After returning from CellCAN’s 2022 Strategic Forum in Ottawa, Ontario, where Canada’s cell and gene therapy biomanufacturing community came together to share information and network, it is clear that the country’s biomanufacturing landscape is improving. As I and many others have written since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis highlighted significant gaps in Canada’s biomanufacturing strategy. What a difference two years makes!

The meeting featured interesting topics and knowledgeable speakers and, importantly, we heard that much-needed vaccine production and commercial-stage manufacturing facilities are being built. The first morning of the conference was devoted to talks on this topic.

When she was announced as the new CEO of C3i Center Inc., in July 2021, Louisa Petropoulos stated: “By increasing our capacity, we will support innovative technology from the bench through commercialization, making sure that Canada’s healthcare sector benefits from Canadian innovations. C3i is also aiming at introducing global technologies ensuring Canada’s independence in this rapidly growing biotechnology sector.”

C3i is a centre of excellence for commercializing research in cancer immunotherapies. Based in Montreal, it was funded by the federal government’s Networks of Centres of Excellence program in 2016 and operates similarly to CCRM, with a focus on cancer immunotherapies. On stage at the conference, Dr. Petropoulos stated that C3i is planning to build commercial-stage manufacturing capabilities to expand on the Phase I/II clinical manufacturing it currently offers. Specific details were not shared.

Add this future facility to the Biologics Manufacturing Centre announced by the Prime Minister in August 2020 and completed in June 2021. The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) was mandated to design, construct, commission and qualify the Centre. This summer, the NRC put out a call to find a co-founder to govern the facility’s operations so it can run as an independent, not-for-profit corporation and operate at arm’s length from the government. The call for submissions closed in August and now we are waiting to learn who will be chosen.

Once the Biologics Manufacturing Centre is operational and has its Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification, it will produce cell-based biopharmaceuticals like vaccines and other biologics, including viral vector, protein subunit, virus-like particles, and other recombinant proteins. Canada will have the domestic capabilities to support the manufacturing of vaccines in the event of future pandemics. Kelly Parato, with the NRC, gave a presentation at the conference.

If you have been following all the news, you will know that the federal government has also invested in Resilience Biotechnologies, Sanofi Pasteur Limited, Medicago, VIDO, Abcellera, BIOVECTRA and others to build or expand biomanufacturing infrastructure in Canada. We were reminded of this at the conference.

In total, the federal government is investing $2.2 billion, over seven years, through Canada’s Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy. Compare this to U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent launch of a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative worth US$2 billion and Canada appears to be a little ahead of the game, having already put some of these investments into play. But before he announced his new initiative, the President also pledged US$280 billion to support research and innovation in AI, robotics, quantum computing and biotech. So we lag behind once more.

The Initiative is intended to grow domestic biomanufacturing capacity. “Today, many U.S. bio-companies perform their manufacturing abroad owing to the lack of domestic infrastructure. This Initiative will build, revitalize, and secure national infrastructure for biomanufacturing across America, including through investments in regional innovation and enhanced bio-education, while strengthening the U.S. supply chain that produces domestic fuels, chemicals, and materials.” This sounds very familiar.

OmniaBio Inc., a subsidiary of CCRM, was also featured at the conference. Announced in March 2022, OmniaBio is a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) building Phase III and commercial-stage manufacturing capabilities at McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton, Ontario. The new facility will expand on the work that takes place at CCRM’s Centre for Cell and Vector Production (CCVP) located at the MaRS Centre in Toronto’s Discovery District. CCVP is a cGMP-compliant facility for Phase I/II in-human clinical trials. The first of OmniaBio’s two buildings is expected to be complete by summer 2024.

In addition to a $40 million loan from the Government of Ontario and $60 million from a private investor, there was a special announcement at CellCAN’s conference about Next Generation Manufacturing Canada’s (NGen) commitment of $10.5 million towards a $35 million project led by OmniaBio with its consortium partners ExCellThera, Morphocell Technologies, Aspect Biosystems and the Canadian Advanced Therapies Training Institute (CATTI).

The recorded messages below were shown to the delegates as part of a special announcement in the conference program. You will hear from the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and Jayson Myers, CEO of NGen. Please note that the Minister incorrectly states that the NGen funding is going towards building OmniaBio’s facility in Hamilton. The funding is earmarked for a project to build domestic expertise and world-leading manufacturing capabilities; empower a pipeline of Canadian-based cell and gene therapy companies; and, train Canada’s future GMP workforce through CATTI.The Minister’s message begins in French and then switches to English.

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Stacey Johnson

Stacey Johnson is the editor of Signals and a contributor. For 25 years, Stacey has been providing strategic communications counsel to government, corporate, technology and health organizations. She began her career at the CTV Television Network and then moved to Hill & Knowlton Canada where she advised clients in a variety of industries and sectors. Stacey is the Vice President, Communications and Marketing for CCRM, a leader in developing and commercializing regenerative medicine-based technologies and cell and gene therapies. She has a Master's degree in Public Relations. You can follow her on Twitter @msstaceyerin.

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