Bridging Canada's biotherapeutic gap: A call for strategic investment in translational research

By Stéphanie Michaud

Dr. Stéphanie Michaud, PhD, is the President and CEO of BioCanRx, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the delivery of innovative immunotherapies from the bench to the bedside.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, a vaccine was developed in just a year, showcasing modern science's extraordinary speed and capabilities.

This rapid development was based on decades of multidisciplinary research and global collaboration, and underscored the vital importance of investment in the entire continuum of health research – from bench to bedside.

The swift development of COVID vaccines also highlighted the need for continued funding for translational research – a critical step in advancing new health care innovations into the trial process. 

While we often talk of research done in the laboratory and findings brought to clinical trials or the  “bedside,” we hear less about what happens between these two. Translational research – developing discoveries into treatments and interventions that can be used in clinical settings – is inherently  multidisciplinary and complex.

As the pandemic response demonstrated, translational research involves collaboration among basic scientists, clinical researchers and health care professionals, and integrates knowledge from various fields such as biology, chemistry, biomanufacturing and medicine.

Due to these complexities, translational research is often dubbed the research “valley of death,” and presents an obstacle in health care innovation due to a lack of funding, resources and support to move early-stage research through  the stages of development, regulatory approval and market readiness. 

Learning from the pandemic, Canada has taken steps to support our ability to respond to future threats by implementing the Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy and investing in biomanufacturing  and clinical trials.

These investments are not just about preparing for the next health crisis, but positioning Canada as a life sciences leader. They demonstrate that funding translational research – as  done through the pandemic – can result in treatments that that are brought to the bedside more quickly, improving patient outcomes and delivering economic benefits. But more is needed. 

Canada needs to learn from the outcomes of the pandemic response and build a vision that underpins our entire life sciences funding strategy. This vision demands more than building facilities and supporting the clinical trials that are part of translational research; it requires sustained investment and a strategic approach to maintain readiness and innovation during non-crisis periods.

Funding  translational research, which bridges the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical applications, is essential to achieving this goal. It ensures that scientific breakthroughs translate into real-world treatments benefiting patients, boosting the economy and supporting our companies.

Organizing funding and coordinating activities that are tailor-made to address the unique gaps in the Canadian life sciences ecosystem can accelerate and mitigate the risks of passing through the “valley of death.” 

Canada has funding and expertise gaps in translating research to products

While translational research requires extensive and complex multidisciplinary collaboration and cooperation, federally funded BioCanRx has demonstrated that its unique approach to supporting the cancer immunotherapy research community across Canada can deliver tangible results.

This model offers a visionary way forward that can be applied across the health care research ecosystem – with the necessary investment commitments from a variety of areas including the federal government.

Cancer takes four times as many Canadian lives as COVID-19. Nearly half of Canadians are expected to  be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes and almost 25 percent will die from it.

Canada’s cancer research funders invest approximately $500 million annually, and this figure has remained largely unchanged over the past decade in line with the state of overall research investment in Canada (excluding private sector).

This amount represents two percent of the overall annual cost of cancer to the Canadian economy, estimated at $37.7 billion in 2024, with 20 percent or $7.5 billion in costs being carried by patients and their families. 

The Canadian Cancer Research Alliance (CCRA), tracks investments in the cancer research ecosystem in Canada. Our analysis of CCRA studies has demonstrated that cancer research funders have concentrated their investments in early-stage research. This, combined with the very high costs related to biologics development, has created a funding and expertise gap between traditional Government/NGO supported research and the biotech/pharmaceutical industry – preventing the transfer of novel biotherapies based on Canadian research out of Canadian labs.

The result? Canadian-made discoveries typically move up the value chain in the U.S. or elsewhere. We do not reap the economic benefit from Canada’s cancer research investments and many Canadian patients don’t benefit from early access to novel biotherapeutics via clinical trials. 

The numbers tell the story: while Canada is able to capture four percent of global clinical trials and is the G7 leader in clinical trial productivity (number of trials/population), we are still unable to translate our own  discoveries into innovations.

Only four percent of all cancer immunotherapy trials in Canada are based on home-grown innovation. Remarkably, this represents a substantial improvement over past data – less than one percent of cancer immunotherapy trials were based on Canadian innovation from 2002 to 2015. 

Canada needs a whole-of-ecosystem funding approach

Amid this, BioCanRx, Canada's Immunotherapy Network, has emerged as a leader in translating cutting-edge cancer immunotherapies from research to clinical trials. Our work has already led to life-saving treatments like the made-in-Canada CAR T-cell therapy, which has transformed lives across the nation.

We are also moving the needle on our home-grown clinical trial performance. Since our inception in 2015, 41 percent of cancer immunotherapy trials are directly attributable to our translational research  program. 

The impact of BioCanRx in Canadian immunotherapy for cancer research demonstrates the benefits of adopting a whole-of-ecosystem approach in Canada, funding the entire health research continuum, including translational research. This approach is crucial not only for responding to future health crises but for capitalizing on our scientific discoveries.

The recent $38 million funding from the federal government’s Strategic Science Fund to BioCanRx is a step in the right direction. However, more substantial  and sustained investments in other areas of the life sciences sector are needed to support the translation of research into widespread clinical practice thereby benefiting patients and maintaining Canada's competitive edge in the global bioscience economy. 

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the Canadian life sciences sector's critical role in both health and economic well-being and the need to continue rebuilding.

Organizations like BioCanRx exemplify the potential of coordinated efforts to drive economic and health benefits. Expanding this model to other research areas can, and will, enhance the productivity and innovation of Canada's health research sector. Increased collaboration among stakeholders – scientists,  clinicians, academic institutions, NGOs and industry partners – is vital for a competitive bioeconomy. 

For Canada to continue to grow and benefit from life science innovations, we need to change culture around funding translational research and push for greater investment so that it becomes the norm, not the exception.

It is only by taking more shots on the net that Canada can begin to build the rich life sciences sector that Canadians deserve and expect, improving the lives of citizens while boosting Canada’s global economic competitiveness. 

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