Government initiatives provide leadership and other benefits to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
Canada is a rather unique country. It draws its cultural and demographic experiences primarily from Western Europe and the United States, though in recent years the influence of Asia has also been prominent. As a result, Canada has tended to be less ideologically conservative than the United States, to the extent that some might claim socialist leanings. Regardless, Canadian governments take an active role in industry and are not usually as laissez-faire as its southern neighbors.
From a cleanroom or controlled environment perspective, the Federal and Provincial Governments both operate cleanrooms and promote technology based industries that dominate these environments. Both levels of government have continued to support research and development that promotes high technology discoveries and the resulting employment spin-offs. This support is multi-faceted, and can be either passive, including tax incentives for research and development, or hands-on, including both federally or provincially operated cleanrooms.
GOVERNMENTAL SUPPORT
The passive governmental support in Canada can also be divided into either federal or provincial factions, and as a result the methods dif differ substantially. On the federal level, government has enacted and supports industry-specific groups through Industry Canada, a division of the Ministry of Industry. Some of the groups promoted include Biote Canada, a portal to disseminate biotech news, financing, and technology transfer. Similarly, Industry Canada has also created the Life Sciences Trade Network. It provides information about target markets, intelligence about business opportunities, including assistance in trade fairs and missions in addition to other matchmaking events. In real terms, this consists of promotion and technical assistance at trade fairs such as BIO 2009, which will be held at the Georgia World Congress Centre in Atlanta, GA and is billed as the world’s largest, global biotechnology conference, and at MEDICA in Düsseldorf, Germany, representing Canada’s medical device manufacturing sector.
The federal government has also lead with progressive patent legislation and protection that has garnered growth for both major and smaller pharmaceutical manufacturers. These firms are supported through a government encouraged association called Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D), which is a national association representing over 50 research-based pharmaceutical companies in Canada. So as not to promote favoritism, the federal government also supports the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA). CGPA represents manufacturers and distributors of finished generic pharmaceutical products, manufacturers, and distributors of active pharmaceutical chemicals, and suppliers of other goods and services to the generic pharmaceutical industry.
TAX INCENTIVES
One of the most passive means used by the Canadian Government to support high technology based industries is through what are known as ITC tax credits, which are handed out through the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax Credit Program. The SR&ED tax credit is an ongoing program that essentially allows a company to do experimental research, and deduct the hard and soft costs (capital equipment and overhead) from their annual corporate taxes, in addition to other capital expenditure write downs. The program is run through Revenue Canada, the equivalent of the IRS, and is audited by both financial and scientific officers to ensure authenticity of the research and tax claims. In 2007, the SR&ED tax program financed over C$6 billion in private sector research, or approximately 38% of Canada’s private sector research and development, according to Industry Canada findings. Approximately C$3.8 billion of the R&D investment included industries that use cleanrooms and controlled environments for their R&D and manufacturing processes. Provincial governments also support this tax, which allows a provincial tax benefit as well.
PROVINCIAL SUPPORT
Provincial support for cleanroom related industries has also taken an indirect and direct approach. They have supported private initiatives in life sciences, biotech, and nanotechnologies through provincial agencies such as Investissement Québec which provides a range of services including liaison to venture capital. In Ontario, through the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the provincial government has provided a range of resources including direct investment, as was the case this past year with an investment of C$10 million in Bioniche Life Sciences’s expansion of its Belleville, Ontario facility for a state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing plant. Other provinces have demonstrated similar initiatives to promote life sciences and biotech among other critical manufacturing and R&D programs.
GOVERNMENT-OPERATED CLEANROOMS
The Canadian government also manages cleanrooms. Through the federally funded National Research Council, several cleanrooms provide research and technology development for programs such as the NRC-IMI Functional Nanomaterials group and the NRC Industrial Materials Institute, whose principal applications are dental and orthopedic implants as well as the production of medical device components. A unique federal-provincial collaboration has brought about the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) in Edmonton, Alberta. The $52.2 million facility is designed to provide the optimal conditions for nano-scale research and to foster collaboration between researchers. The NINT facility has specialized spaces that include laboratories for chemical and biochemical synthesis and analysis of the material structure at the atomic scale; and a Class 1000 cleanroom for the production of nano-structured systems. The Government of Alberta provided $40 million for the building as a part of their commitment to the NINT initiative.
One of the lesser known government- run cleanrooms in Canada is the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML), located in the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This modern state-of-the-art facility houses the NML’s Biological Safety Level 4 (BSL-4) containment laboratory, currently Canada’s only BSL-4 laboratory. As a maximum containment facility, the NML deals with the most serious human and animal pathogens and diseases, such as SARS, Ebola, and Lassa fever.
It is difficult to assess the benefits of the combined passive and active leadership of the Canadian governments in the area of controlled environments. Clearly, the passive means has lead to greater research and development spending, and a growing pharmaceutical and biotech industrial infrastructure, though some might contend that this has failed to spur growth in microelectronics related manufacturing. As for active participation, much of the same could be said, though there seems to be some glimmers in the fabrication of MEMS and CCD devices and new start-ups that are using the government initiatives to fund and assist in their development.
So what’s doing in Canada? Just keep looking for this column to find out.
Rob Nightingale is Director of Research and Development, Ameripride Services Inc., and Canadian Linen and Uniform Services, CleanStyle Cleanroom Division. He has 20 years of experience in human source contamination and cleanroom apparel processing, as founder and President of Cleanroom Garments™, with multiple cleanrooms supporting a vast array of cleanroom applications from aseptic fill operations, aerospace, and MEMS fabrication, to automotive paint spray operations. He is also a co-owner of several international patents for cleanroom soil removal processes. He holds bachelor and masters degrees in international relations from The University of Windsor, Canada, and is also a senior member of the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology.
