made to the ‘owner’ of these innovations. Revenue generated from these discoveries, in turn, supported the development of new facilities and research programs, further driving growth in the sector.
However, Canada’s life sciences sector is facing challenges. The sector has struggled to translate cutting-edge research into commercially viable solutions, with pharmaceuticals particularly affected. Canadian producers have been unable to meet the domestic demand for drugs, leading to an overreliance on imports. As a result, Canada lags behind its G7 peers in industry performance, producing fewer pharmaceuticals and spending less on the sector compared to countries in similar economic standing.
According to RBC, one potential reason for the life sciences sector’s challenges is the misallocation of funding. While 80 per cent of industry funds are directed toward research and development (R&D), relatively little is allocated to helping labs bring their products to market and succeed as early-stage startups. As a result, most biopharmaceutical products remain stuck in the development phases, making it difficult for researchers to scale their innovations and turn them into viable businesses.
U of T’s efforts to boost healthcare entrepreneurship
The university has programs in place to support the life sciences industry, such as H2i which supports entrepreneurs by offering resources and programs tailored to business development. One such program is Accelera, which helps businesses address problems they face during the early stages of their venture through roundtable discussions facilitated by members of both academia and industry.
The hub also emphasizes translating research into tangible products through the Building a Biotech Venture program. This months-long initiative is open to trainees from U of T or one of its nine affiliated partner hospitals. It first improves its trainees’ collaborative skills after which it helps teams develop their ideas into ventures with workshops led by industry experts and one-on-one mentorship. It ends with the opportunity for teams to receive funding for their businesses through a pitch competition.
H2i also contributes to supporting women entrepreneurs in the life sciences industry through the FemSTEM program: a multi-event series that includes panels, fireside talks, and a pitch competition where healthcare innovators can present their ideas to secure funding and support.
This startup accelerator has achieved significant success, supporting 248 early-stage companies, and helping them generate $122.5 million in funding during the 2023–2024 academic year.
The goals of U of T’s new health hub
U of T’s new health hub will place special emphasis on addressing the regulatory challenges faced by healthcare startups, which must often navigate a complex web of guidelines from various organizations.
The centre will collaborate with 38 universities and organizational partners, and its efforts will be guided by a committee of representatives from U of T, Dalhousie University, McGill University, McMaster University, Toronto Metropolitan University, Université de Montréal, University of British Columbia, and University of Calgary.
The hub will also help scale the existing Lab2Market program in Canada, which currently includes six hubs and 50 university partners across the country. The initiative aims to expand its network over the next five years.