Co-operation and collaboration - the key to effective policy management

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By John Kelly, P.h.D.

Effective policy management should be a primary goal for industry and government alike. Policies should favourably impact business to ensure growth, development and profitability. Policy issues are generally not sector specific, with similarities intersecting many different aspects of life sciences in Ontario.

The life sciences sector in Ontario is diverse, ranging from pharmaceutical and biotechnology to agriculture (including livestock and plants), forestry, food and food processing, bioeconomy and the environment. This diversity can lead to challenges in providing consistent messaging to policy makers, who in turn need to react to business, social and political realities. Individual companies or groups interacting with policy makers tend to have limited influence as their voice is not strong.

There are challenges unique to each group, and challenges that are shared by all involved in life sciences. In the pharmaceutical world, there is the continual competition between branded/novel producing and generic companies. Policies which are set out to protect the intellectual property of the novel company have been found to impact the ability of all companies to attract investment, and in turn, market their product in Ontario and Canada.

But this is not unique to the pharma world. In the crop protection sector, which produces products to protect plants from weeds, diseases, insects and other pests, the same issue rages. Novel producers of one particular chemical face similar issues as do the novel producers of pharmaceuticals. Regulatory and financial challenges are also remarkably similar across these diverse groups.

Similar challenges also exist in the functional food and nutraceutical world.

When each group desires to affect policy drivers in Ontario, they do so within narrow guidelines and not with a lot of power.

What about new and emerging companies?

Individuals and companies developing new products from innovations created at Ontario universities must contend with developing a business plan and regulatory strategy, finding financing, hiring and appointing a great management team and board of directors, as well as getting their message out to potential consumers of their product. Regardless of the business, be it animal pharmaceutical or nutraceutical business, the human disease market, the functional food sector or the chemical or construction businesses, they all face similar challenges to develop and commercialize their innovative product.

Life Sciences Ontario (LSO), emerging from The Biotechnology Initiative (TBI), will provide a unified voice for life sciences in Ontario. It has the mandate to develop cross-sectoral connectivity across the province with the vision to provide opportunities for like-minded groups to act with one voice, contributing to economic development and policy initiatives. This new organization will be inclusive in nature, inviting co-operation and collaboration across many life sciences groups, including regional innovation networks, provincial industry groups, economic and business development groups, as well as established and emerging companies to address issues that are fundamental to the success of the province. This united effort will lead to an enhanced quality of policies and policy development for the sector.

The government of Ontario has requested that industry develop an organization that is inclusive of different components of life sciences, to provide a forum for highly strategic discussions and to address commonalities in policy to strengthen the industry. LSO is well positioned to do this, having executive level representation on the board from across the wide geography of the province who represent pharma, biotech, agriculture, food, and chemistry, from large and established to new and emerging companies. With its strong leadership, LSO will increase the confidence of the government in supporting this sector, leading to trust and goodwill towards life science development.

The sphere of influence of LSO is large, and its ability to interact with the government of Ontario at the highest levels with credibility, power, strength and a good reputation will serve the industry to a great degree. Examples of issues that LSO will address include funding, commercialization, trade and education; important wants and needs identified by the industry.

The Board of LSO is confident that its message will be heard by the government of Ontario and also the government of Canada.

By inviting and coordinating groups from across Ontario, the life sciences sector in Ontario will have a united front on the many issues that affect our industry today, which will make this sector more attractive to investment, corporate and plant localization, ultimately enhancing the profitability of life science companies in Ontario. Having a single voice will ensure the delivery of a solid message, with policies and financing in place to support making Ontario a world-class player in life sciences.

Note the author is currently a Director of The Biotechnology Initiative and a proposed Director for Life Sciences Ontario.