Canada is a rather unique country. It draws its cultural and demographic experiences primarily from Western Europe and the United States, though in recent years the influence of Asia has also been prominent. As a result, Canada has tended to be less ideologically conservative than the United States, to the extent that some might claim socialist leanings. Regardless, Canadian governments take an active role in industry and are not usually as laissez-faire as its southern neighbors.
From a cleanroom or controlled environment perspective, the Federal and Provincial Governments both operate cleanrooms and promote technology based industries that dominate these environments. Both levels of government have continued to support research and development that promotes high technology discoveries and the resulting employment spin-offs. This support is multi-faceted, and can be either passive, including tax incentives for research and development, or hands-on, including both federally or provincially operated cleanrooms.
GOVERNMENTAL SUPPORT
The passive governmental support in Canada can also be divided into either federal or provincial factions, and as a result the methods dif differ substantially. On the federal level, government has enacted and supports industry-specific groups through Industry Canada, a division of the Ministry of Industry. Some of the groups promoted include Biote Canada, a portal to disseminate biotech news, financing, and technology transfer. Similarly, Industry Canada has also created the Life Sciences Trade Network. It provides information about target markets, intelligence about business opportunities, including assistance in trade fairs and missions in addition to other matchmaking events. In real terms, this consists of promotion and technical assistance at trade fairs such as BIO 2009, which will be held at the Georgia World Congress Centre in Atlanta, GA and is billed as the world’s largest, global biotechnology conference, and at MEDICA in Düsseldorf, Germany, representing Canada’s medical device manufacturing sector.
The federal government has also lead with progressive patent legislation and protection that has garnered growth for both major and smaller pharmaceutical manufacturers. These firms are supported through a government encouraged association called Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D), which is a national association representing over 50 research-based pharmaceutical companies in Canada. So as not to promote favoritism, the federal government also supports the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA). CGPA represents manufacturers and distributors of finished generic pharmaceutical products, manufacturers, and distributors of active pharmaceutical chemicals, and suppliers of other goods and services to the generic pharmaceutical industry.
TAX INCENTIVES
One of the most passive means used by the Canadian Government to support high technology based industries is through what are known as ITC tax credits, which are handed out through the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax Credit Program. The SR&ED tax credit is an ongoing program that essentially allows a company to do experimental research, and deduct the hard and soft costs (capital equipment and overhead) from their annual corporate taxes, in addition to other capital expenditure write downs. The program is run through Revenue Canada, the equivalent of the IRS, and is audited by both financial and scientific officers to ensure authenticity of the research and tax claims. In 2007, the SR&ED tax program financed over C$6 billion in private sector research, or approximately 38% of Canada’s private sector research and development, according to Industry Canada findings. Approximately C$3.8 billion of the R&D investment included industries that use cleanrooms and controlled environments for their R&D and manufacturing processes. Provincial governments also support this tax, which allows a provincial tax benefit as well.
PROVINCIAL SUPPORT
Provincial support for cleanroom related industries has also taken an indirect and direct approach. They have supported private initiatives in life sciences, biotech, and nanotechnologies through provincial agencies such as Investissement Québec which provides a range of services including liaison to venture capital. In Ontario, through the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the provincial government has provided a range of resources including direct investment, as was the case this past year with an investment of C$10 million in Bioniche Life Sciences’s expansion of its Belleville, Ontario facility for a state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing plant. Other provinces have demonstrated similar initiatives to promote life sciences and biotech among other critical manufacturing and R&D programs.
GOVERNMENT-OPERATED CLEANROOMS
The Canadian government also manages cleanrooms. Through the federally funded National Research Council, several cleanrooms provide research and technology development for programs such as the NRC-IMI Functional Nanomaterials group and the NRC Industrial Materials Institute, whose principal applications are dental and orthopedic implants as well as the production of medical device components. A unique federal-provincial collaboration has brought about the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) in Edmonton, Alberta. The $52.2 million facility is designed to provide the optimal conditions for nano-scale research and to foster collaboration between researchers. The NINT facility has specialized spaces that include laboratories for chemical and biochemical synthesis and analysis of the material structure at the atomic scale; and a Class 1000 cleanroom for the production of nano-structured systems. The Government of Alberta provided $40 million for the building as a part of their commitment to the NINT initiative.
One of the lesser known government- run cleanrooms in Canada is the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML), located in the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This modern state-of-the-art facility houses the NML’s Biological Safety Level 4 (BSL-4) containment laboratory, currently Canada’s only BSL-4 laboratory. As a maximum containment facility, the NML deals with the most serious human and animal pathogens and diseases, such as SARS, Ebola, and Lassa fever.
It is difficult to assess the benefits of the combined passive and active leadership of the Canadian governments in the area of controlled environments. Clearly, the passive means has lead to greater research and development spending, and a growing pharmaceutical and biotech industrial infrastructure, though some might contend that this has failed to spur growth in microelectronics related manufacturing. As for active participation, much of the same could be said, though there seems to be some glimmers in the fabrication of MEMS and CCD devices and new start-ups that are using the government initiatives to fund and assist in their development.
So what’s doing in Canada? Just keep looking for this column to find out.
Rob Nightingale is Director of Research and Development, Ameripride Services Inc., and Canadian Linen and Uniform Services, CleanStyle Cleanroom Division. He has 20 years of experience in human source contamination and cleanroom apparel processing, as founder and President of Cleanroom Garments™, with multiple cleanrooms supporting a vast array of cleanroom applications from aseptic fill operations, aerospace, and MEMS fabrication, to automotive paint spray operations. He is also a co-owner of several international patents for cleanroom soil removal processes. He holds bachelor and masters degrees in international relations from The University of Windsor, Canada, and is also a senior member of the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology.
